SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #47 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel, on sale now.
As a guardian of the timestream, Booster Gold has professed himself to be "the greatest hero you never heard of." So why hasn't he been acting like it in Batman?
Tom King and Tony S. Daniel's "The Gift" has shown Booster uncharacteristically tampering with history, leading to the creation of a dark alternate timeline. His attempt to fix it resulted in the very tragedy he was trying to prevent – the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. In Batman #47, his attempt to set everything right succeeded, but only in a bumbling if not downright lucky series of events.
His behavior has been anything but heroic, and certainly unbefitting of one calling himself a protector of time. But Booster himself provides an explanation of sorts: his crazy behavior is due to that fact that he's, well, crazy.
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Oh, Well That Explains It
He provides next to no explanation, but then, hardly anything he's tried to explain throughout the arc has made sense to anyone but him, so it's not difficult to believe his insanity defense. In the past, Booster has preached the dangers of time travel, so he would have to be nothing short of crazy to tamper with the past now – especially meddling in the events that led directly to the creation of Batman. Most especially when the intent is to provide a wedding gift like no other – when there would be no wedding without a Batman in the first place.
So what's happened to Booster? Not long ago, he was all over Superman when the Man of Steel traveled to the time before his own parents' death, as seen in the "Booster Shot" arc in Action Comics. In that storyline, Booster was every bit the responsible Time Master, and was even trusted with the use of Rip Hunter's Time Sphere. In "The Gift," he's more akin to a teenager – immature, careless and apparently not able to be trusted with the keys to a time machine.
Booster was acting like a child – flatulence remarks and all – which led to us making a case that maybe this Booster was actually a younger version of himself with a lot of growing up to do. Unless there's an untold tale from Booster's past that involves a stay at Arkham Asylum or Belle Reve, it's likely that this is not a young Booster with maturity issues. He has long driven other heroes crazy, perhaps, but has never known to be certifiable himself.
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Is This Really The Booster Gold We Know?
And unless DC reveals that this is some other incarnation of Booster from elsewhere in the Multiverse – a contrived explanation, at this point – like it or not, this is Booster Gold – a thoughtless, reality-breaking, fart-joking Booster Gold. But what could have broken the narcissistic but nonetheless heroic Booster so quickly?
Well, whatever happened -- maybe it wasn't so quick. If this isn't a younger Booster Gold, maybe he's actually a slightly older one. Maybe this is Booster from the near future.
He certainly seems more broken than heroic. He let himself go all too willingly when trapped in a reality of his own careless making. And the hero who once commanded a Time Sphere – and even had time-traveling circuitry built within his costume at one point – now relies on his robotic partner Skeets for joyrides around the timestream. He has all the marks of a hero who has fallen on hard times, but is too self-aggrandizing to admit it, and is willing to go to desperate measures to impress his colleagues. Such a fall isn't the kind of decline that happens overnight.
The how's and why's of such a fall are unknown, but that's how excitement for potential storylines is built, after all. And a revelation that this isn't today's Booster, but instead tomorrow's, leaves the heroism of today's character intact, even if it's known tough times are ahead. It would also explain the seeming inconsistencies between the character's previous appearance and this one – inconsistencies that are atypical of King's style.
Don't forget – King has his "Sanctuary" project coming up, and has also said he's got more stories featuring Booster in his future. After the events of "The Gift," it looks like Booster will need the benefit of some superhero counseling.