Booster Gold’s Longest-Running Mystery is Finally Solved

Booster Gold’s longest-running mystery has finally been solved, and its answer has raised a fresh set of questions for series creator Dan Jurgens. In today’s issue of Blue and Gold, as promised, Jurgens and the art team on the book finally provided fans with the true identity of the Black Beetle — a character who first appeared in 2008’s Booster Gold #8. In his earliest appearances, he claimed to be a friend of Jaime Reyes, the Blue Beetle who succeeded Booster’s best friend Ted Kord in the job, but that was quickly revealed to be a lie.

During Booster Gold vol. 2 (2007 until 2011), speculating on the identity of the Black Beetle became a favorite pastime for Booster Gold fans. The character asserted himself, in one way or another, into almost every story in that run. A page in a later issue of the series, meant to show a glimpse of events to come in the comic the following year, showed Black Beetle unmasked, with a classic comic book “YOU?!” word balloon.

Spoilers ahead for Blue & Gold #8 (from Dan Jurgens, Ryan Sook, Wade Von Grawbadger, and Rob Leigh), out today.

During the issue, Blue Beetle and Booster are ambushed by Black Beetle, who lacks some of his usual subtlety, but as a result is actually more of a direct threat to immediate life and limb. After transporting them all back to prehistoric times, Booster takes a shot at Black Beetle, and the shot damages the villain’s armor enough to reveal that he is, in fact, Michael Jon Carter.

That’s Booster Gold for those keeping score at home. This Booster is from an alternate timeline, where he was not inspired by the heroes of the past, but by a lust for power. In that world, though, he lacked something crucial: Skeets. Outfitting himself with the Blue Beetle’s Scarab, the “Mike” Carter of Earth-3 looked up to the likes of Ultraman, Power Ring, and Owlman before making his way to the main DC universe.

Black Beetle resents Booster for “wasting” his potential “saving people who died hundreds of years before I was born,” and thinks that he should have sought to rule, rather than becoming a hero.

The original plan to reveal the Black Beetle’s true identity, was to do it in Booster Gold #25. The mystery proved so intriguing to readers, and the story for #25 was already so full, that Jurgens and DC opted to put it off until a planned double-sized story in Booster Gold #50. Unfortunately for Booster fans, Flashpoint happened, and the series ended with Booster Gold #47 in 2011 as part of the line-wide “The New 52” reboot. This is the villain’s first significant appearance since.

At one point, a different creative team sought to name the Black Beetle, tying him to Jaime Reyes more closely than to Booster, but that explanation never took. In the Young Justice animated series, a version of the character has appeared as an elite warrior class of the Breach, the alien race that created the Scarab.