Who Is Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Who Is She Working For?

Although it isn’t a rare occurrence for the MCU to throw fans a curveball by introducing an obscure character; many fans are reaching for Wikipedia after tonights episode of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’. The penultimate episode of the latest Disney Plus series saw the introduction of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Emmy-award winning Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays the mysterious Val, and approaches Walker after his hearing. 

Val remains incredibly cryptic though out the entire conversation. Somehow she is aware of the incident that occurs at the end of the previous episode but doesn’t reveal how. In keeping with her shady persona, even the business card that she provided Walker’s wife is completely blank. While we get no answers as to who exactly Val is and what organization she represents, clearly she has plans for the former Captain America. 

Interestingly, this appearance was not intended to be the first time fans meet Val. In a recent Vanity Fair article, Louis-Dreyfus mentions that the character was supposed to make her first appearance in ‘Black Widow’. However, after the project was delayed and ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ premiered, here we find ourselves. 

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Who is Contessa Valentina?

On the comic book pages, Contessa Valentina is a high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agent. She first appeared in the Nick Fury, Agent of Shield series from 1968. Throughout her years with the organization Val held many different positions and work closely with Fury himself. 

Despite being non-superpowered, Val possess superb hand-to-hand combat skills as well as near peak physical conditioning for a human. Additionally she is an exceptional marksman with most weapons and is a brilliant leader and strategist on the battlefield. 

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Val could potentially be assembling a team. 

It looks as though Val may be taking a leaf out of Fury’s book. Although Disney Plus has not confirmed a live action Thunderbolts series, the groundwork appears to be in place. It is incredibly possible that Contessa Valentina is working directly with Thunderbolt Ross himself. Adding to this, fans have also speculated that Ross could be playing both sides. Some fans have gone so far as to theorize that the Power Broker is none other than Thunderbolt Ross.

Zemo, Waker and Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova would create an excellent head start on the way to creating a dark avengers team. If Disney Plus was truly not pulling any punches, an appearance from the Abomination would not be unlikely either. As the world saw multiple times, it helps to have a Hulk on the team. 

Of course, this is all speculation. 

Fans will likely not get any sort of closure on who Val is and what her plans with Walker are. However, this development will surely end up being a through line moving forward with the Disney Plus Marvel shows. At any rate, the final episode of ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ will premier on Disney Plus Friday, April 23rd. Even if there is no pay off to Val’s introduction, seeing John Walker get his butt kicked one more time by Sam and Bucky will be rewarding enough.