Blue Beetle's Villain Is DC's Answer To Darth Vader (Kind Of)

Contains spoilers for "Blue Beetle"

There are some key moments from "Blue Beetle" that see DC's newest big-screen hero crawling over-familiar "Spider-Man" territory, and it's not the only big franchise that it seems to be taking notes from. For the Force-sensitive among us, you might see some strong similarities between the big bad of "Blue Beetle" and another from a galaxy far, far away. 

Jaime (Xolo Maridueña) might not be at the forefront of a massive rebellion, but he's certainly got similar struggles to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in the form of the evil and corrupt Victoria Kord (Susan Sarandon), as well as her nearly silent but violent henchman, Conrad Carapax (Raoul Trujillo). These two feel very much like the "Blue Beetle" versions of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, albeit with a much briefer partnership that goes south quickly.

Just like Palpatine, Victoria Kord is putting up a front as a cover for shady goings-on that will provide her with infinite power, and she's doing it using a towering scarred casualty of war as her muscle. Now, while Carapax might not suffer from the same breathing issues as Lord Vader, he does have his missing limbs replaced by robotic ones in order to become a truly imposing and unstoppable force to be reckoned with. Besides that, there's also the matter of high demands from upper management, ruling squads of henchmen with a metal fist, and eventually reaching the limit where they both tell their bosses that enough is enough in a massively dramatic fashion.

While his story might not be as stretched out as the formidable Sith Lord, Carapax does get a similar offer from his boss that has wires (and strings) attached. Besides being given robot limbs, Jaime's first foe also gets upgraded via the OMAC project, making him more machine than man. Even the grand finale of Jamie and Carapax's struggle has shades of Vader's final battle. After Carapax is defeated and Jaime takes the high ground, Carapax finally puts an end to his overbearing boss in a method that almost seems far more intense than even Vader did with Palpatine.

After learning the error of his ways in his final moments, Carapax decides to turn on his master just as Vader did with Palpatine, leading to both of their respective ends. The Kord Industries muscle applies a far more brutal method, however, by walking himself and Victoria into a fire, as opposed to chucking her down an exhaust shaft. It's here where Carapax mirrors Vader in the best way by redeeming himself in a final brutal act. In the end, the similarities really are strong with this one.