Warning: SPOILERS for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever are ahead!
Even ignoring folks who pop up in end-credits scenes, every now and then, Marvel Studios manages to keep certain appearances secret until a movie’s release. In the case of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, audiences learned that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, whom we’d previously seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, had a role to play in the story. However, there’s been criticism pointed at Valentina’s appearance in Wakanda Forever, and director/co-writer Ryan Coogler is pushing back against this.
Overall, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever has been warmly embraced, having been met with positive reviews from critics and the general public alike, and making more than $800 million worldwide at the time of this writing. That said, to some, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine felt shoehorned into the story, and Ryan Coogler responded to that belief by saying the following to The New York Times:
Yeah, nobody was shoehorned in or asked to be put into the movie or anything like that. Actually, in this version, [Louis-Dreyfus’s role] was pared back in order to make space for dealing with T’Challa’s death. And we had Val in there before she even appeared in any of the other movies, before Black Widow and [the series] Falcon and the Winter Soldier. People assume that we were told to put her in, but she was there from the beginning.
So straight from Ryan Coogler, this wasn’t one of those instances where Marvel Studios dictated that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine be included in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, whether her presence felt organic or not. Not only had Coogler included her in the sequel long before The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Black Widow came out, but she actually had a bigger role before Black Panther 2 needed to be retooled in order to address T’Challa’s death following Chadwick Boseman’s passing. That’s not to say that you’re obligated to like how Valentina was used in Wakanda Forever, but as Coogler explained, she was always going to be involved in these particular MCU proceedings.
Following her setting up John Walker as U.S. Agent in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and then hiring Yelena Belova to kill Clint Barton in the Black Widow end-credits scene (which the assassin attempted to do in Disney+’s Hawkeye series), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever brought back Valentina Allegra de Fontaine as the new director of the CIA, as well as revealed that she was the ex-wife of Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross. While the former spouses were cordial with one another early on in Wakanda Forever, Valentina later arrested Everett because he shared classified information with the Wakandans about the United States’ plans for the African nation. Fortunately for Ross, he was freed by Okoye by the end of the movie.
We’ll regroup with Everett Ross next year in the Secret Invasion limited series, but as far as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine goes, she’s next confirmed to appear in Thunderbolts. Along with Yelena Belova and John Walker being recruited, the title team Valentina is leading also includes Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes, David Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr/Ghost and Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster. Harrison Ford will also appear as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross following his first appearance as the character in Captain America: New World Order.
Thunderbolts comes out on July 26, 2024, and while Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is still playing in theaters, it’s expected to become available to Disney+ subscribers in early 2023. Feel free to look through our upcoming Marvel movies guide to learn what other big screen entertainment this superhero franchise has coming up.
