The Ed Brubaker Allegations Are Ugly – But Amazon MGM Has Some Questions to Answer Too

WEPAAAA… fam, I wish this were one of those stories where I could crack a joke, throw a little adobo on it and we all argue about comics for twenty minutes before moving on with our lives. This ain’t that story. Ed Brubaker, one of the most respected writers in modern comics and the man behind books like Criminal, Gotham Central, Daredevil and the creation of the Winter Soldier, is now at the center of a civil lawsuit containing some seriously disturbing allegations tied to the production of Amazon MGM’s upcoming Criminal television series.

Former production assistant Ijaaz Noohu filed suit in California state court on September 2, 2026, accusing Brubaker and companies connected to the production of allowing a hostile work environment involving alleged sexual harassment, racial harassment, religious discrimination, retaliation, assault and battery. The lawsuit also names Amazon.com Services, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Big Indie Pictures, Big Indie Gemini and executive producer Philipp Barnett. Noohu is seeking unspecified damages.

Before social media turns this into another five-minute trial conducted by people with Batman avatars and unlimited Wi-Fi, we need to put something on the table immediately: these are allegations contained in a civil complaint. They have not been proven in court. Brubaker and the other defendants have not been found liable for this conduct. Keeping that distinction clear doesn’t mean watering down the seriousness of what Noohu alleges. It means doing journalism instead of cosplay law school.

According to reporting based on the complaint, Noohu alleges Brubaker made remarks about wanting to run his hands through Noohu’s hair, rubbed his back without consent, questioned him about his private sex life and joked about rape. He also alleges Brubaker deliberately sent him to a bikini barista coffee shop as some kind of prank. The racial allegations are just as uncomfortable. Noohu, who is Sri Lankan American, claims Brubaker repeatedly referred to him as Indian and made comments involving curry, the Tiger Mom stereotype, Never Have I Ever and assumptions about mathematical ability.

Then religion enters the picture. Noohu is Muslim, and the complaint alleges he was questioned about whether he supported Hamas. Again, we are dealing with allegations, but picture the workplace dynamic being described here. This isn’t two guys roasting each other at the bar after work. One person is a production assistant. The other is Ed Brubaker, creator of the property and showrunner of the television series. Anybody who has ever worked somewhere with a real hierarchy knows that the person signing off on decisions and the person trying to keep their job are not walking into every conversation carrying the same weight.

Noohu also claims Brubaker pointed a functional firearm at his face and pulled the trigger. The reporting available so far does not give enough additional detail to responsibly tell you exactly what happened around that alleged incident. We do not know from the public reporting whether the firearm was loaded, why it was present, what immediately preceded the encounter or what Brubaker’s explanation would be. The complaint reportedly says a senior producer witnessed the incident.

When an allegation sounds this insane, the temptation is to start decorating it with assumptions. Don’t. The allegation is already serious enough without us turning into screenwriters. What we can say is that pointing a functioning firearm at an employee’s face and pulling the trigger, if proven, would be an extraordinary workplace incident and one that raises obvious questions about production safety, supervision and what happened afterward.

This is also why I don’t think the Ed Brubaker headline tells the whole story. Brubaker is obviously the famous name, so his face gets the clicks, but Noohu’s lawsuit alleges something potentially much broader: that people around Brubaker knew about misconduct or witnessed parts of it and failed to meaningfully intervene. Executive producer Philipp Barnett is specifically accused in reporting on the complaint of discouraging documented complaints about Noohu’s treatment.

If that allegation gets backed up by testimony or documents, now we aren’t just talking about one man behaving badly. Now we’re talking about a production structure that may have failed somebody working near the bottom of the ladder. That means the questions start climbing upward pretty damn quickly. Who knew what? When did they know it? Were complaints formally made? Were they documented? Did human resources become involved? Did Amazon MGM receive any reports? Was the alleged firearm incident investigated? Was production safety notified? If senior personnel witnessed behavior and shrugged it off, somebody needs to explain why.

Amazon MGM cannot have it both ways. You don’t get to build a prestige series with recognizable actors, layers of producers, studio executives and corporate infrastructure, then suddenly become three raccoons in a trench coat when somebody asks who was responsible for the working environment. Major productions have chains of responsibility for a reason. Whether that chain worked on Criminal is now one of the biggest questions hanging over this case.

Noohu’s complaint also alleges retaliation. According to reporting on the lawsuit, after he sought a promotion, his planned exit date was moved forward and he was barred from the set. His employment eventually ended in September 2024, and he says he did not receive a credit on the production.

Retaliation allegations are where paperwork can become very interesting very quickly because employment decisions leave footprints. Emails, text messages, production schedules, evaluations, HR records and witness testimony can help establish whether there was a legitimate reason for a change in somebody’s employment or whether the timing tells a different story. Amazon and the production companies may have completely innocent explanations for what happened. If they do, discovery is exactly where those explanations should start getting tested against the receipts.

And yes, we also need to talk about what we don’t know yet, because anybody pretending this case has already been solved is selling you certainty they do not possess. We have the plaintiff’s allegations, which by definition present one side of an adversarial dispute. Brubaker will have an opportunity to respond. Amazon MGM, Big Indie and the other defendants can dispute the facts, challenge Noohu’s credibility, offer different explanations for employment decisions and produce their own witnesses and records. Silence from a defendant in the first days of litigation is not some magical admission of guilt either. Lawyers regularly tell clients facing civil suits to stop talking publicly and answer through the court.

The comics community is already trying to process this because Brubaker isn’t some distant Hollywood suit whose name nobody knew until yesterday. He has spent decades building trust with comic readers. He and Sean Phillips created one of the most celebrated partnerships in modern creator-owned comics, and Criminal has become a cornerstone of that relationship. That emotional investment makes the reaction messier because fans naturally start asking whether they can separate the work from the creator before we even know where the case is going.

Sean Phillips should not be made responsible for answering allegations directed at somebody else. As of this writing, I have not found a substantive public statement from Phillips or Image Comics addressing the lawsuit. That may change, and if it does, it deserves to be reported accurately rather than turned into another internet game of why hasn’t this person tweeted fast enough?

What interests me more is what happens inside the industry if additional evidence emerges. Does Amazon keep Brubaker front and center during promotion of Criminal? Does he participate in press? Do other crew members publicly describe their experiences? Does Amazon announce any internal review? Do witnesses mentioned in the lawsuit support or contradict Noohu’s account? Those answers will tell us infinitely more than watching strangers on social media declare somebody either completely innocent or completely guilty before anybody has seen the full evidentiary record.

The timing also creates one hell of an uncomfortable situation for Amazon. Criminal is supposed to be a major Prime Video adaptation of Brubaker and Phillips’ acclaimed comic series. Instead of walking toward release with everybody discussing casting, episodes and whether the show nailed the tone of the books, Amazon now has litigation tied directly to the environment in which the series was produced. The creator and showrunner isn’t standing outside the controversy; he is one of the defendants.

Hollywood has spent years talking about safer sets, workplace conduct, inclusion and employee protections. Every major entertainment company has a stack of policies somewhere explaining how seriously they take all of this. Policies are easy. The real test comes when enforcing them could complicate a valuable production or involve somebody whose name carries weight.

If Noohu’s allegations are false or materially exaggerated, the defendants deserve the opportunity to prove that. If his account is supported by witnesses, messages or internal records, then Amazon MGM and the production companies need to explain how the alleged conduct was allowed to continue. Either way, the truth is probably going to come from documentation and testimony, not whoever wins Twitter before lunchtime.

You can already see the predictable counterargument forming around Noohu’s requested promotion and subsequent employment issues: maybe this is a disgruntled employee turning a workplace dispute into something larger. Fine. That possibility deserves examination. So does the opposite possibility: that an employee raised concerns involving people with more power than he had and suffered consequences afterward. Those competing explanations are exactly why courts take evidence instead of asking who sounds more believable in a headline.

I’ve been reading Ed Brubaker comics for years. Plenty of people reading Comic Crusaders have too. Being a fan doesn’t require me to protect a creator from legitimate scrutiny, and journalism doesn’t require me to throw him into the Hudson before the evidence is heard. We should be capable of holding both ideas in our heads at the same time. These allegations are serious as hell, and Brubaker still deserves the opportunity to answer them.

Amazon deserves scrutiny too. Maybe even more than it is getting right now. Brubaker is one man. Amazon MGM and its production partners represent the machinery that is supposed to create safeguards when one employee believes another is crossing lines. If senior production personnel witnessed misconduct, if complaints were discouraged, or if concerns reached management and nothing meaningful happened, that changes the story from an accusation about individual behavior into a question about institutional failure.

That’s the part I’m watching hardest, fam, because ugly personalities exist in every business. Systems are supposed to be what stops an ugly personality from becoming everybody else’s problem. Right now, Ijaaz Noohu has made serious accusations. Ed Brubaker and the other defendants deserve their day in court. Amazon MGM deserves the same presumption that allegations remain allegations until evidence establishes otherwise. But nobody involved deserves freedom from questions, especially when the people with the least power on a production are usually the ones depending on everybody above them to give a damn!

EDITORIAL & LEGAL NOTE

This article discusses allegations contained in a civil lawsuit filed in California state court. Allegations are not findings of fact, and no court has determined that Ed Brubaker, Amazon MGM Studios, Big Indie Pictures, Philipp Barnett or the other defendants engaged in the conduct alleged. Comic Crusaders will update its reporting as substantive responses, court filings, witness accounts or independently verifiable information become available.

Sources / Receipts

• The Hollywood Reporter – lawsuit reporting
• TheWrap – complaint and allegations
• Deadline – lawsuit coverage
• Image Comics – official Criminal series page