WARNING: Contains Potential Spoilers for Batman: The Brave and The Bold #14!

Marvel’s Thanos is renowned in pop culture for his success in wiping out half of all life, and now it seems that a Justice League hero is following a similar path into their own era of villainy. Despite the complexity of the situation and the hero’s apparent regret, their actions may irreversibly alter how fans perceive them from this point onward. After all, how do you come back from killing all of humanity?

Mark Russell, Jon Mikel, and Mike Spicer’s Booster-centric tale, Time Jerks, continues with its second installment in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14. In the first chapter, Time Jerks, Part One, Booster Gold inadvertently alters history by knocking the asteroid responsible for the dinosaurs’ mass extinction off course.

Upon returning to the present, Michael discovers that his actions have led to the rise of anthropomorphic dinosaurs and the extinction of humans, barring himself. However, what stands out most is Booster Gold’s apparent indifference to the lives he erased in the process.

Booster Gold Enters His ‘Thanos Era’ As He Causes the Extinction of the Human Race (Barring Himself)

Time Jerks, Part 2, delves into Michael’s response to the repercussions of his actions, highlighting his lack of remorse, which sets him apart from the MCU’s Thanos in a damning way. While Thanos, despite his monstrous deeds, viewed himself as a tragic hero fulfilling a necessary but harsh destiny, believing he was saving the universe, Michael caused the accidental extinction of the human race and initially showed no concern or effort to rectify it. This indifference arguably paints Michael in a worse light than Thanos, especially considering Thanos did not directly wipe out an entire species.

The only thing that finally motivates Booster to attempt to correct his mistake is when Skeets, his robotic sidekick and moral compass, mentions that Michael will never taste a cheeseburger again. Prior to this, Skeets’ attempts to appeal to Booster’s morality had failed, highlighting a significant gap in Michael’s humanity. In essence, while Thanos’ actions were driven by a misguided sense of duty, believing he was balancing the universe, Booster’s accidental extinction of humanity is a result of pure carelessness and indifference, casting him as a true villain in this scenario.

Booster Gold’s Indifference to the End of Humanity Will Be a Hard Thing For His Character to Come Back From in the Hearts of Fans

As of the conclusion of Time Jerks, Part 2, Booster is now committed to correcting his mistake. However, it might be too little, too late, especially in the eyes of fans. While it’s likely that Michael will succeed in restoring humanity, it’s uncertain if fans will forgive this beloved hero. The disregard for human life that Booster displayed, along with his failure to uphold Justice League values, is hard to overlook. This incident has revealed his true, selfish nature. If the Justice League discovers how close they and humanity came to non-existence, it could seriously jeopardize Booster Gold’s standing as a hero in the DC Universe.

Batman: The Brave and The Bold #14 is available now from DC Comics!