For better or worse, ‘Blue Beetle’ draws comparisons to a forgotten manga adaptation starring Mark Hamill

The first trailer for DC’s Blue Beetle is going to be one of the biggest pop culture talking points of the day, especially when Shazam! Fury of the Gods has continued free-falling at the box office to head directly towards the unwanted status of being the franchise’s biggest-ever bomb.

While co-CEO James Gunn made a point of touting The Flash as one of the greatest superhero blockbusters that he’d ever seen, the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker has been awfully quiet on Blue Beetle. For all we know, it could end up being a one-and-done effort that doesn’t factor into Chapter 1: Gods & Monsters at all, unless of course it becomes a commercial phenomenon.

However, one of the strangest comparisons has already been made, with the completely forgotten 1991 adaptation of manga and anime series The Guyver created by Yoshiki Takaya, one that also happened to star a certain Mark Hamill in a major role.

Made on a shoestring budget of $3 million, The Guyver is hardly a widely-beloved classic, but it did end up getting a sequel. It remains entirely up in the air as to whether or not Blue Beetle will get similar treatment, but outside of the somewhat similar costumes, the gruesomely violent hybrid of Tokusatsu, body horror, sci-fi, and superhero shenanigans isn’t going to be a point of reference for the upcoming PG-13 DCU adventure outside of those who were aware that it even existed to begin with.

Hamill has a long and illustrious association with DC thanks to his iconic stint as the Joker, but The Guyver isn’t exactly held up as one of his best.