Booster Gold has been through a number of ups and downs since debuting in his own ongoing series in 1986 but, despite having a hand in some of DC's major events and his recent billing as "the greatest hero you've never heard of," he's never quite broken through as a marquee character. But with a shocking decision in Action Comics #998, an upcoming turn in Batman #45, and the timey-wimey shenanigans of Doomsday Clock, all of that is set to change, and soon.

After more than 30 years, Booster Gold has quietly become one of DC's most important heroes.

False Idol

Created in 1986 by Dan Jurgens, Michael Jon Carter was a nobody from the 25th century who stole a super suit, a Legion flight ring, and a time machine to become the heroic Booster Gold in the 20th (sliding to the 21st) century. He does it for fame and glory, and at one point had even accepted sponsorships, with NASCAR-style patches appearing on his costume. While his first series ran for 25 issues, his most prominent role was in Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire's Justice League International, where he and buddy Blue Beetle were the most comedic members of the comedy-action series.

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When Jurgens took over the series with #61 (at which point it was renamed Justice League America, no "of"), the tone changed dramatically to more straightforward superhero series, but Booster and Beetle remained the (toned down) comic relief until their own story arcs took a turn for the grim. During the "Death of Superman" storyline, also written by Jurgens and crossing over with JLA, Beetle was beaten into a coma and Booster's futuristic suit was shredded, leaving him powerless.

Both eventually returned to action, but in the lead up to Zero Hour Booster learned his knowledge of the future was flawed when a C-list villain hewed off his arm and killed him. (He was restored to life by the end of the day, and eventually got the arm back -- don't ask -- which leads one to wonder whether his future knowledge is accurate after all…)

Why bring up Zero Hour? Getting there. But first…

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Booster was a central player in DC's first major full-year weekly event, 52, which was also DC's best full year weekly event by a pretty wide margin. Spinning out of this, writers Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz, with Jurgens on art, launched a new Booster Gold ongoing series with an entirely new concept: Booster Gold is the guardian of the timestream, correcting anomalies before they can unravel the fabric of the universe -- but to protect his mission, he must keep up the façade that he is still the opportunistic buffoon that everybody knows.

It was a compelling take on the character, despite some bad storytelling mechanics in the early issues (the less said about Superman's transforming death certificate, the better), and it's one that has endured into the Rebirth era.

Which brings us to now.

The "Booster Shot" storyline in Action Comics followed up the events of "The Oz Effect" with a journey through time, as Superman sought the truth about the man claiming to be his father Jor-El. Booster follows the Man of Steel to the moment of Krypton's destruction and then into the future, trying to prevent the universe's most beloved hero from accidentally screwing up all of reality.

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But the storyline's biggest event actually happens back on Earth: Lois Lane and her son Jon Kent, on a quest to rescue Lois's father General Sam Lane from a black ops mission gone wrong, are gunned down by militants. Jon, presumably, survived, but Lois and her father are killed in action.

Until Booster intervened, reversing 95 seconds into the timestream to prevent the tragedy and giving Superman precious moments to save the day.

Again: Booster Gold, canonically, undid the death of Lois Lane.

On the one hand, no, DC was never going to "really" kill Lois. But that's a pretty major story point, especially for a character whose entire mission is exactly the opposite of things like this.

So what the hell is going to happen in Batman?

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Booster to the Nth

According to solicitation text, the story by Tom King and Tony Daniel beginning in Batman #45 sees Booster recruiting Batman and Catwoman to rescue himself from another version of himself in what's sure to be a messy ouroboros of time travel, and definitely not the sort of thing a guardian of the timestream should be doing. Even before the story was announced in January, King had been hinting at big plans involving Booster Gold, a scheme he reiterated on Twitter Monday:

https://twitter.com/TomKingTK/status/970734857126105088

If Booster becomes heavily intertwined in the lives and histories of both Batman and Superman, he is immediately a major player in the DC Universe.

But what of that other reality-warping epic currently tearing through the timestream?

Booster Gold vs. Doctor Manhattan

Any current time travel or reality-altering story for DC has to be viewed through the lens of Doomsday Clock, which is set to reveal how and why Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan rewrote the universe post-Flashpoint into the New 52 -- and why it started to unravel into what we now see in Rebirth.

What role will Booster Gold play in this epic? What role has he played?

Because right now it is entirely plausible that Booster Gold was responsible for loosening Manhattan's grip on the New 52, allowing for the return of Wally West and other pre-Flashpoint continuities.

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Here's how it could work: Booster is investigating some anomaly in the timestream. He's not looking for Manhattan, he may not even be aware of the changes wrought by the New 52. (There was a New 52 version of Booster, but, timey-wiminess in effect, it's entirely possible the pre-Flashpoint version was doing his thing, as well.) He does his job, undoing some small piece of Manhattan's scheme. Maybe there are a few more of these, or maybe there's a ripple effect, further diminishing Manhattan's power, and Wally West is freed from the timestream. Booster's efforts to repair fissures in the timestream lead directly to the confrontation with the naked blue demigod, with the side effect of creating the amalgamated Rebirth universe we know and love.

Less likely but also a possibility, if Booster reviving Lois Lane was not the first time he's tampered with the timeline -- or, since present tense is all relative in this sort of situation, if this is the first time, but it's big enough -- one could imagine a scenario in which it is the "Greatest Hero You've Never Heard Of" who inadvertently unravels the DCU, and what had been perceived as Doctor Manhattan's villainy was simply his effort to save reality no matter the cost. This would cast Booster in a role more akin to Hal Jordan/Parallax in Zero Hour, who viewed himself as the hero for trying to erase tragedies like the destruction of Coast City.

But if Booster is part of the Doomsday Clock chessboard, he almost has to die as part of that story. Not that he couldn't come back, or otherwise escape his final fate, but Tom King's hinting that he has plans for Booster -- as opposed to some broader plan for the character within DC -- tends to suggest a more linear path. From this view, Booster's arc will be built in Batman, not in Doomsday Clock or some other series -- especially since, with its now-bimonthly schedule and the likelihood of further delays, the end of Doomsday Clock remains a good ways off into the future. Hopefully not all the way to the 25th century, but we'll see.

What the Future Holds

There's enough vagary about King's cryptic clues and enough potential in Booster's timecop persona that pretty much anything is possible. It's possible we'll start to see the shape of what DC has in store for Michael Jon Carter when Batman #45 hits shops next month, or as Doomsday Clock gets into full swing (issue #4 comes out later this month).

But for fans simply excited to see Booster Gold finally get his due, the future is looking bright.