diff --git a/airflow/models/baseoperator.py b/airflow/models/baseoperator.py
index 77423bfc3b99e..7ffa596ec67a1 100644
--- a/airflow/models/baseoperator.py
+++ b/airflow/models/baseoperator.py
@@ -517,7 +517,11 @@ def __new__(cls, name, bases, namespace, **kwargs):
             partial_desc = vars(new_cls)["partial"]
             if isinstance(partial_desc, _PartialDescriptor):
                 partial_desc.class_method = classmethod(partial)
-        new_cls.__init__ = cls._apply_defaults(new_cls.__init__)
+
+        # We patch `__init__` only if the class defines it.
+        if inspect.getmro(new_cls)[1].__init__ is not new_cls.__init__:
+            new_cls.__init__ = cls._apply_defaults(new_cls.__init__)
+
         return new_cls
 
 
diff --git a/tests/models/test_baseoperator.py b/tests/models/test_baseoperator.py
index a73db360aabb2..b94a1b9f819d6 100644
--- a/tests/models/test_baseoperator.py
+++ b/tests/models/test_baseoperator.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 from airflow.models.dag import DAG
 from airflow.models.dagrun import DagRun
 from airflow.models.taskinstance import TaskInstance
+from airflow.providers.common.sql.operators import sql
 from airflow.task.priority_strategy import _DownstreamPriorityWeightStrategy, _UpstreamPriorityWeightStrategy
 from airflow.utils.edgemodifier import Label
 from airflow.utils.task_group import TaskGroup
@@ -1115,3 +1116,23 @@ def test_get_task_instances(session):
     assert task.get_task_instances(
         session=session, start_date=second_execution_date, end_date=second_execution_date
     ) == [ti_2]
+
+
+def test_mro():
+    class Mixin(sql.BaseSQLOperator):
+        pass
+
+    class Branch(Mixin, sql.BranchSQLOperator):
+        pass
+
+    # The following throws an exception if metaclass breaks MRO:
+    #   airflow.exceptions.AirflowException: Invalid arguments were passed to Branch (task_id: test). Invalid arguments were:
+    #   **kwargs: {'sql': 'sql', 'follow_task_ids_if_true': ['x'], 'follow_task_ids_if_false': ['y']}
+    op = Branch(
+        task_id="test",
+        conn_id="abc",
+        sql="sql",
+        follow_task_ids_if_true=["x"],
+        follow_task_ids_if_false=["y"],
+    )
+    assert isinstance(op, Branch)