Protests erupted outside the Hollywood premiere of Captain America: Brave New World on Tuesday night as demonstrators called for a boycott of the film for its inclusion of Israeli superhero Ruth Bat-Seraph, or Sabra, played by Shira Haas.
In videos posted on social media, protesters could be seen chanting “Disney, Disney, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”, “every time Disney lies, a little kid in Gaza dies” and “Sabra, Sabra, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?”
Activists also held signs that read “Sabra has got to go,” “Disney supports genocide,” “Boycott ‘Captain America’” and “Pray 4 Princess Jasmine”[sic].
The choice to feature the character Sabra, who first appeared in an issue of The Incredible Hulk in the early 1980s, sparked controversy from the start as the character was originally Jewish, a mutant and a superhuman agent of Mossad.
In the upcoming film version of the comic, Haas portrays the Israeli character as neither a mutant nor a Mossad agent but a hero working for the US government.
Marvel said in a statement to Variety: “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.”
Brave New World producer Nate Moore said in February that Sabra is definitely “not Mossad” in the film and the character has been reinterpreted from its original iteration to better suit the Marvel film universe that’s already been created.
“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 US government.”
