Booster Gold - Powers and Equipment

Powers and Equipment

While Booster Gold has no superhuman abilities (like Batman, he relies on equipment), he is an excellent athlete. He demonstrates enough willpower to use his Legion flight ring at range, a feat few have been able to demonstrate.

Booster gained his "powers" from the artifacts he stole from a museum in the future. A power suit grants him super strength and wrist blasters allow him to project force blasts. The wrist blasters contain the primary controls and power supply for the suit as well as communications equipment. Circuitry from a force field belt allows Booster to resist physical and energy attacks, and he uses the force field to repel objects with great force and generate a breathable self-contained environment. The force field centers on Booster's body, but can expand and even project outward. The costume's goggles have infrared and magnifying capabilities. In addition to the powers from his suit, Booster can fly thanks to a Legion of Super-Heroes flight ring. Booster can also absorb mass and eject it either in its original form or as a melted mass, although this depletes his force field for a time afterward.

Booster's original uniform included a cape which was taken by Superman after telling Booster, "You can't handle a cape." Booster's later costumes use many different technologies to supply his powers, but the powers themselves remain basically the same despite changes to the source. Booster's third costume acts as a mobile life support system.

As Supernova, Michael Carter uses a Phantom Zone Projector built into his suit to teleport matter from one place to another.

Despite the fact that Booster stole the elements of his costume in the 25th century, recent Legion of Super-Heroes reboots and retcons depict them as having been invented in either the 30th or 31st century. Originally, the time bubble Booster used to travel from 2462 to 1985 was discovered in 2986 with pieces of Brainiac 5's force field belt aboard. This prompted Brainiac 5, Chameleon Boy, and Ultra Boy to travel to 1985 to investigate. In the process, they assisted Booster in foiling an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. Brainiac 5 left his force field belt and flight ring with Reagan and determined that these would end up as the ones Booster would eventually steal in 2462, thus completing the causality loop.

In the context of the "Threeboot" (Mark Waid) Legion continuity, it is revealed that in a sort of predestination paradox, Booster's ring and force field belt were stolen by Rip and Daniel in an attempt to reverse a "Time Stealer's" plan intended to erase Booster from the continuity by damaging the Time Sphere held in the museum.

In the future, an older Booster will have access to "lost" technology, such as Superboy's super-goggles.

Booster's equipment includes:

• Legion flight ring: The standard flight ring employed by the adult Legion of Super-Heroes, made of a particular alloy named "valorium", bestows his/her owner with flight abilities. It is the only piece of equipment stolen from the Space Museum that survived to the most recent version of Booster's suit unscathed. Its origins differ slightly between the 1987 and the 2008 series, but in both origins, it is revealed that the ring originally was the one held by Brainiac 5. In the alternate continuity of the Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century series, Brainiac 5 himself arranged the events leading Booster to steal a random flight ring, knowing about his heroic life in the 21st century from historical sources.
• Power suit: Instead of any superhuman powers, Booster Gold uses an advanced microcircuitry-powered all-purpose combat suit. The suit bestows enhanced strength, at least twenty tons without exertion, and protection to the wearer, and is durable, lightweight and easy to wear. The suit is able to withstand bullets without losing its integrity (although being shot hurts). It is equipped with a force field, courtesy of the Brainiac 5 belt, able to withstand powerful impact forces and supplying air for no-air atmospheres and defending Booster from germs and pollution: this particular feature was later downplayed, as Booster prefers now engaging the shield only when necessary to avoid weakening his immune system. Originally, it was the war-suit of an alien invader, put on display on the museum from which Booster stole much of his equipment. The suit was damaged by Doomsday, then replaced with bulky suits of armor and a variation of the "Energy Superman" energy-dampening costume. The current suit, of unknown origin, is a close replica of the original. In the alternate continuity of the Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century series, Brainiac 5 arranged the events leading Booster into stealing a huge array of power cells used by the Science Police to fuel his suit.
• Time-travel circuitry: Originally reliant on a Time-Sphere from chronal transportation, Booster showed during the 52 series the ability to travel back and forth in time on his own volition. His association with Rip came with upgraded time circuitry woven into his costume, allowing him to travel safely through the time-stream and sense and repair chronal anomalies, at the cost of a permanent link with Rip;s equipment.
• Gauntlets: Originally on display as the exotic weaponry of an alien warlord, and using the same energy cells as the suit, the gauntlets contain blasters that can plow through two solid feet of concrete. In the alternate continuity of the Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century series, Brainiac 5arranged the events leading Booster to steal a pair of gauntlets built by LexCorp.
• Visor devices: Booster's visor is outfitted with both sensory amplification devices (both auditory and visual) and a heads-up-display for targeting and threat-identification, along with broad scanning along the electromagnetic spectrum, providing infra-red, ultraviolet, and X-ray vision. It is described by Daniel Carter as "lightweight as a pair of contact lenses", and although it is unable to protect the wearer from sudden flashes of blinding light, it provides a measure of protection.

After being infected and later cured of chronal leprosy, Booster's body now ages at a much slower rate than a normal human being.