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Viewers received a first glimpse of Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in Disney+ series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, with the mysterious character enlisting the services of John Walker (a.k.a. disgraced ex-Captain America, now known as U.S. Agent, played by Wyatt Russell) for some apparently nefarious purpose.
The Contessa also appeared in a brief post-credits scene in “Black Widow”, where she gives assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) her next assignment, telling her target is the person responsible for the death of Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) — and then showing her a photo of Clint “Hawkeye” Barton (Jeremy Renner).
Marvel boss Kevin Feige hinted that the Contessa may be a far more prominent part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than has so far been seen. In an interview with the “D23 Inside Disney” podcast, he teased that Marvel fans haven’t seen the last of the former “Seinfeld” star.
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“She’s doing something. She’s in recruitment mode. Does Yelena already work for her? They seem to have a connection at that point,” said Feige.
“The future is bright for the MCU because Julia Louis-Dreyfus is in it. We are gigantic fans of her at Marvel,” he added.
“The notion of bringing her into the world was always something, if we could find the right thing, we wanted to do. When this role came about and the opportunity to have her in ‘[Black] Widow’, in ‘[The] Falcon [and The Winter Soldier]’, and maybe in some other things coming up…” he hinted.
Given that scene at the end of “Black Widow”, one of those “other things” would certainly appear to be the upcoming Disney+ “Hawkeye” series.
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That reinforces some remarks made back in April by Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore, who told Entertainment Weekly that the intention was “100 per cent” to expand the Contessa’s role going forward.
“She’s so talented and you can do so much with her. And she’s game for it,” said Moore of the “Veep” star. “She certainly didn’t come to us and say, ‘I’ll be in one show once.’ She was like, ‘I want to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.’ And we said, ‘Great! Let’s get you in and let’s figure out how to use you.’ And the truth is, I think you will see her in the future. Definitely.”
