One of the many notable things to happen in the Season 1 finale of Loki wasn’t just the debut of Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, but the fact he was the first Marvel Comics character previously owned by Fox to debut in Kevin Feige’s cinematic universe.
However, one actor to have made a very minor appearance in Black Widow believes that not only is that title his, but he’s also the first official X-Men alumni to cross over into the MCU. It was a brief Easter Egg, but when David Harbour’s Red Guardian is arm wrestling to pass the time during his stint in prison, one of his opponents is a hulking man named Ursa.
Those familiar with the comic books will instantly recognize and appreciate the nod to Ursa Major, a mutant who can turn into a bear at will. While that obviously didn’t happen in Black Widow, star Daniel Richters is wearing his cameo as a badge of honor after taking to social media and proclaiming himself as the MCU’s first X-Man, which you can read below.
“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 … 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…”
Knowing how the MCU likes to pay off even the smallest moments years down the line, it can’t be completely discounted that Richters might yet show up somewhere down the line and turn into a grizzly, especially when Red Guardian leads Russian super-team The Winter Guard.
Not only that, but the secret identity of Black Widow villain Taskmaster was directly tied to a brief exchange between Natasha Romanoff and Loki in The Avengers, which took place many years before her solo movie in the MCU timeline, and almost a decade prior in real-time, so Ursa Major might yet make his much furrier presence felt in the future.