Booster Gold's Batpoint Gift Fixes Batman's Origin Story

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Batman #47 by Tom King and Tony S. Daniel, on sale now.

Well, no one can blame a guy for trying.

First, Booster Gold tried to give Bruce Wayne the best gift anyone possibly could: Going back in time to save his parents' lives. When that created a horrible alternate reality, Booster tried to fix it with Bruce's help, only to result in the brutal deaths of his parents anyway.

In Tom King and Tony S. Daniel's Batman #47, the conclusion of "The Gift," Booster tries to help Bruce undo his own compounding pile of mistakes. Only this time, his bungling actions might have finally set things straight, but in a way he never intended.

Booster Gold to the Accidental Rescue

Two years after destroying Booster's time traveling robotic partner Skeets, the device has been repaired. Meanwhile, Booster himself has been kept chained in the cave beneath Wayne Manor – no Batcave in the Batpoint reality – in the year since he caused the murders of Thomas and Martha Wayne. With the means to use Booster to again command Skeets to travel through time, Bruce orders him to venture back to the time immediately prior to his parents' deaths, so that he may prevent them.

Of course, Batpoint Bruce was referring to one year earlier, when his parents where slain in Wayne Manor. Instead, Booster discretely directs Skeets to transport them even further back in time, prior to the Waynes' murders in Crime Alley when Bruce is still a child – so he can act to "unsave" the Waynes and fix reality. Picking up on Booster's deception, an angry Bruce tries to shoot him, only for Skeets to heroically intervene. The two still end up back in the past, but Skeets has suffered his second destruction at the hands of Batpoint Bruce.

It's important to remember this was also the exact moment in time Booster had originally traveled to save the Waynes in the first place, and sure enough, he arrives "again" – to the shock of an incredulous Batpoint Bruce, as well as Booster's own future self. Future Booster takes advantage of the confusion and attacks Bruce, causing him to instead shoot the newly-arrived Booster – non-fatally – but more importantly, prevent the Waynes from being killed in Crime Alley. Intentionally or otherwise, future Booster has successfully thwarted his younger self from creating a horrific alternate reality.

Of course, this means that Batpoint Bruce not only has to watch his parents get murdered – again – but that he is forced to witness it right along with his younger self in this reality. The broken, adult Bruce – unable to bear the loss a second time – turns his gun on himself. The younger Bruce, once again, is now left to fulfill his destiny. As Booster says as he watches Batpoint Bruce kill himself, they have indeed saved the world.

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Like a blind squirrel who finally finds a nut, the "fixing" of Batman's origin is a fitting ending to Booster Gold's bumbling adventure, saving the world as carelessly as he upended it. Interestingly, though, there's a curious consequence to future Booster's actions.

The sound of the shot that wounded his younger self was the very same sound that made Thomas Wayne suggest an alternate route home from the movie theater – a switch that ultimately cost him and Martha their lives. Had future Booster not come back, there would have been no shot, no detour home, and no twin murders in Crime Alley.

Which begs the question: Just what did Booster do, exactly, when he arrived in the past for the first time? If the Waynes hadn't detoured down that alley, then there would have been no murders for Booster to prevent. Was his "gift" to Bruce, then, nothing more than inaction, simply letting the Waynes makes their way safely home? If so, then events would have played out the same, whether Booster had gone back in time or not.

Or was Batpoint destined to be the DC Universe's "actual" reality? Was it only Booster's twice-over interference that created the continuity of a Bruce Wayne Batman? Was his true gift to Bruce actually not not saving his parents, but instead ensuring that his destiny as Batman was fulfilled? This is ultimately what drew Bruce and Selina together, after all. And technically, there's no better wedding gift than making sure that there will be a wedding, not to mention the relationship leading up to it.

We may never get a definitive answer to that "chicken or the egg" question, but one thing we know for certain is that the Said Bat/Cat nuptials are pending, and begin in Batman #48, on sale June 6.

KEEP READING: Every Hero (and Villain) in Batman’s All-New ‘Flashpoint’ Universe, Explained