Wait - Didn't Black Widow Have The MCU's First Mutant?

Many fans thought that Black Widow had finally revealed the MCU's first official mutant, Ursa Major, but now the MCU has gone and changed everything.

Wait – Didn't Black Widow Have The MCU's First Mutant?

The Ms. Marvel finale ended with a bang, revealing that Kamala Khan is the first mutant in the MCU, but it’s an achievement that Black Widow has already claimed. The MCU has made plenty of retcons before, but with these two projects being so close to each other, something has to be wrong. So, by looking at the canonical status of the mutants, it can be determined which MCU project had the first one: Black Widow or Ms. Marvel.

Throughout Ms. Marvel, the audience was led to believe that Kamala Khan’s crystalline powers came from the magical bangle that she received from her Djinn ancestors. However, Kamala’s scientist friend, Bruno, reveals a shocking twist at the end of the Ms. Marvel finale: her powers are coming from her genes. As it turns out, the cosmic bangles merely unlocked Kamala’s abilities, with her powers actually having been inside her all along. Marvel has been treating Kamala as the first mutant, even playing the X-Men: The Animated Series theme song when the twist is revealed. While Marvel says that Ms. Marvel is the MCU’s first mutant, they seem to be forgetting about a character that appeared not too long ago.

Black Widow features a cameo from Ursa Major, whom many consider the MCU’s first mutant. Ursa Major is a Russian superhero with the ability to turn into a bear, giving him superhuman strength, sharp claws, greater stamina, and increased durability. In the comics, the character is a member of the Winter Guard, a Russian-themed team of superheroes. Played by Olivier Richters in the MCU, the character only has a brief cameo in Black Widow, arm wrestling Red Guardian in prison. While his appearance is brief, Richters later revealed that Ursa Major was the first mutant in the MCU, making his cameo all the more significant. However, the recent Ms. Marvel reveal has thrown a wrench into that theory.

Why Ursa Major Might Have Been The MCU’s First Mutant

Ursa Major may have been the MCU’s first mutant simply because he is a mutant in the comics. Since Ursa Major has been predominately associated with the X-Men characters since his inception, it was assumed that this history would be transferred over to his MCU iteration. While WandaVision did feature Quicksilver, it turned out to be a fakeout. Ursa Major is the only other comic mutant that hasn’t explicitly had his origin changed, leading many to think that he is the MCU’s first official mutant. However, that may not be the case.

Why The MCU’s Ursa Major Isn’t Strictly The First Mutant

The main evidence against Ursa Major’s first mutant status is that the movie doesn’t explicitly confirm it. While Ursa Major does appear in Black Widow, the movie only features him in his non-bear form, Mikhail Ursus. He doesn’t show off his powers either, with him staying in human form throughout his scene. Due to the fact that Mikhail didn’t turn into a bear, with him even having his arm broken, it seems to be that the character didn’t actually have mutant abilities in the film.

While many theorists ran with the idea that Ursa Major was the MCU’s first mutant, Marvel didn’t actually confirm it. No Black Widow screenwriter or MCU higher up mentioned the possibility. Rather, Ursa Major actor Olivier Richters revealed it, meaning that his mutant status wasn’t confirmed. Kamala Khan’s mutant abilities, on the other hand, are undeniable.

How Ms. Marvel Might Affect Ursa Major’s MCU Future

While Kamala is the first confirmed MCU mutant, Ms. Marvel can still influence Ursa Major’s MCU future. There are all kinds of theories regarding how mutants will enter the MCU, but Ms. Marvel seems to have finally answered that. The show confirms that, while Kamala has had the mutant gene inside her all along, it took the bangle’s cosmic powers to unlock her abilities. This hints there may be many others in the MCU with the mutant gene, such as Mikhail Ursus, and that it may take some sort of cosmic power to turn them into X-Men.

While Ursa Major isn’t confirmed to make another appearance in the MCU, there are all kinds of places he can show up. Since Ms. Marvel set up The Marvels, it’s possible the film could unleash the cosmic power needed to unlock the mutant gene. Since Ursa Major is one of the few X-Men characters in the MCU, he may make another cameo there, showing off his unlocked powers. Even if he gets his powers off-screen, he could appear in a future Black Widow movie or show, this time using his new powers alongside Red Guardian. While Ms. Marvel may mean that Black Widow‘s Ursa Major isn’t the first MCU mutant, there is still lots of potential for Ursa Major in the future.