Who Is Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’?

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Season 1, Episode 5, “Truth.”]

Will the now-former Captain America, John Walker (Wyatt Russell), start pledging allegiance to another?

It seems like a strong possibility following the lastest episode of Marvel’s Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Along with facing punishment for his very public killing of Flag Smasher Nico (Noah Mills), “Truth” also unveiled a new character — Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

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So, who is the Contessa, and why is she interested in John Walker?

First, Walker: As a result of his actions, he’s stripped of his titles, accolades, and any other additional honors by the government, essentially losing everything he’s ever worked for. The disgraced hero is feeling pretty burned — and that’s when Valentina introduces herself to him, expressing interest in his skills and abilities.

“These guys in ties, you know, they got a whole thing to protect,” Valentina tells John, hinting at the reason behind the government’s punishment for killing Nico. “Anyway, you did the right thing taking the serum.”

(Credit: Marvel/Disney+)

Valentina continues to reveal that John’s decision “has made you very, very valuable to certain people. I actually think it was the second-best choice you’ve ever made in your life. Oh, you wanna know what the first best choice was? Picking up the phone when I call you.”

It’s clear she wants to strike some kind of deal, but what are her motives? In the Marvel comics, Val is a character with ties to recognizable organizations including S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra — she even went by the alias Madame Hydra at one point. Described as a “triple agent,” Val’s true allegiance is to a terrorist organization known as Leviathan.

(Credit: Marvel/Disney+)

With ties to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), we’d be willing to say this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Val. The character’s Russian origins suggest she could also have entanglements with Black Widow‘s Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), so viewers will have to wait and see how things unfold. Either way, we’re looking forward to seeing more of Val, and considering John’s crafting of his own shield, we’re willing to bet a phone call from this new character isn’t far away.

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