Who is Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in the credits of Black Widow?

Marvel Studios Black widow – the first new film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the start of the global coronavirus pandemic – is finally coming to the big screen and Disney Plus in cinemas and living rooms this weekend.

But between the last Marvel movie and Black widow there’s something new: Marvel’s Disney Plus television shows that are much more directly tied into the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe than their predecessors such as SHIELD agents or Agent Carter.

Case in point: if you haven’t been watching Marvel’s TV series, Black widow‘s closing scene will throw a lot of new stuff at you.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Black Widow and some Marvel television shows on Disney Plus.]

Image: Marvel Studios

What happens in the Black Widow credits scene?

The fact that hangs above everything Black widow is that the whole thing is a prequel – between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War – and its main character is dead in modern Marvel film continuity.

During the events of Avengers: Endgame, Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) sacrificed her life on the planet Vormir so that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) could get away with the soul stone. Since she died outright and wasn’t caught in Thanos’ snapshot, she didn’t return with the other characters when the Avengers used the assembled Infinity Stones to undo his work.

And during Black widow Actually stuck firmly in the past, the film’s closing scene reminds us of the present, when today’s Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and her dog Fanny visit Natasha’s grave. There she is cornered by a newcomer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

In the comics, Fontaine is a SHIELD double agent who eventually defected and rose to command her own evil secret society as Madame Hydra. Her MCU incarnation is still largely classified. Black widow should originally be Fontaine’s first appearance in the franchise, but thanks to the COVID-related postponement, The falcon and the winter soldier premiered before Black widow, and debuted her first.

It seems clear that she is working in a clandestine role for the US government and is preparing for an impending conflict by contacting her own recruits. in the TFatWS, she got in touch with John Walker and helped him transform from Captain America to US agent.

Image: Marvel Studios

Of Black widow‘s final scene seems clear that Yelena has found a job for the US government – or at least for Fontaine, as she complains that she should be on vacation rather than for Fontaine in the field.

But Fontaine has arrived on a more personal mission, handing over a file on Clint Barton, Natasha Romanoff’s beloved partner. The Marvel Cinematic Universe viewer knows that Natasha sacrificed herself on Vormir when Clint yelled at her to let him do it instead, but Yelena has only Clint’s word for it. Fontaine explains that this is Yelena’s chance to track down the man who killed her sister, and the scene ends with this promise: Of an inevitable showdown between Yelena and Hawkeye.

That showdown is almost certain to come to Marvel’s this fall Hawk Eye TV series inspired by Matt Fraction and David Aja’s 2012 comic series of the same name. Disney announced that Florence Pugh joined the cast of the TV show in late 2020.

So if you want to know everything about Fontaine, stop by The falcon and the winter soldier. And if you want to know what’s happening to Yelena, keep an eye out Hawk Eye on DisneyPlus.

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