Secret Origins#2(1986)

Several years prior, Dan Garrett is working as a visiting professor teaching archaeology at Ted Kord's university. Though Ted is an electronics major, he is interested in archaeology and a fan of Dan's work. Dan is offered a dig in Egypt with fellow Professor Luri Hosid. While taking a plane ride together, the two are shot at by General Amenhotep's hidden weapons and manage to escape. Later at dinner, the two of them run into the General and Dan confronts and fights him before he and Luri run off to their plane to fly back to their dig site. The next day while exploring the tomb of Kha-Ef-Reh, the two discover the pharaoh's sarcophagus. On it lies a blue scarab that Dan picks up. Dan sees a vision of a pharaoh that tells him he has been chosen as mankind's champion and that he will have the power of the scarab - the power of the Blue Beetle. Meanwhile, the General has sent a bomb to destroy the pharaoh's tomb that Dan and Luri are in. Using his powers, Dan sees this and says the magic words he heard in his vision - Kaji Da; triggering his first transformation into the Blue Beetle. As Dan tries to escape with Luri, Kha-Ef-Reh's mummy comes to life and begins to grow to giant proportions. Dan defeats the mummy in combat and it shrinks back to normal. The pharaoh from Dan's earlier vision returns and tells him that by defeating the mummy, Dan has earned the permanent power of the Blue Beetle. Dan breaks things off with Luri as he prioritizes his future as the Blue Beetle. For the next several months, Dan battles many foes; Mr. Thunderbolt, Praying Mantis Man, Mentor the Magnificent, Red Knight, Magno-Man, Mister Crabb, and Sinister Scorpion, before the Blue Beetle disappears from the public eye. After several years, on a rainy night Dan is confronted at his home by Ted who appears incredibly distraught. Ted tells Dan he's been working with his uncle Jarvis on a secret project that he's discovered Jarvis means to use to take over the world. He enlists Dan's help as an archaeologist to travel to Pago Island in search of his uncle in an effort to stop him. Unbeknownst to Ted, Dan is secretly the hero Blue Beetle. Held hostage by Jarvis's robotic creations immediately upon arrival, Dan has no choice but to reveal his identity as the Blue Beetle to save their lives. Shielding Ted from a blast by one of the robots, Dan is fatally struck and dies in Ted's arms. Jarvis's lair and robotic creations end up destroyed and Ted is the only survivor on Pago. After returning home under police suspicion, Ted begins his journey to become the second Blue Beetle.