Captain America: Brave New World makes major changes to Israeli superhero

Sabra is one of the more controversial elements of Captain America: Brave New World, but it sounds like she will be undergoing a major update for the MCU.

The Israeli superheroine Sabra has been a huge source of controversy for the upcoming MCU movie, and her appearance in the first Captain America: Brave New World trailer led to several fans calling for boycotts of the film.

Sabra has been the source of plenty of contention since her announcement, though Marvel assured fans they wouldn’t adopt a comics-accurate take. We now know a little bit more about what that looks like.

According to The Wrap, Sabra will now be a former Black Widow, putting her in the same conversation as characters like Scarlet Johansson’s Natasha Romanoff and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.

The move to making Sabra a Black Widow is an interesting one. It’s a means of making her a character with ties to the superhero discussion in the MCU while keeping her background intact, which many were concerned would be erased for her big-screen debut.

Sabra is an Israeli superheroine whose origins date back to the 1980s as an antagonist of The Incredible Hulk. She is, notably, a mutant with enhanced stamina and the ability to grant others superpowers.

However, she’s also a member of the Israeli Secret Service, which has been a source of repeated controversy. Shortly after her casting, writer Waleed F. Mahdi called Sabra “insensitive and disgraceful.” The pivot to making the character a Black Widow should alleviate some of those concerns, though not all.

While the character’s assassin background is problematic, the comics have also been criticized for how Sabra depicts Israeli stereotypes, both through her story and the depiction of other Israelis she interacts with.

Captain America: Brave New World hits cinemas on February 14, 2025. In the meantime, check out our ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, the best superhero movies of all time, and other new movies streaming this month.