Several dozen pro-Palestine protestors gathered Tuesday outside the Hollywood premiere of “Captain America: Brave New World” and called for a boycott of the film over its inclusion of the Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, aka Sabra, played by Shira Haas.
Protestors held signs that read “Sabra has got to go,” “Disney supports genocide,” “Boycott ‘Captain America’” and “Pray 4 Princess Jasmine.” They chanted phrases such as “Free, free, free Palestine” and “Disney, Disney you can’t hide.”
The inclusion of Sabra, who was a Mossad agent in the comics, sparked controversy among Palestinian fans in 2022. Marvel soon released a statement assuring that it is taking a “new approach” to the character for “Brave New World.”
“While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics,” Marvel said in a statement to Variety, “they are always freshly imagined for the screen and today’s audience, and the filmmakers are taking a new approach with the character Sabra who was first introduced in the comics over 40 years ago.”
“Brave New World” producer Nate Moore added in February that Sabra is “not Mossad” in the film and “works in the U.S. government” instead.
“What we thought was interesting was a lot of the characters in the film revolve around President Thaddeus Ross [Harrison Ford],” Moore said. “Ruth works within the government under Ross, so her perspective on that character and Sam’s perspective sort of put them on a collision course. She’s first-generation Israeli, but she works within the U.S. government.”
Sarba’s first appearance in Marvel comics was in an early 1980s issue of “The Incredible Hulk.” Even then, her presence was contentious since it brought the voice of Marvel into the Israeli-Palestine conflict (via The New York Times).
