Falcon and Winter Soldier: Is Nick Fury Tied to MCU’s Newly Added Villain?

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is almost at the end of its run. The show has definitely set the benchmark for future MCU projects. It consists of drama, action, and a deep history involving the Super Soldier serum. We get to see Sam and Bucky dealing with their lives after the events of Avengers: Endgame. But there’s more to that. We see them bonding and dealing with their lives. In the mix of it all, we see John Walker, played by Wyatt Russel, portray a version of Captain America that is emotionally unstable.

The show introduces the Flag-Smashers, the Power-Broker, and brings back Sharon Carter aka Agent 13. Baron Zemo played a major role in stirring the concept of the Super Soldier serum. It definitely consists of many elements that make it wholesome. Even in the second last episode, the show does not seem to put things on a rest. John Walker committed a serious offense and that too in the public eye. He furiously killed a Flag-Smasher named Nico. He was mistaken and driven by the loss his loss of his best friend. Walker has a stupendous military experience. Even though is known to make the right choices in the heat of the moment, he still lost it. This happened because he injected himself with the super-soldier serum. As explained in Captain America: The First Avenger, the serum amplifies what lies within. For Steve, it was good that became great, and for Walker, it’s bad that became worse.

We were introduced to a brand new character, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. From the very first moment she started speaking, it was clear that she is up to no good, and knew where to be. She knew about Walker taking the super-soldier serum and was also aware that he doesn’t have the Captain America shield.

Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is an established character in the comics. She initially started as a SHIELD agent. Quickly enough, she rose through the ranks. But that’s not it. She would eventually go on to have a romantic relationship with Nick Fury and Captain America both. Her history in the comics is an interesting one. After Nick Fury was driven underground, she became SHIELD’s liaison to the U.K, where she helped other superheroes like Union Jack.

Her time in SHIELD wouldn’t last long though. In the Dark Reign comic run, she posed as Madame Hydra. She never truly believed in their cause, and end up betraying them to another shadowy group of villains. She used the resources at her disposal. She would then go on to build an entire army to wage war on both Hydra and Nick Fury in the name of Leviathan. She and her parents were sleeper agents of the Russia-based villainous organization before she was recruited by SHIELD agent Dum-Dum Dugan.

This is a character that is crafted beautifully, claimed by the executive producers as well. In an interview with Marvel.com, both The Falcon and the Winter Soldier executive producers Nate Moore and co-executive producer Zoie Nagelhout discussed Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ newly introduced character, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Nate Moore shed some light on her, saying that she was sort of a more acerbic, funnier, but darker Nick Fury. He said:

“Whenever we talked about Valentina, even in the writer’s room, she was sort of a more acerbic, funnier, but darker Nick Fury… Someone who knows her secrets, who’s not afraid to operate in the moral gray area, but maybe who isn’t as inherently altruistic.”

The first interaction with Val was when she sat down next to a defeated John Walker, offering him a sudden peak of the light at the end of the tunnel. Zoie Nagelhout says that John is really excited because he is someone who needs to have a purpose. He said:

“…It’s the beginning of something… He needs to feel like he has a place in the world. He needs to feel like he has direction and ambition. There’s a catharsis to that [meeting] for him.”

It is to be believed that Marvel has further plans for the character. Surprisingly, Moore was not hesitant to confirm it. he said, “Having a character like Valentina in the show, and actually in the MCU, is really interesting because I think she’ll be making more waves sooner rather than later.” Valentina is here to stay, and maybe by the end of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, we would get to see where she ends up at. But it is actually interesting to see that Moore and Nagelhout are comparing Val with Fury, and calling her a shadier version of the same. This was also seen at the moment when Walker realizes that the car she handed over to him was empty.

The very history of Valentina and Fury can be introduced into the MCU. With one more episode to go of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, her role in the series will become clearer. It is believable that she can introduce Leviathan as its representative. But considering that she used HYDRA in the comics, she could bring the evil organization back into the MCU. If this happens, then Nick Fury will also end up being tied to the events in the series.

The Falcon and The Winter Soldier is currently streaming on Disney+. Here’s the official synopsis:

Following the events of ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ ‘The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.’ 

Directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Desmond Chiam, Miki Ishikawa, Noah Mills, and Carl Lumbly.