After months of waiting, reshoots, and rescheduling its theatrical release, Captain America: Brave New World has finally received its first trailer. However, it seems like it wants you to ignore one of its new heroes.
The movie will introduce a few characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including Sabra, an Israeli superhero played by Shira Haas in the upcoming flick. She’s not shown much in the trailer, though, besides two scenes, and it may be because Disney is trying to dodge the proverbial controversial bullet.
Sabra will be the first Israeli superhero to appear in the MCU. In the comics, she is a member of the Mossad, a national intelligence agency of Israel. She also has mutant powers, including superhuman speed, agility, endurance, stamina, and strength.
With what’s going on at the Israeli-Palestinian borders in the real world, it’s possible Marvel is trying to hide Sabra to a certain extent to avoid sparking pointed conversations about her inclusion in the film.
Shira Haas was cast in the role in September 2022, though it quickly started to gain some criticism. After her casting, some feared the role of Sabra would have negative results and make Marvel seem insensitive to Palestinians. The casting was announced on Sept. 10, a week before the anniversary of the real-life 1982 massacre at the Sabra and Shatila Refugee Camps in Lebanon. The name of the character and the event aren’t co-related, since the former was created two years earlier.
“It’s not just in the timing or the name but also in the fact that the massacre itself was led by a Mossad-linked [militia] in territory under Israeli military control. Given all of this, it is hard not to conclude that the people at Marvel are either abjectly ignorant about the region, its history and the Palestinian experience, or that they deliberately aimed to kick a people living under apartheid while they were down,” said Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American writer told CNN in 2022.
While Disney may be trying to save themselves from eventual backlash, it seems like it’s already too late. “She’s an IDF soldier AND the character killed Palestinians, so we will be boycotting!” one of the tweets under Cosmic Marvel thread says. “Not watching because of her,” another one added. There are numerous similar tweets on the platform.
In the Brave New World trailer, Marvel quickly drew the conversation away from Shira Haas’s new character by bringing attention to another cameo. By the end of the nearly two-minute trailer, we can see a glimpse of Red Hulk, which is none other than Thaddeus Ross who finally gets angry. The role will be played by Harrison Ford this time around, who was cast for the part after William Hurt’s death in 2022.
The trailer itself looks…generic for the most part. There’s some kind of geopolitical conflict going on, there are glimpses of Wilson’s new sidekick, Joaquin Torres, villainy Giancarlo Esposito, explosions, fist fights, and a flying new Captain America. Obviously, someone had to remind us it’s not Steve Rogers anymore, and this time around it’s Wilson and Ross in a heated conversation. It doesn’t look bad, but after numerous reshoots and the whole mess around its production, we’d rather not get our hopes up. Even after seeing the Red Hulk on the screen.