Skeets (DC Comics)

Skeets is a fictional artificial intelligence robot from the future in the DC Comics Universe. Usually seen as a companion to Booster Gold, he co-stars in the limited series 52 and the subsequent Booster Gold vol. 2.

Skeets
Skeets, with Booster Gold/Supernova in the reflection.
Cover art for 52 Week 37, by J. G. Jones.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceBooster Gold #1 (February 1986)
Created byDan Jurgens
In-story information
SpeciesArtificial intelligence
Place of origin25th century Earth
PartnershipsBooster Gold
AbilitiesTime travel-resistant plating
Flight
Weapons, surveillance, and knowledge of the future

Publication history

Skeets first appeared in Booster Gold #1 and was created by Dan Jurgens.[1]

Fictional character biography

Booster Gold

A former BX9 (built by Kord Industries, or at least based on Kord patents) security robot at the Space Museum, Skeets arrived from the 25th century with Booster Gold (Michael Jon Carter) with news headlines for the next 500 years. Booster used this knowledge to become wealthy and to stop disasters before they happened. Their success led to Booster's induction into Maxwell Lord's incarnation of the Justice League. Skeets was apparently dismissed and kept in storage (where he killed time by surfing the Internet) during Booster's tenure in the Justice League, but was reactivated to help with repairs when Doomsday badly mangled Booster's power suit. Although he was unable to fix the suit, Skeets revealed again his utility when Blue Beetle acquired the "Exorian Flesh Driver", an alien technology able to feed off of Booster's particular body energy. Willing to substitute the bulkier substitute armor he was forced to build for Booster, but lacking the proper software, Beetle downloaded Skeets' consciousness into the armor. As the Flesh Driver, Skeets could still counsel and help his owner, but he could also take control of Booster's body and motor functions when Booster was knocked unconscious. He was also in charge of the more advanced features of the suit, "rationing" them to force his owner to a more rational use of the Flesh Driver.

Apparently, when Professor Hamilton built Booster a new power suit, similar to his original 25th century technology (briefly containing Skeets' consciousness in the same way the Flesh Driver did), Skeets was again rebuilt as a stand-alone robot.

Infinite Crisis
Main article: Infinite Crisis

Skeets was destroyed in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one-shot by Maxwell Lord and used as surveillance technology that led to the death of Ted Kord. Following the events of The OMAC Project, Booster disappeared, telling his friend Bea he was going home.

Booster reappeared inexplicably with Skeets on the moon in Infinite Crisis #2. They arrived after Superboy-Prime destroyed the Justice League Watchtower and went off in search of the Blue Beetle scarab. They found it with Jaime Reyes and, together with Batman and a team of heroes, they destroyed Brother Eye.

52
Main article: 52 (comics)

After the events of Infinite Crisis, Skeets attempts to help Booster rebuild his reputation, but incorrectly predicts several future events in the process.[2][3][4] Skeets is later examined by Will Magnus, who says that nothing is wrong with him.[3] Booster and Skeets later break into Rip Hunter's lab to question him about possible changes in time. Booster finds Rip has vanished and scrawled notes that indicate Booster is responsible for the changes in time.[5] Booster eventually loses his fame and fortune after a staged fight with a "supervillain" backfires.[6] A new superhero called Supernova appears and quickly eclipses Booster in popularity. Booster attempts to regain his popularity by preventing the meltdown of a nuclear submarine, but dies after it explodes.[7]

Skeets' massacre. Art by Phil Jimenez.

Skeets recruits Booster's ancestor, Daniel, a week later in order to regain access to Rip's lab. Skeets leaves Daniel trapped in a repeating time loop after Daniel uncovers the scrawled notes, which indicate that Skeets is responsible for the changes in time.[8] Skeets later stages an invasion of Metropolis in order to draw out Rip Hunter, which results in the slaughter of several civilians and amateur superheroes. When Firestorm's new Justice League try to stop him, Skeets kills the new Super-Chief and escapes.[9] Skeets then tortures Waverider and dispatches the Time Commander in order to discover Rip's location, while implying that Waverider's metal skin was melted down in order to construct Skeets itself.[10]

Skeets eventually locates Rip in the Bottle City of Kandor, along with Supernova.[11] Supernova reveals himself to be a disguised Booster Gold, who faked his death with Rip's help in order to stop Skeets' plans. Rip uses a Phantom Zone projector built in an attempt to stop Skeets. Skeets absorbs the Phantom Zone itself forcing Rip and Booster to escape.[12] Booster reappears during World War III and steals a nanotech missile from John Henry Irons in order to stop Skeets.[13] Booster and Rip use T.O. Morrow and the severed head of the Red Tornado as bait to lure out Skeets, who takes the bait and attempts to extract the map from inside the Red Tornado's head when Booster and Rip reappear. Skeets' shell then breaks open to reveal a mutated Mister Mind, who has used Skeets as a cocoon during a metamorphosis. Booster and Rip escape "back to where it all started."[14]

As Mister Mind ravages the 52 new universes spawned by the Infinite Crisis, Booster Gold and Rip Hunter, using Blue Beetle's scarab from the Crisis on Infinite Earths and Suspendium from Sivana's labs turn the malfunctioning, still conscious remains of Skeets into a time bomb, meant to contain Mister Mind enough to be hurled into the timestream from Booster and the new Supernova, Daniel Carter. Albeit utterly destroyed, he is later rebuilt from a salvaged responsometer holding a partial copy of his mem-self, combined with Doc Magnus' backup from his first repair job. Housed in a new body, Skeets awakes unable to remember the last year's events, with Booster happily filling the gaps in his memory.[15]

One Year Later

Skeets' empty shell becomes part of the Justice League's mementos in the Hall's trophy room in Justice League of America vol. 2, #7. He later appears in the 2007 Booster Gold series alongside the eponymous character, Rip Hunter, and Daniel Carter, continuing their 52 adventures. Skeets now has a new, upgraded form, more boxy than his previous round form. It is also revealed that Skeets is now a 2.0 model security bot.[16]

In Justice League: Generation Lost, Skeets helps Booster, along with Fire, Ice, and Captain Atom, with the manhunt to bring the resurrected Maxwell Lord to justice. However, Max uses his psychic powers to the utmost to erase all memory of himself from the minds of the entire world. For some reason, Skeets and the JLI members are the only ones who remember Max's existence.[17] Skeets manages to hack the Checkmate information after he was informed to hack every file on every organization on Earth to find Max's whereabouts.[18]

Powers and abilities

Skeets is a 25th-century security robot (sometimes "valet unit") with artificial intelligence. He is capable of flight, cognitive thinking, and voice projection, which is all considered highly advanced for 21st century Earth. He also has historical records and headlines which give him a vast knowledge of what will happen between the 21st and 25th centuries, though its reliability has become questionable, as stated above. He possesses numerous miniature tools and weapons kept within his shell, and is also equipped with a powerful energy blaster. He is apparently immune to reality and temporal manipulation.

Currently housed in a new body, similar to the former one but manufactured by Will Magnus in the modern day, he may have lost several features, like the unique golden alloy surrounding his body that Mister Mind claimed to be Waverider's skin. He has retained his partial but extended knowledge of the future. Several time-travelling features, like the resistance to time travel ravages and a beacon meant to keep him always in contact with Rip Hunter's Time Sphere, were later restored by Rip Hunter, who upgraded Booster Gold's costume with the same technology to employ the duo as temporal agents.

In other media

Television
  • Skeets, along with Booster Gold, appeared in multiple episodes of Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Billy West.
  • Skeets and Booster appear in the background during the first episode of the Legion of Super Heroes animated series.
  • Billy West reprises his role of Skeets in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Menace of the Conqueror Caveman".[19] He gets kidnapped by Kru'll the Eternal after Booster revealed what was powering him. Skeets later saves Booster from super-powered versions of Kru'll's henchmen by releasing his charge and reversing Kru'll's ray's effects. He appears with Booster Gold in "A Bat Divided", but did not have a speaking role. Skeets returned in both parts of "The Siege of Starro" with Booster Gold (who was among the few superheroes that wasn't controlled by the Starros). Skeets was with Booster Gold in "Menace of the Madniks".
  • Skeets appears in the Smallville episode "Booster", voiced by Ross Douglas. He looks like a Bluetooth headset instead of his usual floating robotic design from the comics, but he serves the same purpose as Booster's information guide. In the comic series continuation of the show, Skeets appears along with Booster in the arc titled Argo. He retains his original robotic orb appearance, but is chrome rather than gold.
  • Skeets appears in Justice League Action. He has a Polaroid-style instant camera, which Booster uses on Batman in one episode.

Video games
gollark: No, there is no "submit" button so it accepts *no* passwords.
gollark: security.
gollark: Just add buttons for every possible operation.
gollark: Well, as I said, it should keep previous text onscreeeen.
gollark: Go `const filesRoot = path.join(__dirname, "../dist")` yourself.

References
  1. Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 275. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. 52 Week 1 (May 10, 2006)
  3. 52 Week 2 (May 17, 2006)
  4. 52 Week 3 (May 24, 2006)
  5. 52 Week 6 (June 14, 2006)
  6. 52 Week 7 (June 21, 2006)
  7. 52 Week 15 (August 16, 2006)
  8. 52 Week 19 (September 13, 2006)
  9. 52 Week 24 (October 18, 2006)
  10. 52 Week 27 (November 8, 2006)
  11. 52 Week 36 (January 10, 2007)
  12. 52 Week 37 (January 17, 2007)
  13. 52 Week 50 (April 18, 2007)
  14. 52 Week 51 (April 25, 2007)
  15. 52 Week 52 (May 2, 2007)
  16. Booster Gold #0 (April 2008)
  17. Justice League: Generation Lost #1 (May 2010)
  18. Justice League: Generation Lost #10 (September 2010)
  19. Allstetter, Rob (July 23, 2008). "Batman: The Brave and the Bold". Comics Continuum. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
  • Boosterrific.com An annotated chronology of Booster Gold's published DC Comics comic book appearances, including appearances of Booster Gold's sidekick Skeets.
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