We've now seen Julia Louis-Dreyfus' Valentina Allegra De Fontaine in two Marvel Studios projects: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Black Widow. In the latter, she recruited Yelena Belova to take out Hawkeye, while she was also responsible for giving John Walker a new purpose when she named him her U.S. Agent.
It sure does feel like she's putting a team together, eh?
Fans are convinced that the Dark Avengers might be on the horizon, and with no Norman Osborn in the MCU, this mysterious Nick Fury-like figure whose comic book counterpart has ties to HYDRA feels like the next best choice to assemble them. During a recent interview, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that "she's doing something."
"Yes, she is. She seems to be in recruitment mode," he teased. "Does Yelena already work for her? They seem to have a connection at that point. Yes."
Talking about Val's possible MCU future, Feige added: "[The] notion of bringing her into the world was always something, if we could find the right thing, was something we wanted to do. And when this role came about and the opportunity to have her in [Black] Widow, and [The] Falcon [and the Winter Soldier], and maybe in some other things coming up."
"[Julia Louis-Dreyfus] was totally on board and really into it. So it's an amazing addition to the world, and I look forward to people being surprised by just where she’ll show up next."
It's hard to say who else could join Val's team, but Abomination could be a safe bet. After that, all Val would really need is an Iron Man (we'll be keeping an eye on Armor Wars) and perhaps a couple of conflicted heroes like the Scarlet Witch and White Vision, and she'll have her own team of Avengers.
Who knows where things go next, but with hints that we're also getting the Young Avengers, all the different heroes who inhabit this world could soon have a team of their own to call home.
What is Val's master plan, though? Share your theories below...