WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for the DC Cybernetic Summer story, "The Boys of Summer," by Heath Corson, Scott Koblish, Hi-Fi and Carlos M. Mangual, on sale now.
Ever since Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis' beloved run on Justice League International, the duo of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold has remained inseparable. The wacky pair share a fondness for practical jokes and fun-filled hijinks, taking their antics a little too far on occasion.
On their latest misadventure in DC Cybernetic Summer, Beetle and Gold went further than ever before, possibly threatening the very fabric of reality.
After foiling a bank robbery by a group of robotic mercenaries, Beetle and Gold decide to take a relaxing day for themselves. The heroes head for the beach, looking forward to some fun in the sun. Unfortunately, the duo find the beach to be far too crowded, with no room to enjoy themselves.
Despite the protest of Skeets, Booster's AI companion, the pair use Booster's time sphere to travel one year in the past, when the beach was empty and relaxing. While things are initially peaceful on the silent beachfront of the past, complications arise from the arrival of Beetle and Gold of one year in the future, who had the same idea.
This complication is comedically compounded repeatedly by the arrival of four more pairs of Blue Beetles and Booster Golds: One from 10 years in the future, another from 20 years in the future, a pair from a dystopian future and an elderly Beetle and Gold. Each of these future duos arrives with a future Skeets, who is always alarmed by the potential time paradoxes occurring. Ignoring Skeets' warnings, the Beetles and Golds enjoy some fun in the sun, playing a game of beach volleyball and having a photoshoot while defeating the supervillain King Shark. These photos are even made into calendars as souvenirs for the time travelers.
Although this tale is fairly lighthearted, Skeets' repeated warnings indicate that potential, reality-threatening time paradoxes are occurring. Given DC's long-running history and plethora of stories, the rules of time travel are fairly loose -- yet some of DC's time travel theories illustrate the dangerous consequences of Beetle and Gold's actions.
The theory of "chaotic time," for example, states that even the smallest changes to the timeline can have catastrophic consequences on future events. In this case, a group of Beetles and Golds taking down King Shark at this point in time could alter the future of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold of the present day, potentially creating a situation similar to 2011's Flashpoint.
Additionally, there is the idea of "hypertime," where events that occur in one timeline have a ripple effect on divergent timelines, from the smallest details to the most significant events. Defeating King Shark, who swears revenge, could mean the King Sharks of multiple universes enact revenge on multiple versions of Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. Indeed, Skeets dramatically notes how King Shark did get his revenge, but omits the full tale for another time.
There are still a couple of time travel theories in the DC Universe which indicate the events of this story won't have immensely catastrophic consequences. Some stories say the timeline is fixed, meaning it's inevitable for multiple versions of Beetle and Gold to meet on this specific day. Still, there is a dark fatalism to the theory, considering the dystopian versions of Beetle and Gold can tell that events are unfolding just as they once experienced them. This ominous incarnation of the heroes spells inevitable catastrophe, noting the danger of this specific day at the beach.
Beetle and Gold could also simply be traveling to an alternate universe's past, rather than the past of their own timeline. Even so, the duo and their counterparts are interfering with the history of another universe, which could have dangerous consequences regardless. Interfering with history and encountering several of their counterparts has considerably greater ramifications than stealing Martian Manhunter's choco cookies.