Veep and Seinfeld actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus has appeared in a few MCU properties already as the mysterious Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. But her latest role raises questions about who her character really is? Here’s what comics tell us about « Madame Hydra, » and why she matters in Wakanda Forever.
For all the superheroes and villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s never a shortage of regular (seeming) people working for the world’s various government organizations. In fact, one of the MCU’s latest additions to the clandestine ranks is Contessa Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus of Seinfeld and Veep fame. If you’ve kept up with Marvel movies, you know that Fontaine just keeps popping up in one hero’s story or another.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier marked the first appearance by in the MCU, but not the last; she also popped up in Black Widow’s mid-credits sequence where she recruited Florence Pugh’s Yelena into her service. And now she’s back again in the Black Panther sequel. So where’s it all going?
[Ed. note: This story contains major spoilers for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.]
Fontaine’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever appearance is the most substantial role yet for Louis-Dreyfus’ time in the MCU, but it rides the same line of subtly sinister that she’s already captured so well in her first two cameos. In the movie, Fontaine is the new head of the CIA and the direct boss of her former husband Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), who’s been secretly passing along information to Wakanda ever since Shuri saves his life in the first movie.
