With so much new Marvel content in 2021 comes new Marvel characters. One such character is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Originally in Marvel comics as a woman who belonged to multiple secret organizations, Valentina was a contessa, a triple agent, and the one-time love of Nick Fury. While not much has been revealed about her character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, she has appeared in both a Disney Plus series and a movie recruiting heroes into her ranks.
She first appeared in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. There, she added John Walker to her ranks with a quip about needing a US Agent. She also appeared in the post-credit scene for Black Widow offering Yelena Belova a mission. There, it's clear Yelena has worked for her for a while. Just who might Valentina be gathering these heroes together for? It does appear that she's on her way to assembling her own team.
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Because The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced Valentina to the MCU, it seems only natural that her boss should appear in the same project. Sharon Carter made the change from SHIELD agent to international criminal over the course of her years in the MCU. She's the one who had the new version of the super-soldier serum in her hands. It's possible she wants a few heroes in her pocket.
Of course, it also stands to reason that if Sharon was the one behind Valentina's recruiting, she might try recruiting people she actually knows. She has connections to heroes through her help in Captain America: Civil War. Sharon also colleagues all over the world. Val doing the work for her serves to keep her anonymous, but if she's the person in charge, how long could that stay possible?
Nathaniel Richards might not be a name familiar to MCU fans just yet. Those who watched Loki might better know him as He Who Remains. This particular character goes by a lot of names in Marvel comics because there are a lot of different versions of him in a lot of different timelines. Most often, he's Kang The Conqueror, a descendant of Reed Richards (which is why many of his comic book stories connect to the Fantastic Four) from the 31st century.
Kang is poised to make a big impact in the MCU. He's set to appear in the Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel, and further appearances are a possibility. It's equally possible that one of his variants is the one behind Val's mission – or that she's a variant of his herself, though that seems a little less likely. Plenty of fans think there's a connection between the two thanks to Kevin Feige pointing out that TVA is just VAL upside down. That would certainly be an interesting route to take.
Zemo has the honor of being one of the few villains to actually succeed in his goal in the MCU: tearing the Avengers apart. He's incredibly underrated, and his ready plan to have Bucky Barnes break him out of prison in The Falcon And The Winter Soldier only proves that further.
Zemo also has a comic book connection to his own team – the Thunderbolts. It makes perfect sense that the MCU would set up a variation of it. He's clearly capable of pulling strings from prison. After all, Zemo has a plane, a home, and plenty of people ready to work for him as soon as he breaks out. He's also not above working with people he considers enemies. Even though he dislikes the idea of super soldiers in general, he wouldn't hesitate to use John Walker before trying to get rid of him.
General Ross has only made a handful of appearances in the MCU. He, however, holds a special interest in those labeled as superheroes by the public. He's one of the people in charge of enforcing the Sokovia Accords. That makes him the perfect person to want to control a group of superheroes.
If General Ross is the one pulling Valentina's strings, that would definitely imply that his focus is on having this particular group work for the American government. Valentina's comment about needing a US Agent in the future would make sense then. Recruiting Yelena Belova, however, might not make quite as much sense unless Yelena has been given asylum of sorts after her work against the Red Room. The mission given to Yelena during the Black Widow post-credits scene, however, might not make as much sense if Ross is the one pulling the strings – or at the very least, it doesn't yet.
The MCU audience might not know much about Valentina Allegra de Fontaine just yet. Comic book readers, however, will know that she can be very manipulative, even a triple agent, and she looks out for her own interests first. That's why it might make the most sense that she's not actually working for anyone else.
Sure, Valentina makes a joke about needing a raise. That can be translated to needing more funding for her venture though. The bigger question is just why she wants her own team of heroes. What would be her motivation? The audience doesn't know enough about her yet to understand her goals or her endgame if this is the case. In the comics, she works for many different organizations. One of them is Hydra. Hydra seems unlikely for a comeback, but another group, or one of her own making, is possible.
More characters arrive in every new project in the MCU. With so many new faces, the possibilities are endless for a new villain (or anti-hero) reveal. The possibility exists of a familiar comic book face coming to the screen for the first time. There's also potential for a newly invented MCU character.
If the character isn't revealed until Val gets her entire team assembled, fans will just have to keep guessing.
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