Image: Marvel studios
Just when it seemed like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had all of its players set up for the endgame, episode 5 threw a curveball that changed the MCU playbook again. That curveball was Julia Louis-Dreyfus appearing as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, sometimes known as Madame Hydra.
Valentina shows up early in the episode, after John Walker is stripped of his Captain America title and discharged without honor as a consequence of the cold-blooded murder he committed at the end of episode 4. It was evident in that episode that Walker took the last vial of super soldier serum for himself and is now a hot commodity for people who might be interested in his newly developed skills. One of those people is Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who assures Walker that the next time she calls him, he’s going to want to pick up the phone.
Valentina has a long history in Marvel comics as a deeply untrustworthy triple agent, having worked for SHIELD, HYDRA, and a deeper cut villainous organization called Leviathan (the last time Leviathan came up in the MCU was in the Captain America follow-up series Agent Carter). When she worked for SHIELD, she was in a love triangle with Nick Fury and Captain America and pretty much betrayed everyone who ever encountered her, but her legacy is one of hyper-competent spy skills and masterful manipulation.
Some of her comics backstory doesn’t make any sense for the MCU (especially the love triangle), but there’s enough in Valentina’s character to speculate on why Marvel hired an actor of Louis-Dreyfus’ caliber to do one scene in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. To begin, that’s likely not the last we’re seeing of Valentina. Her interest in John Walker and potential history with Nick Fury suggests she could be taking a page out of Nick’s book and putting together a team of her own for Leviathan, a restored HYDRA, or her own nefarious purposes. There are a lot more powered people now than there were at the start of the MCU, and it’s possible that Valentina is betting on some of them having less than heroic impulses.
There are a lot more powered people now than there were at the start of the MCU, and it’s possible that Valentina is betting on some of them having less than heroic impulses.
There’s also the fact that, as reported by Vanity Fair, Valentina was supposed to be introduced to the MCU in the Black Widow movie, which was meant to come out before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier but was pushed multiple times. If her appearance in this show seems abrupt, it’s likely because the scene was written with the intention that MCU fans would already know who she was by the time it aired. That suggests Valentina has a memorable role in Black Widow, which tracks considering Leviathan is a Russian terrorist organization and Valentina herself is Russian in the comics (the Italian contessa thing is totally fake, in case that wasn’t obvious).
Louis-Dreyfus’ appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow was a total secret until today, and in Marvelspeak that means there are many more secrets to come with her character. Valentina wouldn’t be out of place in Secret Invasion, an upcoming Disney+ series starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, especially if she’s actually Nick’s ex in the MCU. She could also appear in Armor Wars, which will star Don Cheadle as Rhodey and feature a plot where Tony Stark’s technology falls into the wrong hands — are those the hands of a fake Italian contessa? Who knows.
One of the fun things about being a Marvel fan is the franchise’s ability to constantly surprise its audience with comic book deep cuts, surprising castings, and twists that no one sees coming. Keeping the involvement of a superstar like Louis-Dreyfus under wraps for years pays off in moments like these, when the shock of seeing a familiar face fades into the endless possibilities that person could inhabit in the MCU. There’s only one more episode left in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s story has just begun.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is streaming on Disney+.
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