The ad in question featured an image of the iconic masked character throwing a Molotov cocktail, a homemade grenade made from gasoline-filled bottles and frequently used by Hong Kong protesters in clashes with police.

Pink letters in the foreground say “the future is young.”

Many of the protesters in Hong Kong - who are fighting an extradition-to-China proposal - are college-age or younger and wore masks during the demonstrations.

The similarities were not lost on Chinese citizens.

“No matter what the reason, to put an image like this up at a sensitive time like this means you have a death wish,” a user on the social media site Weibo wrote, according to the Daily Beast.

The ad, part of a promotion for DC Comics’ “Dark Knight Returns: The Golden Child,” was yanked from the company’s Twitter and Instagram accounts following the backlash.

The removal then prompted criticism from backers of the Hong Kong protesters.