There is something both quite romantic and desperately sad about the real origins of the superhero story. Talented American Jews of the 1930s, unable to build a career because of their religion and despairing at the destruction of European Jewry, wrote about saviours who had superpowers that could simply zap away the evil in society.
The Judaism in these stories was often hidden but it was there if you looked hard enough. Superman, the first comic superhero, an immigrant called Kal El — “of God” in Hebrew — was created by Jewish refugees Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The powerful red “S” on his chest could be seen as a rebuke to the swastika. Similarly, Stan Lee’s Jewish roots inspired the stories of Spider-Man and the X-Men.
Many Jewish superheroes, such as Batwoman, had their ethnicity erased once they get on screen. Others had it downplayed.
In print, the 1975 superhero Moon Knight was the son of a rabbi whose identity was formed by an encounter with a Nazi serial killer; in the recent Disney + television adaptation, he briefly wears a kippah at a shiva and that’s about it. Similarly, the 1963 X-Men character Magento, a Shoah survivor, has his Jewishness condensed to a single scene in the film.
The huge success of The Black Panther showed there was an appetite for films with minority leads. Earlier this year, a TV series starring a Muslim superhero, Ms Marvel, received huge acclaim. Now Marvel has launched its first thoroughly and unmissably Jewish superhero, Sabra. She’s dressed in blue and white and is prickly but soft-centred, as her name suggests.
Of course, there are plenty who hope that the whole project will be zapped before it even starts.
Sabra isn’t just Jewish but Israeli. She isn’t just Israeli but she is a Mossad mutant. And she’s not just a Mossad mutant but she’s being played by the award-winning Israeli actress Shira Haas. (The mere fact that Wonder Woman was played by an Israeli, Gal Gadot, was enough to see the film banned in Lebanon and Kuwait.)
Sabra first appeared in the Incredible Hulk comic in the 1980s as an Israeli version of Captain America. In the original comic, the Hulk helps her develop sympathy for Palestinians and we learn that her child was killed by Palestinian terrorists.
There’s already been so much controversy around the announcement – plenty of frothing mouths – that Marvel was forced to say that the story would be different to the one in the comic. Haters will continue to hate. But I am pleased that we are finally going to see a great Jewish superhero.
Jews in the News
it was the ultimate Jew-do: celebs mixed with politicians at the opening night of my fellow JC columnist Jonathan Freedland’s play, Jews. In Their Own Words. Rob Rinder was the first on his feet to give a standing ovation while David Baddiel was there with his brother, Ivor. I was lucky enough to sit next to Howard Jacobson who – in a surreal way – was also on stage. Sadly, Tracy-Ann Oberman, who came up with the idea for the play, was missing as it was the opening night for her play Noises Off at the Theatre Royal in Bath.
how knew there would be so much mileage in tidying up? Freshly off honeymoon, Stacey Solomon is launching her second book about organisational hacks, crafting and tidying things away, Tap To Tidy At Pickle Cottage.
Friends star Lisa Kudrow has joined the cast of Apple TV+’s Time Bandits, which is being adapted from the 1981 cult Terry Gilliam film by Taika Waititi.
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President Zelensky (Getty Images)
Be still my Jewish heart! Two very different icons – Ukrainian President Zelensky and Barbra Streisand – have met, even if it’s just by video link. The singer has become an ambassador for the president’s United24 initiative, raising funds for Ukrainian relief.
Mazeltov to Gwyneth Paltrow who celebrated turning 50 by getting nude, being painted in gold and making it into almost every newspaper in the world. The actress and alternative-health guru, whose father was Jewish, has also a written a mea culpa for the High Holy Days. “I have let people down by not being who they needed me to be. I have betrayed myself to keep the peace ... I have not spoken my truth to spare some perceived consequence, that hurting someone will tear us both apart.”
