What quality would one consider the most necessary in superhero movies? Would it not be courage? 

If so, there seems to be precious little of it at Marvel Studios. Their upcoming comic-book film Captain America: Brave New World will introduce a character from earlier in the Marvel canon, Sabra -- a female superhero from Israel, whose costume prominently features the Star of David. However, when the film got announced two years ago -- before the current war in Gaza -- pro-Palestinian groups protested the inclusion of an Israeli character as a hero and threatened a boycott.

Presto-change-o! Sabra is now ... Russian?

The Israeli background of Marvel Comics superhero Sabra has been removed for her depiction in the upcoming Marvel Studios 'Captain America: Brave New World' movie, according to a Friday official summary of the film.

While in the original Marvel comics continuity Ruth Bat-Seraph serves as the Mossad agent mutant superhero Sabra, in a recent summary for the February 2025 film Bat-Seraph is described as a former member of the Soviet Russian Black Widow super spy program -- the same program that trained Scarlett Johansson's Avenger of the same name.

It's not just the Israeli background that got erased, either. The Star of David has been removed as well:

The original blue and white outfit and Star of David emblazoned on Sabra's chest is also nowhere to be found. Despite the changes, many are still calling for a boycott of the film.

The controversy surrounding Haas' character dates back to 2022, when Marvel announced that the Israeli actress, known for her roles in "Shtisel," "Unorthodox" and "A Tale of Love and Darkness" would be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the superheroine Sabra.

While pro-Israel fans rejoiced, the backlash among Palestinians and their supporters was swift and vocal, with many claiming the decision was offensive to those who associate the character's name with the 1982 Sabra and Chatila massacre in Beirut, which occurred during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

"Sabra" refers to native-born Israelis, taken from the name of an indigenous plant. One has to consider whether the complaint about the 1982 operation is really the issue, or the fact that the name confirms Jews as natives to Israel. Either way, the backlash worked; Marvel transformed Sabra from Israeli to Russian to appease the activists, and at least hid the character's Jewish identity from view.

And that has no end of irony, as Hen Mazzig points out:

The short film starts innocently enough. A group of teenagers jostle and joke, arms around each others’ shoulders. But soon we see a French teen realising his Jewish friends have to hide every visible aspect of their identities, from their Star of David necklaces to their last names, to the mezuzah on their door. He protests as they draw the blinds to light Shabbat candles, but the family insists. It is just too dangerous to be publicly Jewish right now.

The film, which aired in France on Bastille Day ahead of the Euro Championship Final, went viral, as it touched on a question many Jews are navigating in our day-to-day lives: Is our safety worth the price of erasure?

Just a few days later, Marvel, a moviemaking behemoth that has repeatedly taken risks to show audiences a diverse pantheon of superheroes, cowardly landed on the side of erasure.

Sabra, an Israeli Jewish superhero who has battled the Hulk and terrorists since she entered the canon in 1980, will have her backstory changed and her identity erased to become a Russian spy, in the upcoming Captain America, sure to be a blockbuster. Yes, Marvel’s leadership holds that a superhero from Russia, a country that started an aggressive expansionist war against Ukraine, is preferable to Israel, which is fighting a defensive war to release its hostages.

They are erasing an Israeli Jew identity because controversy, and turning her into a Russian. So Courage! Much Principles!

And here's something else. If they wanted to get rid of the character in favor of one with a Russian espionage-ish backstory, why not just bring back Scarlett Johansson's character? Or, for that matter, Elizabeth Olsen's? How many Russian female characters does Marvel need to objectify for its silly and stupendously overcomplicated CGI laser-beam shows? Why not toss the rest of the world a frickin' bone?

Especially Israel, since Marvel has imagined Sabra as an Israeli Jew for over 40 years until this film put them in a gutless retreat?

Let's give Mazzig another shot at pegging the irony meter:

The erasure of Sabra’s Jewish identity is also a slap in the face to the American Jews who literally invented the comic book superhero genre. Superman, the first superhero, was invented by two Jewish American kids during the Great Depression. Superman’s original name, Kal-El, means “all is God” in Hebrew. Famously, Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster weren’t recognised for their contribution for decades, but eventually gained the credit they were due.

Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, the entire Avengers franchise and the X-Men — all of these characters, and arguably the superhero genre itself, were pioneered by Jews as a way to inspire kids that good will prevail over evil.

Indeed. And it is quite remarkable that a studio soooo obsessed with identitarian politics as Marvel deliberately erased the identity of one of its established characters. Marvel looooooves to promote "diversity" in its programming, to the point of exhaustion (see Captain Marvel and The Marvels, for instance), but can't find any room for an Israeli or a Jew. What does that tell us about Marvel Studios, and about Hollywood more generally?

I'll talk about this today with Christian Toto on Off the Beaten Path, but meanwhile, I believe I'll take a pass on seeing any more Marvel films in theaters. Too bad -- Deadpool + Wolverine looked promising, but I can live without it. Hopefully many will make the same decision.