Warning: This article includes minor spoilers for the fifth episode of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” Episode 5 had a big name cameo for a smaller role, which clearly might have implications for the future.
Hype for the cameo appearance
There was a lot of hype for this upcoming appearance. As I wrote for the Deseret News, there were reports that a new Marvel comic book character who has not been seen in any Marvel Cinematic Universe projects would show up in this episode.
- According to SlashFilm, the “surprise character is not one that we’ve seen in the MCU before and not one who is primed to appear in an upcoming film.”
- The character was reportedly hyped as “an existing Marvel Comics character who is played by a well-known performer,” SlashFilm reports.
Who was the Marvel cameo?
So it was cool to see Emmy-winning actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus appear in Episode 5 of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” She appeared as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, a Marvel comics character who has ties to Hydra in the Marvel universe.
Her appearance is rather short. She appears after John Walker (Wyatt Russell) gets discharged from the U.S. government and is ordered to give back the Captain America shield. Valentina walks up to Wyatt and tells him that she doesn’t believe in the government’s decision to get rid of Walker as Captain America. She then hands him a card and asks him to accept her call when she calls him. Walker notes to his lawyer that Valentina’s card doesn’t have a number on it.
Clearly, this cameo isn’t just a cameo. The appearance looks to set up something bigger for the future — whether it’s in this show or not remains unclear.
Who is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine?
All of these details come from the Marvel fan database.
Valentina has a smaller role in the Marvel comics. Her parents were members of the Leviathan group, which included secret agents from around the world. So she became an agent of the SHIELD organization, which we’ve seen multiple times in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nick Fury was impressed with Valentina so she quickly became a leader of the organization.
Fury and Valentina actually had a relationship together. Of course, they had an on-and-off relationship together, too. But Valentina soon became the leader of the Femme Force, which was an all-female group of agents.
Later on, Valentina joined Hydra — the criminal underground organization that looked to take down the United States — and even had a brief stint as Madame Hydra. She became Madame Hydra, the leader of the group. But then she brought down the Hydra group for the sake of Leviathan, the group her parents were in.
She later was sent to prison after it was discovered she was a Russian sleeper agent while she was with SHIELD and Hydra.
What does her appearance mean for Marvel?
I actually don’t think Valentina’s appearance in “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” will mean much. Because of her Marvel comics storyline, I bet she’ll have a more important role in the upcoming “Black Widow” film — which takes place post-“Captain America: Ciivil War” in Russia, when Black Widow returns home. It wouldn’t be all that shocking if Valentina showed up in that film to some degree, or if her parents are revealed in that movie, too.