We first met Valentina Allegra de Fontaine in Black Widow's post-credits scene when she tasked Yelena Belova with taking out Hawkeye. Val had been hired by Eleanor Bishop and told Yelena that the Avenger was responsible for killing her sister, Natasha Romanoff.
She later returned in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, transforming disgraced Captain America, John Walker, into her U.S. Agent. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever eventually revealed that the enigmatic character was Everett Ross' ex-wife and the current director of the CIA.
In that movie, we also learned of her desire to acquire Vibranium from Wakanda by any means necessary.
Still, we had no idea what she was really up to or what, if anything, her introduction was leading to. It initially looked like she might be assembling a team Nick Fury-style, but Thunderbolts* finally clears things up.
Before being appointed CIA Director, Val was in charge of O.X.E., a company looking to create its own immensely powerful superhero. She supposedly stood down after gaining a Government position but is now being impeached for some alleged shady actions from those past dealing. As a result, Val moves to destroy all evidence of her misdeeds, sending Yelena Belova, Ghost, U.S. Agent, and Taskmaster to an old O.X.E. base, hoping they will take each other out and tie up any final loose ends.
While there, Yelena discovers Val's plans to create The Sentry, a Golden Guardian with the powers of a million exploding suns. She's planned out everything from his hair, to the hero's costume and logo, but the experiments all failed...until Bob.
Taskmaster dies, but the rest of the Thunderbolts team up with Bucky Barnes and Red Guardian to take Val down after she retrieves Bob. In the meantime, she manages to convince the former meth addict to become her Sentry, but he's unhinged and his inner turmoil created a darker half that makes people revisit their worst moments when they touch him.
In Val's case, she returns to a moment from her childhood; her father made her swear not to tell anyone where they were, but she let it slip while in town. Shortly after, the man she spoke to guns him down in front of her before seemingly taking the young Val and training the child to become the woman we see today.
This adds a layer of sympathy to her backstory, so when she avoids being arrested by the Thunderbolts and announces them to the world as the New Avengers, it's hard not to root for her (even after her experiments killed a whole lot of people). However, as Yelena points out, they own her now, likely explaining why Avengers Tower becomes the team's base. It had originally been purchased by O.X.E., but was abandoned when the Sentry program seemingly failed.
So, yes, this whole time, Val was simply looking to create a Superman-like being she could control as part of her quest for power. While that's not the most complex motivation, she's a fun antagonist we'll no doubt see more of down the line. One or two more cameos might have benefited the character, though this story works as a potential conclusion to her arc as well.
What did you think about Thunderbolts*'s take on Val?
In Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios assembles an unconventional team of antiheroes - Yelena Belova, Bucky Barnes, Red Guardian, Ghost, Taskmaster and John Walker. After finding themselves ensnared in a death trap set by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, these disillusioned castoffs must embark on a dangerous mission that will force them to confront the darkest corners of their pasts.
Will this dysfunctional group tear themselves apart, or find redemption and unite as something much more before it’s too late?
The cast of Thunderbolts* will be led by Florence Pugh as Yelena Boleva, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as "Bob."
Written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo, and directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts* is now playing in theaters.