Booster Gold - Writer Commentary
Genre: Action/Superhero/Comedy
Directors: Phil Lord & Chris Miller
Writer: Chad Taylor
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Billy Magnussen, Scoot McNairy, Emmy Rossum, Natalie Dormer, Lee Pace, John Travolta, Kumail Nanjiani (voice)
Plot: Metropolis, 2262.1 Michael Jon Carter (Billy Magnussen) is the back-up quarterback on the local professional football team. His nickname in sports is “Booster Carter”. Explicitly a jock, everyone makes fun of Carter’s arrogance and ego behind his back – a running theme throughout the film. He is also obsessed with the 20th century superheroes, who have grown to be mythic legends. Since their parents died while they were in their teens, he and his twin sister Michelle (Natalie Dormer) have had to look after each other and developed a deep bond. Michael is cornered by two henchmen that reveal that he is neck-deep in gambling debt and if he doesn’t pay up by the next day, his career (and possibly life) will be over.2
1In the comics, Booster is from the 25th Century but that felt a little too distant to me so I moved it up a couple of hundred years.
2I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of Booster's backstory and was really eager to get to the time traveling. I feel like we get through it pretty quickly without totally dismissing it.
That night, he decides to break into Metropolis Hero Hall – a local museum dedicated to the superheroes of the past – and steal value items that he can sell on the black market. He worked there as a tour guide for a couple of years and thus knows the ins and outs. He is relieved to find that his favorite security bot Skeets (voiced by Kumail Nanjiani) - a round-shaped floating bot that knows all yet is also endearingly naïve – is on duty. Michael, who developed a friendship with Skeets back in the day, convinces the robot he still works there. He contemplates stealing Superman’s cape but ultimately decides against it since that’s his idol. When Michael asks Skeets what the most valuable item in the collection is, he is surprised that he is led to the storage archives. It is a large glass sphere-shaped pod that Skeets calls The Time Sphere – a glass shaped time machine created by a man named Rip Hunter.3
3So this is obviously an important wrinkle for the trilogy as a whole. But at the time, I was just praying that this would be a hit so, in all honesty, this was not much more than a nod to an important character in BG lore. Did I hope to use him someday? Sure, but nothing was guaranteed.
He suddenly drops his concerns about the present and views this as a potential escape. He has Skeets lead him through the archives to assemble a superhero outfit of various parts. He wants to be as flashy as possible so he ends up with a shining blue and gold suit with a big star on the chest and a golden visor. While technically not having any “powers”, the state-of-the-art suit enables him to fly, produce high amounts of energy and be resistant to offensive attacks. Michael calls his sister but she doesn’t answer so he leaves a voicemail telling her he loves her. Skeets tells him he can go anywhere he wants. “Anywhere?” “Anywhere.” “Skeets...send me… to the 1990s.”
MUSIC CUE: ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Metropolis, 1991. It’s dark, gloomy, and raining, almost like a spitting image of its sister city Gotham. The people of Metropolis look bummed out. In a district resembling Times Square, Michael watches a news broadcast featuring stories about the heroic deeds of The Metropolis Kid and Steel. Michael turns to Skeets, “Ohhhh no, Superman’s still dead, isn’t he?”. Skeets confirms. “Send me to the REAL 90s. Like…when Ska was cool again.”
MUSIC CUE: ‘Sell Out’. It is now Metropolis, 1997, and slightly less gloomy than before.4 Michael has two goals: 1.) Become famous & 2.) Meet Superman. He uses Skeets as a police scanner so he can make his superhero debut. Skeets uses the police radio waves to locate a robbery at a small gas station. When they arrive to stop the thug, another hero arrives but it is not Superman. Distracted by this goofy looking man in a blue suit with big yellow goggles, the thug starts to make his escape out the back but it is apprehended by the other hero. Still dumbfounded, Michael asks who is this guy and why isn’t Superman here. The man explains that Superman cannot cover every crime in the city, so it is up to people like him to tidy up the smaller disturbances. He offers his hand for a handshake and introduces himself as the Blue Beetle (Scoot McNairy).5
4So these two music cues were one of the first ideas that came to me for this film. I knew I wanted to give the visual cue of two different types of American 90s through music and I knew the exact two songs. And I also decided to make a love of ska be a defining trait of Michael, for some reason. Guardians of the Galaxy was certainly an influence in this regard.
5The introduction of a very important character here. For some, it's hard to imagine Booster Gold without Blue Beetle which meant that I faced a dilemma. Having come to the studio a few seasons late, there had already been a Blue Beetle film. Luckily that film was more focused on the younger version (which becomes important in Justice League International) and APJ was very generous in allowing me to use the character. As with Rip, I had no clue that he was going to be such a big character in multiple films but the film's box office made that a reality.
Moments later, Michael is still laughing about the name Blue Beetle as they walk along a rooftop. When Beetle asks what amazing name he goes by, Michael puffs out his chest and calls himself Goldstar. He explains his futurisitic backstory, to Beetle’s disbelief. Goldstar is then incessant that he is basically a superhero historian from the future and he even HE has never heard of the Blue Beetle.6 Beetle, able to weather Goldstar’s constant teasing, gets an alert for another crime and asks if Goldstar wants to tag along. After hesitation, Goldstar admits that he kinda like this guy and accepts his offer.
6Michael initially wanting to go by "Goldstar" is something taken directly from the early comics (Booster was created in the 80s so a lot of the 90s stuff and integration of Beetle into the story is my addition). This concept of Blue Beetle being in Hero Hall is going to come back around in the third film.
There is a montage of Beetle and Goldstar fighting criminals, using unconventional methods given the 200-year gap in their technological capabilities. After one of the rescues, the clerk (Emmy Rossum)7 thanks them both for saving her. Goldstar is blushing with goo-goo eyes, clearly smitten by her. He whispers to Beetle and asks if it is inappropriate for a hero to ask out someone they saved. After Beetle starts to stammer his answer, Goldstar asks Skeets (who he knows would give him the answer he’s looking for) who starts with “Well actually sir…”. Goldstar makes a quick turnaround before Skeets can finish his answer and asks the girl for her name and if she wants to go on a date. She makes a quick glance at Beetle shrugging his shoulders and then breaks a smile and introduces herself as April.
7April is a new character. Booster doesn't have a solid love interest in the comics (unless you count Ted?) and so I knew I wanted him to fall for someone in the past that would create a central barrier for him from heading back to the future. This convenience store setting ends up being used for nostalgic purposes in Lost in Time, as it is the place they first met.
Clearly intelligent and bit socially awkward, Beetle acts as the perfect counterweight to Goldstar’s airhead antics. Goldstar does seem a bit heartbroken when he finds out that Beetle is Ted Kord, a struggling single father (daughter is six) and lives in a run-down apartment.8 It’s not the glorious superhero life he expected from this era. He comes up with the idea of using Skeets for stock market and sports betting information and getting rich off of this future knowledge. Ted is morally opposed, claiming he doesn’t want to be Biff Tannen – a reference that goes right over Michael’s head.9 He then offers to do the betting himself and “lend” the money to Ted. Still torn, Ted looks back at his daughter watching TV and her less-than-ideal surroundings and tells Michael maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Michael, clearly joyous about getting to cheat the system, has a big stupid grin on his face.
8This aspect of Ted's character sort of gets lost over the course of this series as he becomes more successful and build Kord Industries, although we don't get much glimpses of Ted's personal life. His daughter would be around Jaime Reyes's age in APJ's Blue Beetle and could still pop up in a future film, I suppose.
9Making references like this and seeing what gets through to Michael (and thus what has survived to the 23rd century) was always fun for me. Ska survives but Back to the Future doesn't (a movie I felt I had to make reference to since it is an influence on me).
In a well-secured government facility, a man in a suit (Lee Pace) is going over confidential files with his set of assistants. They are reviewing various security footage on small monitors when one of the monitors catches the man’s eye and he tells them to pause it. Zooming in on the screen, we see it is footage of a Goldstar/Beetle rescue mission with Goldstar flying above. Puzzled, the man looks at his assistants and asks who these guys are.
Michael goes on his date with April, dressed to the nines. At dinner, Michael doesn’t reveal that he is from the future and instead asks to the go the restroom anytime she says a phrase or reference he doesn’t understand and Skeets is waiting for him there to feed him answers.10 April suggests they go see Titanic, everyone’s talking about it. She is shocked to find out that he has never heard of the movie or the story and right before she explains what it is, Michael cuts her off and says “NO SPOILERS!”
CUT TO: Michael huddled up in April’s arms in the theater, them both crying their eyes out (him more than her) as “My Heart Will Go On” plays in the end credits.
10In the comics, Skeets is often used to be Booster's guide to 20th/21st century vocabulary and references. I feel like this is another thing that sort of gets lost in the sequels as more elements are added to the story (along with Skeets in general) but I found it useful here and a situation where he was trying to impress a date seemed like the right time.
The next day, Skeets picks up a radio frequency seemingly out of nowhere, and Michael listens in as they learn of a planned assassination attempt on President Clinton’s life. Michael asks Skeets if he’s related to any of the nine Clintons that have been President since then and Skeets confirms. In a moment of selfish arrogance, Michael decides that he wants to go on this mission alone and not tell Ted as this will be an opportunity to really shine in the spotlight.
President Clinton (John Travolta) is making a speech in St. Louis with the Gateway Arch as a backdrop. Goldstar decides he is going to save Clinton instead of capturing the assassin.11 Goldstar, after ensuring that there are plenty of TV cameras in the area, starts to fly near the action but is almost immediately shot down by Secret Service agents and apprehended. The authorities take Skeets from him as well. Rendered powerless and authorities turning a deaf ear to his pleas about the assassination, Goldstar must try to sweet talk his way into getting out. He gets Skeets to tell the agents all of their personal information and he begins to tell them about their future as well. Dumbfounded by the scary accuracy, the men huddle together to talk amongst themselves when Goldstar is able to get Skeets to re-activate his suit and make his escape.
11This story is directly borrowed from the early BG run. The villain in the book is a generic assassin group and I probably should have changed that. There is no real villain in this film and that is on me. But BG also doesn't have a great rogues gallery, which is why I borrowed from other parts of the DC Universe in future films.
Goldstar, wanting to avoid being shot at again, sprints through the crowd toward the podium. Just as he reaches the President and shields him, a window breaks from a gunshot at a nearby hotel. The crowd is in panic as Goldstar is surprised to find that no bullet hit anywhere near the stage. He flies to the hotel and into the broken window, where the assassin is already tied up. Waiting for him is Blue Beetle, who reveals that Skeets informed him of Goldstar’s arrest. Using the intel Skeets received from the rogue radio signal, Beetle got to the room right before the gunmen shot, grabbed the gun and pointed it towards the sky, and then tied him up. Goldstar is amazed, but Beetle tells him to take the tied gunmen to the authorities himself and be the celebrity hero he’s always wanted to be.12 When asked how he got to St. Louis so fast, Beetle summons “The Bug” – a flying beetle-shaped aircraft – and gives Goldstar a big goofy grin of his own.
12If you've seen Lost in Time, you'll know how important this moment is to the arc of this duo. Booster is all about the glory (especially in the 2nd film) while Ted is always the one willing to get things done without much recognition. It takes a while for Michael to realize how much Ted means to him as a friend and as a hero but he gets there in the end.
At the televised awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom weeks later, Clinton thanks Goldstar for his life-saving heroics. While Goldstar (in full costume) is clearly itching to bask in all his glory during his own speech, he actually takes the moment to turn around and thank the real hero of the moment – Blue Beetle. Ted, slightly embarrassed, says into the mic that it’s a working title. When Clinton asks for Michael’s name, he responds “Booster---uh---Goldst-“ “To Booster Gold!” The whole place erupts in applause as Ted smirks at Michael for botching the name announcement.13
13This fumbled name announcement is something else directly from the comics. I've always found it funny that he is stuck with a name by messing up his own announcement (and of course, the name Goldstar will come back around).
As they are walking out, Ted shares a brief flirtatious look with a young White House aide – name tag reading Lewinsky. Booster says Beetle should totally ask her out, but he is too nervous and keeps on walking.14 They are approached by the man examining the monitors from earlier, who introduces himself as Maxwell Lord15 – senior executive in the Small Business Administration. He shakes the hands of both heroes and thanks them for their service. He informs them that they may be hearing from him in the near future, but when they inquire for more, he says that nothing has been finalized and so he cannot speak on it just yet.
14This is something I probably would not have included had I written it today. I like Michael trying to constantly set up Ted but the Lewinsky joke probably wasn't needed.
15So again, this is someone who I knew was going to be key (but only if there was a sequel). He was probably going to be the villain in BG2 but the formation of the Justice League International meant I could stretch out his transformation a bit longer.
While Michael and April watch Con Air on VHS cuddled up on her couch, she mentions how she can’t wait to introduce him to her sister – who is also basically her best friend. This hits close to home with Michael, as he suddenly faces the question about whether or not he should stay in the past or go back to his own period to be with his sister. He then realizes his moral obligation to tell April the truth about his origins. Clearly shocked, she tells him she needs some time of clarity and asks for him to leave. She is more upset about him lying than anything else.
While talking with Ted, Michael becomes enthused by a new idea. Since his sister is the only thing he cares about in the future, he is going to take her back to 1997 with him and leave the rest behind. When he arrives back in 2262, he tells Michelle about the Time Sphere and asks her to go on this adventure with him. After much reluctance, she finally accepts when she knows what kind of danger he is in.16 On their way out, they pass through Hero Hall – where Blue Beetle is now prominently featured amongst Metropolis icons. While Michael has the chance to see the date of Ted’s death, he passes up on the opportunity and heads back to the past.17
16I do feel like the two main female characters of this story are underwritten throughout the trilogy, something I would go back and change. Michelle plays a key role in the sequel but I didn't really have a place for her in the third film so I wrote her out. The inverse could be said about April, who is out of the second film but returns in the third. I couldn't find a place for her in the already-stuffed story but I figured they would have reconciled their relationship by Lost in Time and her character is crucial for providing some closure.
17Also an ominous bit of foreshadowing, although I didn't know at the time where this would go.
Back in 1997, Michael introduces Michelle to this new era. He raves about the music and plays her ‘MMMBop’ – which she does quite enjoy. When they visit Ted’s apartment, he answers the door and immediately asks who they are. Michael tenses up into a cold sweat, suddenly realizing he may have erased his old 1997 journey by going back to the 25th century. Ted smirks and says he was just messing with them and hugs Michael (who is both relieved and pissed that he let Ted get one over on him).18 In private, Ted jokingly mentions that Michelle is cute but this time Michael shakes his head no and says that’s weird. He tells both Ted and Michelle that he has some work to do and before he leaves, tells Ted not to make any moves on his sister. Michelle laughs, taking it as a harmless joke, while Ted immediately blushes in deep embarrassment.
18I know this happens occasionally in time travel movies but I knew I wanted to do it here, to provide a short little scare to the audience like it did for Michael. And it's a classic example of Ted reversing the roles and pulling a prank on Michael.
Michael arrives outside of April’s home. Skeets asks Michael “Do I really have to do this?” and Michael tells him he has no choice. He then grabs Skeets by both of his hands and lifts him in the air. Skeets acts as a stereo and starts to play ‘My Heart Will Go On’. Michael stops him seconds in and says he has an even better choice: “play the song from Con Air.”19
CUT TO: Michael singing along to the chorus of ‘How Do I Live?’ wildly out-of-key. April comes outside, clearly embarrassed at first but it doesn’t take long for her to crack a smile.
19As a big fan of Elliott Smith's performance at the 1998 Oscars (sandwiched between the performance of these two big songs), I latched on to "How Do I Live?" early as it complimented Michael's Nic Cage adoration well. The song is another recurring element throughout the series.
In the near future, there is a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Goldstar Inc., a holding company/creative agency with Booster Gold and Blue Beetle as the main clients and Michelle as CEO. April is also at the ceremony at Booster’s side. Afterwards, inside the business, Michael is informed of a movie offer from a major Hollywood studio. He accepts before even hearing the plot, director or even the title. Maxwell Lord arrives at Goldstar, flanked by two bodyguards, and asks to speak with Michael and Ted. In a private meeting, Lord extends an offer for them both to join his new upstart initiative: Justice League International. Ted is skeptical and starts to ask if this is any relation to the well-known Justice League of America. Before he can finish, Michael interrupts “HELL. YES. We accept! Now, is THIS when I get to meet Superman?!”. Lord smiles.20
20A few things here: the film version of Justice League International wasn't in the works at this point so this was pretty much directly related to a Booster Gold sequel (and Martian Manhunter was already in my head as they were in this group together in the post-Crisis team in the 80s). The Superman mentions were also a bit of a gamble, because at the time he was still a no-no at LRF and he wasn't going to be able to show up. Luckily, the series stretched out far enough that closure can finally be reached in a very unique way in the third film. If you haven't seen that movie (or BG2: The Booster Gold Story), I would recommend checking those out! As I've detailed in this commentary, there are a lot of recurring elements that weave in and out and are set up to pay off in the final film. Thank you guys on joining me on this journey both when it was released and with this audio commentary. I look forward to doing more of these in the future!
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