First off, let me apologize for the lack of a Falcon and the Winter Soldier recap this morning. It couldn’t be helped, but it will return next week. On the plus side, you’ll get to hear my thoughts on another terrific episode on the next Cinema Royale podcast, which you should already be subscribed to.
Anyway, we’ve known for a bit that episode 5 was going to be a big one. Obviously, it’s the penultimate episode so a lot of story needed to be moved forward, and showrunner Marcus Spellman had promised a really big cameo played by a recognizable face. Well, he wasn’t lying.
Obviously SPOILERS ahead, in case you missed it in the headline.
So, Julia Louis-Dreyfus of all people makes her MCU debut as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. And yes, she’s as snooty as her name implies. She arrives shortly after John Walker (Wyatt Russell) has been court-martialed for his public murder of a Flag-Smasher last episode, and what does she do? Besides being a total asshole to Walker’s wife? She enables all of his worst instincts, tells him he was right to do what he did, then gives him her phone number because he’s “very valuable” to a lot of people.
So who is the Contessa, anyway? In Marvel Comics she’s a lot of things, but the route Marvel Studios seems to be taking is the Russian sleeper agent version of the character. She has also worked for HYDRA and SHIELD at various points, and was even Nick Fury’s gal for a while. But it seems she’s now setting up a means of controlling John Walker, in what looks like his evolution into the USAgent, as evidenced by the post-credits scene where he’s fashioning a brand new shield.
But here’s the thing about the Contessa in the MCU. Vanity Fair says the character was supposed to appear first in the upcoming Black Widow movie, which reinforces the idea that she is somehow connected to the Russian spy network. There are apparently “big plans” in the works for her, too. Since that movie is coming out later now,it’s safe to say Contessa has some part to play in it and it likely involves Florence Pugh as the new Black Widow. Could we be seeing a set-up of the Thunderbolts or a Dark Avengers team?
