How ‘Black Panther 2’ Sets Up MCU Character for ‘Thunderbolts’ Movie

The next incorporates gentle however arguably insignificant spoilers from Black Panther: Wakanda Endlessly, now in theaters.

Marvel’s Black Panther: Wakanda Endlessly (now in theaters) caught us up on an MCU character we first met in Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier collection, and who had solely been seen one different time since.

You beforehand knew Julia Louis-Dreyfus‘ character as Countess Valentina Allegra “Don’t Name Me Val” de Fontaine, however as revealed throughout Wakanda Endlessly, it’s now CIA Director de Fontaine to you.

Oh — and Director de Fontaine can also be apparently the (flirty) ex-wife of veteran CIA operative Everett Ross (performed by MCU vet Martin Freeman)! We are going to talk about the long-term significance of that in a second….

‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘

WHEN DID WE FIRST MEET THE COUNTESS?
Close to the tip of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s run, eight-time Emmy winner Louis-Dreyfus made her debut as Countess Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, an enigmatic girl of appreciable means who befriended a disgraced John Walker fka Captain America (performed by Lodge 49‘s Wyatt Russell) and wound up refashioning him as U.S. Agent.

Val subsequent popped up within the Black Widow film’s mid-credits scene — which initially was meant to be the character’s first look within the MCU — handy murderer Yelena Belova (performed by Florence Pugh) her subsequent project: Clint Barton. Yelena wound up pursuing that focus on in Disney+’s Hawkeye collection.

‘Black Widow’

HOW DOES WAKANDA FOREVER SET UP VAL FOR MARVEL’S THUNDERBOLTS?
As introduced in September, Pugh, Russell and Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s Sebastian Stan have been forged in Marvel’s Thunderbolts team-up film, persevering with the character arcs for Yelena Belova, John Walker and Bucky Barnes.

Louis-Dreyfus, together with Black Widow‘s David Harbour (as Alexei/Purple Guardian) and Olga Kurylenko (as Antonia/Taskmaster), and Ant-Man 2‘s Hannah John-Kamen (as Ava/Ghost), spherical out the forged.

With Val now heading up the CIA, that places her in a novel place to — as many speculated she was doing with John Walker — groom, recruit, assemble, outfit and deploy the titular Thunderbolts, a Suicide Squad-esque crew of antiheroes. Particularly given how in Black Panther 2 she was hankering to sq. off towards Wakanda, had Everett Ross not stepped in.

Jake Schreier (Lodge 49, Kidding) will direct the Thunderbolts film, off a script by Eric Pearson (Black Widow). Capturing begins subsequent 12 months with a watch on a July 26, 2024 launch, the place the film will shut out Part 5 of the MCU.