Julia Louis-Dreyfus may have a big role to play in the MCU’s future as CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, but whether she is a Marvel hero or villain is unclear…especially to Louis-Dreyfus. Having made fleeting appearances in Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Val’s role in the MCU is expanding with every cameo, and while her upcoming central role in Thunderbolts is already on the cards, what exactly her plan is in the Marvel Universe has yet to be uncovered. Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, Louis-Dreyfus was asked whether Val is on the side of good or is something a little more shady. In response, she said:
"I think she sort of straddles both worlds of good and bad. I think it’s a little bit unclear. It’s certainly unclear to me… when they were telling me about this, the head honchos at Marvel, they’re all wonderful people, and they were explaining to me the character and who she’s gonna be dealing with and this universe and that universe and I’m listening, listening — I’ve had a similar experience as when I’m listening to my accountant tell me about my taxes; I’m trying really hard to focus, you know what I mean? But anyway, I just keep asking my boys, explain to me what this means."
There Are Plenty of Signs That the MCU’s Valentina is Not Exactly A Hero
From her first appearances in the post-credit scenes of Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it was clear that Val is working for her own ends and not exactly making a big fuss about what she is up to. In Black Widow, she was seen sending Yelena Belova after Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, who she said was responsible for Yelena’s sister, Natasha Romanoff’s death. While that was true, the circumstances of Black Widow's demise were not exactly as straightforward as Hawkeye was eventually able to explain.
Similarly, in her other early appearance, Val was seen recruiting the disgraced John Walker, aka US Agent, to a cause that, at the time, was not revealed. Now we know that group will be the Thunderbolts, and the ragtag group of MCU characters who have not exactly played things by the book will clearly be working for Val in their upcoming movie.
Her appearance in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has further cemented her place as someone who will be able to cause trouble for the Avengers in the same way that many others with positions of power have in the last fifteen years of the MCU. Her belief that Wakanda’s store of vibranium should be in the possession of the United States Government at any cost seems likely to be a good starting point for her big power trip in Thunderbolts. As the anti-Nick Fury, Val is certainly a force to be reckoned with, and so far, she has only been getting started. While it is unlikely that her ultimate endgame will be revealed as early as Thunderbolts, it will be the first prominent role Louis-Dreyfus will get to play in the Marvel story.