More than forty years after Sabra – a woman in white and blue costume with a Star of David on her chest – was introduced, Disney’s Marvel plans to bring her to film in “Captain America: New World Order,” It is set to be released in 2024.

Critics say many of the Arab characters Sabra interacted with in the comics are shown as misogynistic, antisemitic and violent, and are questioning whether the troubling portrayals of Arabs will play out differently in the film.

Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian-American writer and analyst based in Washington, D.C. said, “The whole concept” of turning Israeli spies into heroes “is insensitive and disgraceful.” He added, “The glorification of violence against Palestinians specifically and Arabs and Muslims more broadly in mass media has a long and ugly history in the West.”