The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has called for a boycott of Marvel’s upcoming film, Captain America: Brave New World. A statement read:
Palestinians call for widespread boycotts of Marvel’s 2024 film, Captain America: New World Order, unless it drops Sabra/Ruth Bat-Seraph, its “superhero” that personifies the apartheid state of Israel.
The character’s backstory includes working for the Israeli government and occupation forces. By reviving this racist character in any form, Marvel is promoting Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians.
Marvel must have known that this boycott was coming, as the film was set to have an altogether different title. It was previously known as Captain America: New World Order. The phrase “new world order” is commonly associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Captain America: Brave New World – Marvel’s choice
As the statement above suggests, one of the main characters pulled from Marvel comics history was Sabra. Gizmodo explain:
Sabra was introduced as not just Israel’s national hero, but an agent of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.
Sabra was the character’s alter-ego, with her civilian persona known as Ruth Bat-Seraph. The New Arab noted that ‘Sabra’ can denote a Jewish person born in Israel. However, now the word ‘Sabra’ is best known for the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon in 1982. Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp, and the neighbouring town of Sabra saw Israel and a right-wing Lebanese militia kill between 2000 and 3500 people. As Al Jazeera explains:
More than 100,000 Palestinians, mostly from the northern areas of historic Palestine, were expelled and fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Nakba.
Since then:
Not one single Lebanese or Israeli fighter or official was punished for the crimes committed.
Sabra first appeared in Marvel comics in 1980 – the fact the Marvel Cinematic Universe has chosen to resurrect this previously insignificant character now that more details of the Sabra massacre are known is sickening. Clearly, this has registered enough with Marvel that the character is referred to as ‘Ruth Bat-Seraph’ in the film listings, and not as Sabra. On top of that, the character’s actress, Shira Haas, has voluntarily served in the Israeli army.
An inevitable boycott
Marvel could have easily avoided the inevitable boycotts to the film. Instead, they chose to bring forward a little-known character for what may be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Quds News Network reported that a number of supporters of Palestine showed up to protest at the premiere:
Pro-Palestinian Protest Outside "Captain America: Brave New World" Premiere in Hollywood.
Hollywood witnessed a pro-Palestinian protest outside the premiere of "Captain America: Brave New World" tonight, amid growing backlash over the inclusion of the character "Sabra." The… pic.twitter.com/YpFaj15a7l
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 12, 2025
Sabra’s original appearances in the comics leaves much to be desired:
They’re protesting this film in particular because it features an Israeli superhero by the name of ‘Sabra’, a Mossad agent. https://t.co/m5gcCvsIXj pic.twitter.com/jDWiKVxRFa
— Sana Saeed (@SanaSaeed) February 12, 2025
There’s also been some discussion about how this is the first film outing for Marvel’s first Black Captain America, Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. However:
So you don’t have room for an ACTUAL character who can show the impact Sam has as a black Captain America but you have room for the IOF soldier and her propaganda? https://t.co/fFnM61D8hJ
— Ash 🪲 (@H3YD4V3) February 10, 2025
As a major Marvel production, Captain America: Brave New World will have been in development for many years. It doesn’t matter when, they knew exactly what the character Sabra was in the comics. They chose to keep her character, and to cast a former Israeli soldier. This begs the question, would Chris Evans have warranted this kind of treatment for his first film?
By all means, explore the character of the first Black Captain America, a decision that so enraged racist Marvel fans. But let’s stop pretending that it has to be done with the inclusion of a character whose name is synonymous with the deaths of thousands, and for a film that is released during an ongoing genocide.
History with militaries
Marvel is no stranger to the military industrial complex. As is commonplace in Hollywood, studios will often broker deals with the US military:
Producers agree to this to be able to borrow military equipment and personnel for shoots, which saves millions of dollars in props and CGI. The military only lends its equipment to movies whose scripts do not besmirch the military. A representative of the Pentagon’s liaison office said that military approval is only given if the movie depicts the military accurately. But, “any film that portrays the military as negative is not realistic to [the Pentagon].”
On-screen propaganda aside, there are also tangible benefits for the military:
Marvel’s Captain Marvel followed in its footsteps; the studio partnered with the air force to use the movie as a tool to boost recruitment of female pilots. The military succeeded again, last year seeing a modest bump in the percentage of female applicants.
Marvel is a cog in the military industrial machine that manufactures consent for the US military’s depravity in supporting Israeli genocide. They don’t need our money – and they’re bloody well not going to get it.
Featured image via screengrab
