Booster Gold

Real Name: Michael Jon Carter

First Appearance: Booster Gold #1 (February 1986)

Powers: Proficient in hand-to-hand combat and has access to advanced technology.

Affiliation: Justice League, Justice League International, The Conglomerate

Did You Know? Booster Gold actually comes from the future

A Little History

First appearing in Booster Gold #1 back in 1986, Booster Gold was the creation of Dan Jurgens.

Michael Jon Carter was born into a poor family in the 25th Century version of Gotham. This doesn’t mean that Mike wasn’t well off or didn’t have the fabled Golden Ticket that would take him through life. Quite the opposite, actually.

Mike was a gifted athlete who took a liking to football. In fact, in his high school years, Mike was a prolific football team member. He was so good that he received a football scholarship to attend Gotham University. Sensing an opportunity unlike anything ever before it, Mike took the scholarship and, later that year, enrolled at Gotham U.

Just like in high school, Mike became the star quarterback for Gotham University. Unfortunately, Mike, who wasn’t very close with his father, had his father re-enter his life. His father, who was always keen on making a quick buck through gambling, convinced Mike that the two could make a fortune if he began purposely losing games. Mike did what he was told, and instead of making an obscene amount of money, he was caught, disgraced, and expelled.

With nothing left to do and nowhere to turn, Mike took a job as a security officer at the Metropolis Space Museum. While employed at the Museum, Mike took a particular liking to the superheroes of past decades. This was so much that he began stealing pieces of costumes so as to assemble his own superhero costume.

Because he was from the future, Mike was able to learn and apply what had already happened in the past. This meant that, with the help of Rip Hunter’s Time Sphere, a Legion Flight Ring, Brainiac 5’s Force Field Belt, and a Power Suit, he was able to travel back in time and prevent the crimes that were about to happen. Mike did this over and over, eventually becoming a famous hero, all-the-while catching the eye of President Carter.

As a football player, Mike famously went by the nickname Booster. When he became a crime fighter, he took on the moniker Goldstar. After saving the President, Carter inadvertently combined the two names and called him Booster Gold. The name wound up sticking, and the rest, as they say, was history.