Black Widow actor Olivier Richters claims he played ‘first X-Men character’ in MCU

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A Black Widow actor has made a bold claim about their appearance in the new film.

After a year of delay, Natasha Romanoff’s standalone adventure was unveiled earlier this month, showing what happened to Scarlett Johansson’s characters between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War.

The film introduces us to her estranged Russian family, including sister Yelena (Florence Pugh), mother Melina (Rachel Weisz) and father Alexei (David Harbour), formerly known as the superhero Red Guardian.

*Minor spoilers follow – you have been warned*

In the film, she teams up with Yelena to break their super-strength father out of prison, where he spends his days beating his fellow convicts at arm-wrestling.

When a bodybuilder opponent sits opposite him, Alexei pretends to be afraid before breaking his arm, beating him with ease. It turns out this character’s name is Ursa Major, which you might not know is the name of a famous Marvel character – and now, the actor who plays him, Olivier Richters, says his appearance marks an MCU first.

Dutch actor Richters, who is seven feet, two inches, wrote on Instagram on Thursday (15 July): “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.”

He added: “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 fighting Wolverine and The Hulk.”

Richter claims his mutant status was confirmed by the production team, writing: “When [they] told me who I really was in Black Widow, I let [out] some tears in my hotel room, because my movie dream became true: being an official comic superhero. I can only hope Marvel will bring back Ursa in full form.”

Black Widow is in cinemas now and is also available to watch on Disney Plus via Premier Access.