Pretty much since the Israeli superhero Sabra was announced as part of the character lineup in Captain America: Brave New World, there’s been controversy and protest. And now, based on info provided related to the recently released trailer for the film, it seems like Marvel has made some pretty significant changes to her backstory. Specifically, there’s no mention of the whole “Israel” thing.
The news comes via Marvel.com’s official post for the trailer. They state, “New to the cast is Shira Haas, who joins as Ruth Bat-Seraph. A former Black Widow, Ruth is now a high-ranking U.S. government official who has the trust of President Ross.”
To be 100% clear, this is just a character description on Marvel’s website. It doesn’t say she is not Israeli. Nor does it state that she will not be revealed to be a superhero named Sabra in the movie. She’s also only in two quick shots in the trailer, both sans dialogue. There’s a whole movie we haven’t seen… And this wouldn’t be the first time a Black Widow has shown up in a Marvel movie pretending to be a trusted advisor, only to turn out to be working for someone else*.
(*I’m referring to Scarlett Johansson’s turn in Iron Man 2. There she was introduced as Pepper Potts’s assistant Natalie Rushman. Later — shocker — she turned out to be Black Widow, working for Nick Fury. In case that wasn’t apparent.)
However, based on the description, as well as Marvel’s previous statements on the matter, fans are assuming that Sabra has been tweaked to simply be Ruth Bat-Seraph. Changing the character is something that Marvel has been pretty open about as far back as 2022 when they announced the character would be in the movie back at the D23 Expo. After backlash from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, Marvel reacted with a statement. Via THR, the company said, “While our characters and stories are inspired by the comics, 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.”
But what’s perhaps most surprising is the change seems to be: everything about her. So let’s break down who Sabra is in the comics before we get to why everyone is so upset… And why they’re still upset, despite this change.
Who Is Sabra From Marvel Comics?
Created by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema in 1980, Sabra (named Ruth Bat-Seraph in the comics as well) was first introduced in The Incredible Hulk #250. She’s an Israeli mutant with superhuman strength and speed. She also can heal others and herself and give people superpowers temporarily. She also has little wrist plasma firing things.
Sounds cool, right? The issues stem from the fact that she’s also an official member of Mossad, the Israeli secret service. As in the real world, Israel has issues — to put it lightly — with some other Middle Eastern countries, so too has Sabra been a mouthpiece for those views. I know I’m dancing around specifics. But this is a comic book website, and I do not feel qualified to parse Middle Eastern politics.
Point being, the mere inclusion of Sabra in Brave New World drew ire because even a loose adaptation would skirt some very dicey issues… Let alone after last year’s escalation of conflict between Israel and Palestine. However, they have perhaps gone from “loose adaptation” to “same name and that’s it” but we’ll see.
There’s More Controversy Over The Meaning Of Sabra, Though, Thanks To The Sabra Massacre
The basic definition of “Sabra” is a Jewish person born in Israel. That’s most likely where Mantlo got the name from. However, some of those who are protesting the inclusion of Ruth Bat-Seraph in Captain America 4 are calling out the Sabra and Shatila massacre. That happened over three days in 1982, and resulted in the deaths of between 1,300 and 3,500 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, as Israeli troops stood by and did not intervene.
However, it’s perhaps important to note that while the name can be triggering for some people, Sabra first appeared in 1980, two years before the massacre. She wasn’t named after the massacre, nor is the character related to it in any way.
That hasn’t stopped folks from planning to protest the movie — or at least say they’re planning to protest the movie… Whether Ruth Bat-Seraph is Sabra or not. Part of the reason for that is Haas, who was born in Tel Aviv, served a short period of service as a member of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF). That’s legally required in Israel for almost all citizens, but as with Tomer Capone on The Boys, has drawn ire online.
Captain America: Brave New World opens in theaters on February 14, 2025. So it’ll still be a while until we see who or what Ruth Bat-Seraph is in the film… And if the protests will hurt the box office.
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