We all know by now that Marvel don't always do things with a big reveal, and occasionally they like to slip something unheralded into their movies and series, such as the first appearance of a lowly version of Kang The Conqueror in the Loki finale. Now it seems that they could have delivered one of their most underhanded introductions to date - by introducing the MCU's first mutant in Black Widow.

Olivier Richters is an absolute bear of a man, which is appropriate has he shared an image on his Instagram account talking about his Black Widow character of Ursa Major, who in his comic book iteration is a commanding force of nature who turns into a bear and is actually one of the many Marvel mutants. It would be quite an impressive move of Marvel to have introduced their first mutant without any fanfare at all, considering the amount of attention being put on the anticipated arrival of the X-Men somewhere down the line, and the possibility of Hugh Jackman making a guest appearance as Wolverine in Doctor Strange 2 thanks to the multiverse.

Richters' appearance in Black Widow is a pretty memorable one to look back on if his role turns into something more within the MCU, when he takes part in an arm wrestling contest with David Harbour's Red Guardian which doesn't end well for him. While the character clearly doesn't have his ursine powers in the movie, Richters would be quite excited to see him return in his full form somewhere down the line.

"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."

While there could be some kind of transformation coming for Ursa's character in the future, it could just be another of those Marvel easter eggs that are put in movies for diehard fans to hunt out. In the comics, both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are mutants but not in the MCU, however that could purely be down to the mutant term and premise being out of bounds at the time thanks to the mutant branch of Marvel being under the control of Fox. Now they are all under one banner, we could certainly see Ursa be brought back sometime in the future in his mutant bear form, but that is something we will just have to wait and see. One can hope, after all. Black Widow is now on general release in cinemas and still available on Disney+ Premier Access.