This week’s installment Disney+’s TheFalcon and the Winter Soldier brought a cameo from none other than Julia Louis-Dreyfus, complete with knee-high leather boots and a purple streak in her hair. Dreyfus plays Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, appearing toward the end of the newest episode and giving a blank business card to John Walker (Wyatt Russell) after he had been stripped of his role as the new Captain America. So, who is the mysterious character Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and what does Marvel have in store for her?
Wait, who does Julia Louis-Dreyfus play in Falcon and the Winter Soldier and is she in the comics?
In Marvel Comics, Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is a spy from Italy. After her parents were killed for working with revolutionaries, she eventually began working with S.H.I.E.L.D., eventually infiltrating the highest levels of Hydra (including as the powerful Madame Hydra and the ruler of Madripoor, where Sharon Carter currently lives in Falcon and the Winter Soldier). She is also a love interest for Nick Fury. However, she is later revealed to be a triple agent who infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. for the Russian agency Leviathan. She is thrown in prison, but Fury, knowing she can’t be trusted, still tries to help her escape. De Fontaine also spearheads S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Femme Force, a group of elite women agents. At one point, a Skrull (the shapeshifters that were introduced in Captain Marvel) poses as de Fontaine to leech information out of Fury, but is ultimately exposed, revealing the extraterrestrials’ invasion of Earth in Secret Invasion. In recent issues, de Fontaine is a member of J.A.N.U.S., an organization of wealthy power players whose stated mission is to do good, but whose actual motivations may be more nefarious than they admit (especially considering it has some serious villains among its ranks).
Julia Louis-Dreyfus hinted that she’d love to be a Marvel star
In an interview with Louis-Dreyfus and her Veepco-star Tony Hale and showrunner David Mandel in 2019, she hinted that she’d love to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Selina was so atrocious, but then you loved her at the same time. And I think that makes a really good Disney villain,” Hale hinted to Vanity Fair. Mandel said Marvel villainry would fit Louis-Dreyfus, to which she replied, “Swinging around on wires and kicking people in the face…shooting fire out of whatever you shoot fire out of. I would dig that.”
Will Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine appear in other MCU projects?
Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentine Allegra de Fontaine was slated to actually make her MCU debut in Black Widow. However, because of COVID-related delays to the movies’ release schedules, Dreyfus’ first appearance was in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Her allegiances are currently unknown, but given her relationship with Walker, she may well be a baddie…or just villain-adjacent while going undercover. She’s crafty like that!
Julia Louis-Dreyfus isn’t the first actress to play Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine
Prior to what we know of as the MCU today, Lisa Rinnaplayed de Fontaine in the 1998 TV movie Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., starring none other than David Hasselhoff as the titular S.H.I.E.L.D. leader. Next, mark your Marvel calendar with our guide of every upcoming Marvel movie and their release dates, from Black Widow to Blade and beyond!
