Marvel’s Black Widow Actor Says Their Character Is First Mutant in the MCU

We've been waiting for quite some time for Marvel to introduce mutants into the MCU fold, and after the 20th Century Fox deal went through, mutants and the eventual formation of the X-Men became real possibilities. While we're still waiting on Marvel to introduce mutants into the fold officially, it seems they might have just introduced the first mutant right under our noses in Black Widow. Olivier Richters, who played the character of Ursa Major in the film, revealed his reaction to finding out he was playing the imposing force of nature who turns into a bear on Instagram, and as he points out, the character is in fact a mutant in the comics.

Richters can be seen in a memorable scene with Red Guardian in prison, as the two have an arm-wrestling contest that ends badly for Ursa Major. At this point, the character doesn't seem to have access to his bear form, but Richters hopes we get to see Ursa Major in his full form at some point down the road and notes that Ursa is the first mutant to appear in the MCU.

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A post shared by Olivier Richters (@thedutchgiant)

Richters wrote "Marvel Black Widow is out! After two years I can finally tell who my character is: Ursa Major 🐻: the first mutant (X-Men) to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (SWIPE photos). Ursa is part of the Winter Guard, noted for being "Russia's answer to the Avengers". His power transforms him into an incredible bear, transcending The Hulk in size. Ursa appears many times in the comics fightning Wolverine and The Hulk. When production on set told me who I really was in Black Widow I let some tears in my hotel room, because my movie dream became true: being a official comic super Hero. I can only hope Marvel will bring back Ursa in full form 💪🐻.

Photo: with @tonymontalbano2020 , 2x British natural bodybuilding champion and world champion. Now retired but pursuing a acting career. He played Gulag Inmate in Black Widow. His first featured film "The Bezonians" by @savvasdmichael is coming out in November.

Ps. Thanks for all the amazing private messages on Instagram about seeing me in the cinema. I read everything I just can't respond to 500+ DM's. Therefor my thank is here!"

Now, characters like Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are also mutants in the comics but are not in the MCU, so this could be a form of that. That said, those were done because they legally couldn't use the mutant term and premise in the MCU back then due to the deals in place. Now they can, so there's no reason Ursa Major couldn't be a mutant. We'll just have to wait and see how it plays out.