Booster boosters know that much of Booster's origin was based on elements of Superman's Silver Age continuity (as covered on several pages of this site, including the Boosterrific! Blog post from December 4, 2015. But just because Booster became a successful hero in his own right didn't mean he was done "borrowing" from costumes and powers from Superman 's history.

Yes, I'm talking about Supernova.

Introduced in 52 Week 8 (2006), mysterious Metropolis hero Supernova's secret identity stumped even veteran reporter Clark Kent. Few at the time guessed that underneath his mask, Supernova was really the disgraced hero Booster Gold using the powers of flight and teleportation.

How did he do it? His teleportation was a clever manipulation of the Kryptonian Phantom Zone projector technology invented by Jor-El, Superman's father (first seen in Adventure Comics #283, 1961). And he flew by way of Booster's own 30th-century Legion Flight Ring, which in pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths continuity had originally been Superboy's (first seen in Adventure Comics #329, 1965).

The best part is even the concept of Supernova as one-hero-disguised-as-another was a nod to something Superman once did.

cover art by Neal Adams

First seen in World's Finest Comics #178, 1968, the "Nova" persona was adopted by Superman as a way to continue fighting crime following an unfortunate encounter with an alien invader that left him powerless.

Nova used Batman's utility belt as his inspiration to create a costume with its own powers. Amusingly enough, this included a cape created by Leonardo da Vinci that Superman had picked up during an earlier time-traveling adventure. (In fact, Superman and Leonardo da Vinci had worked together as recently as the previous issue!)

The Nova personality was used only for a few misadventures, including a villainous turn against Batman and the triumphant defeat of a criminal mastermind. The costume was eventually shelved as Superman returned to his former costumed identity.

World's Finest Comics #180, by Cary Bates, Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, Ben Oda

Every Nova adventure took place in one of DC's infamous "imaginary" stories, but that doesn't make them any less influential. Booster Gold may be a thief, but at least he steals from the World's Finest!

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Here we go again.

Heroes in Crisis isn't even over yet, and Booster Gold is already being included as a possible victim of the next round of DC's version of Russian Roulette.

This is the house ad that ran in this week's DC's Year of the Villain Special advertising for August's upcoming relaunch of Batman/Superman. As you can see, our hero, Booster Gold, is included among the list of possibilities to become the newest threat to the DC Universe in August's relaunch of Superman/Batman Batman/Superman.

The series writer, Joshua Williamson, spoke about the upcoming series with The Hollywood Reporter.

"We discover, through the Batman Who Laughs series that the Batman Who Laughs have been working on this massive plan since Metal. What it is is, he has sleeper agents throughout the [DC Universe]. They’ve been infected, and they’re slowly turning into the worst versions of themselves," Williamson teased. "Some of them know they're changing, some don't. Some aren't aware it's kind of like a Jekyll and Hyde situation where they're not aware of [what] the other side is doing.

I can't say as I'm particularly enthusiastic about this, but I think it's more the timing than the concept. What with Metal, Doomsday Clock, Heroes in Crisis, Leviathan, "Year of the Villain," etc., it's starting to feel like villains having the upper hand is the rule, not the exception, in the modern DCnU. A little sunlight, some *joy*, some *fun* would do everyone some good. Why bother being a hero anymore if it's never anything but murder and sadness? No one likes to always be in crisis.

In other words, why so serious, DC?

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Though Heroes in Crisis seems to get all the column width around here, Booster Gold has appeared in two other titles in the past two weeks. Granted, they aren't major appearances, but they shouldn't be ignored.

First up: The Flash #65, as spotted by Shawn Baston.

As you can see, Booster has only a cameo appearance as a face (with the collar!) on the Batcomputer as Batman tries to decipher who else could be working with his enemies. Hmm. Booster Gold has been behaving oddly recently. Could it be...? Nah. Not our Booster.

Secondly: Doomsday Clock #9.

Taking place sometime after the conclusion to Heroes in Crisis, nearly every hero in the entire DC New Universe travels to Mars to confront Doctor Manhattan, who has the power to transform reality and may have killed Superman. We'll have to wait for Doomsday Clock #10 in April to see if our hero survived.

Keep your eyes peeled, everyone. Booster Gold could be anywhere!

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The solicitation for Heroes in Crisis #9 is out. It looks like Booster Gold will finally be on one of the Ryan Sook variant covers. Sook has created a cover for each issue of the series, each showcasing a key "traumatic" moment of a hero's (or villain's) career.

As a reminder, here are the 8 Sook covers that have been revealed so far. (His cover for issue 7 remains a secret.)

Is the suggestion that it was Harley who took all these photos for the Sanctuary files? Maybe we'll find out in Heroes in Crisis #9. Here's the full solicitation text with an appropriate spoiler warning:

HEROES IN CRISIS #9
written by TOM KING
art and cover by CLAY MANN
variant cover by RYAN SOOK
The most-talked-about miniseries of the year reaches its stunning finale! The mystery behind the murders at Sanctuary is solved, but the mind behind it is one the heroes never expected. With their deepest secrets exposed, the Trinity has to consider how to carry on. Should the tragedy cause them to redouble their efforts to help their hurting comrades, or will they need to close up shop? The answers will be found in the ashes of this final showdown, and the fates of Booster Gold, Harley Quinn and the rest hang in the balance. Click here to reveal potential spoilers
ON SALE May 22 · $3.99 US

You can find the complete list of April DC Comics solicitations on Newsarama.com.

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Max Lord is the big "winner" receiving a clear majority of the vote, so I feel comfortable declaring him Booster Gold's arch nemesis, Rebirth continuity be damned!

Last week's poll question: Which villain do you consider to be Booster Gold's arch-enemy? (47 votes)

(If you voted "someone else," who did you have in mind? Dirk Davis?)

While we're on the subject of villains, someone has been making Booster Gold's life miserable recently in the pages of Heroes in Crisis. (We all agree Booster is innocent, right? Right.) The identity of the real culprit has been the subject of much debate recently as the series nears its halfway point.

One popular Internet theory is that the real villain is Skeets. This is mostly based on one panel in Batman #50 that remains unexplained. The link between these two stories is writer Tom King. Could he have been dropping Heroes in Crisis clues in Batman? I doubt it. I just can't believe that he'd crib so blatantly from 52.

The manager of my Local Comic Shop thinks that the mastermind behind the murders is Psycho Pirate. For those who don't know, Psycho Pirate — a character with key ties to the biggest crisis, Crisis on Infinite Earths — has the ability to manipulate emotions, a power that fits well into a story advertised as being about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. (For what it's worth, PP is also in the aforementioned panel with Skeets in Batman #50. But then so was the Joker. Joker can't be behind all this, can he?)

Personally, I've decided that there aren't really any murders in Heroes in Crisis. I think it's all just one ongoing computer simulation designed to.... Well, I'm not sure what it's designed to do. Unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. We'll all have to see it for ourselves.

If you need some evidence to support your pet theory, Vaneta Rogers put together a list of the clues at Newsarama.com. Take a look and see if you can't solve these crimes before Booster Gold does.

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