Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentine in Wakanda Forever Is Key to Marvel’s Next Phase

For all the superheroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s never been a shortage of people who (seemingly) regularly work for various government organizations around the world. In fact, one of the latest MCU additions to the ranks of secrecy is Contessa Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Seinfeld and Veep reputation. If you’ve been following the Marvel movies, you know that Fontaine keeps popping up in the story of one hero or another.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier marks the first appearance in the MCU, but not the last; she also appeared in Black WidowThe passage between the credits, where she recruits Florence Pugh’s Yelena to her service. And now she’s back again in Black Panther next part. So where will it all go?

[Ed. note: This story contains major spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.]

Image: Marvel Studios

Fontaine’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Appearance is Louis-Dreyfus’ most important role to date in the MCU, but it carries the same subtle sinister line that she captured so well in her first two cameos. In the film, Fontaine is the new head of the CIA and the direct boss of her ex-husband Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who has been secretly passing information to Wakanda ever since Shuri saved his life in the first film.

In his quest to help the United States obtain Vibranium, Fontaine spends most of this film as an adversary of Wakanda, suspecting them of sabotaging other countries’ mining efforts. In the end, she and Everett don’t have too much of an impact on the plot, but in the grand scheme of things, this seems like a hole for Fontaine as she moves towards her next appearances and bigger ambitions. mine.

As dedicated Marvel fans know, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier establishes Val as an anti-Nick Fury, recruiting John Walker’s disgraced “Captain America” ​​for an unspoken initiative that would use his more violent instincts. The MCU can follow the comics almost anywhere from here.

Who is Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the comics?

Image: Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Stefano Caselli / Marvel Comics

Well, depending on when you ask this question, she’s either an Italian jet operator turned longtime SHIELD agent or… Madame Hydra.

First introduced by Jim Steranko in 1967 for a Nick Fury and Captain America cross story, writer Steve Englehart brought Valentina into the Captain America comics in 1972. She’s a supporting character with history. long enough for the MCU to pick up almost every aspect of her adventure and take a big hit.

Valentina dated Nick Fury for a while when she was a SHIELD agent. (Pro tip: Don’t date a co-worker if you’re in an organization where 50% of the staff are snooze agents.) She also ran an all-female secret service team for a while. It was eventually revealed that her Italian heritage was a cover story and that she was actually a Russian operative – that doesn’t seem to be the way the MCU is going, but who knows!

The last thing Valentina did in the Marvel Comics continuity was defected and became a senior leader of Hydra, taking the commonly used name of “Madame Hydra”, until she betrayed Hydra to join an operation. other covert international espionage. If the Marvel Cinematic Universe wants Hydra to raise its head again, Valentina could be a way to do it, too.

Or, the MCU could go in a completely different direction that has nothing to do with what the comics writers have done with Valentina before. Her next confirmed appearance is to see her again in 2024 Thunderbolts, which would, in theory, see her oversee a team of less-noble warriors close to the Avengers. Confirmed for the team are Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Red Justice (David Harbour), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko) and Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). maybe Black PantherWill Everett Ross or another member of Wakanda be on the trip?

Don’t even bother guessing: if there’s anything we know for sure about Valentina’s MCU repeat, she can basically do whatever she wants, wrap take whoever she wants and show up anywhere.