Back in 2023, DC Studios leadership James Gunn and Peter Safran announced a sweeping plan to restart DC’s cinematic superhero universe with a slate of movies and TV shows. The new DCU was outlined with a lineup titled Chapter One: Gods and Monsters, and included projects like Superman and the upcoming HBO series Lanterns. The slate also included a TV series based on Booster Gold, a time-traveling superhero from futuristic Gotham City.
Now it appears that Booster Gold won’t be happening, based on an update from the show’s writer, David Jenkins. On Friday, Jenkins took to Meta’s Threads social network to say, “My Booster Gold won’t be moving forward.” Jenkins excitedly announced his involvement in the show back in 2025, noting that he was “inherit[ing] this project from Danny McBride.” Jenkins previously created Our Flag Means Death for HBO and People of Earth for TBS.
Jenkins was apparently inspired by recent comments from actor Mahershala Ali, who told GQ in an interview that he had “moved on” from Marvel’s Blade movie — and that if Marvel Studios ever did bring the character to the big screen, he wouldn’t be involved.
“[Marvel] had me under contract, they have billions of dollars,” Ali said. “If they wanted to do the movie, we would’ve done the movie. So we’re not doing the movie.”
It’s unclear at this stage if DC Studios still plans to go ahead with some version of Booster Gold that isn’t Jenkins’ version.
Booster Gold, also known as Michael Jon Carter, debuted in 1986’s Booster Gold #1. Created by writer-artist
Dan Jurgens, Carter is a former football star from the 25th century who travels back in time to the present-day DC Universe, along with his robot companion Skeets. Using his knowledge of historical events and futuristic technology, Carter takes advantage of his situation to become rich and famous, adopting the superhero name Booster Gold — a nickname given to him by former President Ronald Reagan. Booster Gold has been a member of the Justice League International and the Justice Society of America in DC Comics, and often pals around with fellow superhero Blue Beetle.
This setback in bringing Booster Gold to the screen is the latest obstacle for Gunn and Safran’s DCU, which has changed substantially from its original announcement. DC Studios has released a handful of projects already, including Superman, Supergirl, and Creature Commandos, but projects like The Authority, Waller, and Paradise Lost have seemingly fallen by the wayside. We’re still waiting on projects like Swamp Thing and The Brave and the Bold as well.
In the meantime, DC fans will get Lanterns in August, Clayface in October, and Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow in July 2027. We’re even getting a Jimmy Olsen/Gorilla Grodd show.