A comic book character became an immediate flashpoint when word first broke of her inclusion in Captain America: Brave New World.

At the 2022 D23 Expo, Disney’s yearly fan convention, Israeli actress Shira Haas was announced for the Marvel movie in the role of Sabra, a.k.a. Ruth Bat-Seraph. In the comics, Sabra is a mutant and skilled combatant who works as an agent for Mossad, Israel’s secret service. However, Marvel said in a statement to Variety that the filmmakers would be “taking a new approach with the character.” No other details were provided at the time.

Supporters on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict maintained uneasy feelings about incorporating such a character during the heightened political climate. Those tensions only grew when the first details of Haas’ role in the film came to light. A 2024 trailer reveal came with a press release that described Ruth as “a high-ranking U.S. government official.” Some voices — like the pro-Israel American Jewish Committee and various media outlets such as Israeli newspaper Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post — initially accused Marvel of stripping the character’s Israeli identity for the movie.

Nate Moore, a longtime Marvel producer who worked on Captain America: Brave New World (in theaters Feb. 14), addresses the character of Ruth during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. When asked if changes were made, he replies, “Not to the extent of what was reported online or what was guessed online.”

The Ruth Bat-Seraph of Captain America: Brave New World is presented as a trained Black Widow agent who now serves as security advisor to President Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford). Fans will immediately make that connection once they see her execute a very familiar takedown move.

“We always thought it was interesting to anchor the character of Ruth in the Red Room mythology,” Moore explains to EW. “One of the things I think is really cool about the Black Widow film is suggesting that the Red Room was more than just a Russian state apparatus, that it was international. But Ruth’s point of view in the movie is really cool because it’s no secret she works for the U.S. government and she’s working with Thaddeus Ross. I think what’s interesting in the dynamic is Ruth and [Anthony Mackie‘s] Sam have a very different perspective on who Thaddeus Ross is and whether or not he is a worthy president. And I think that’s going to put Sam and Ruth on a bit of a collision course in an interesting way.”

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Haas, in particular, was someone Marvel tracked for a long time, Moore continues, noting the Unorthodox and Shtisel star’s acting talent and “unique physicality.” He says, “Much like a lot of the characters in the MCU, they’re not one-to-one with their publishing roots.” Moore points to how Mackie’s Sam Wilson didn’t start as a street hustler in the movies as the character did in the comics, nor does he communicate with a bird named Red Wing telepathically, but rather has a Red Wing drone he uses in stealth and combat.

“I just think there are differences that we have to make because film is different than publishing,” Moore says. “It’s a different medium. But what we loved about Ruth was the attitude that she has that is very much in line with her publishing counterpart…she’s a hard-charging, very self-possessed woman who knows exactly what she wants, and she’ll go through anybody to get it.”

Haas’ Ruth arrives as one of several new characters in Captain America: Brave New World, directed by Julius Onah (Luce). After executing a successful mission in Mexico, Sam and his partner Joaquin/Falcon (Danny Ramirez) are invited to the White House to meet with President Ross. He asks Sam, the new Captain America, to reconstitute the Avengers Initiative. However, they almost immediately square off on opposite sides when an assassination attempt occurs. During a summit later that night, something activates sleeper-agent programming within some of the guests, including super-soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), to attack the world leaders. In the aftermath, Sam sets out without Ross’ blessing to solve the conspiracy himself.

Similar to Ruth, Moore and Onah also spoke with EW about changing the background of comic book figures like the Serpent Society to fit the context of the MCU storylines. Those villains, led by Giancarlo Esposito‘s Sidewinder, now appear as highly skilled and incredibly violent mercenaries hired to steal samples of the indestructible metal known as adamantium for an unknown buyer.

“The Serpent Society is one of Cap’s all-time Hall of Fame villain groups, but in publishing, they can be very goofy. Our approach was very much the same approach we took with Batroc,” Moore says, referring to Georges St-Pierre’s character from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. “You take something that seems inherently ridiculous, and you figure out the context of it could be. And then we just got to work with a really talented actor.”