Falcon And Winter Soldier Episode 5 - La Contessa Explained
La Contessa In The Comics
La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine was introduced in 1967's Strange Tales #159 by writer and artist Jim Steranko as a sleek and seductive new agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who came from a wealthy Italian family.
Steranko's work on Marvel's Nick Fury comic was notable for its striking visuals and characters, and La Contessa was no exception, boasting less than practical battledress and a distinctive white streak through her hair. It wasn't long at all until her and Fury started a romance, but regardless of that, over the years, La Contessa became one of the most significant agents in S.H.I.E.L.D's roster, thwarting numerous supervillain schemes even as the world continued to change at a rapid pace.
But, for all that Contessa proved herself a valuable ally during the Cold War, it was eventually revealed that she was working as a double agent for the Russians all along. Jonathan Hickman and Stephano Caselli's Secret Warriors series - the comic that revealed S.H.I.E.L.D. had been infiltrated by Hydra - also dropped the bombshell that La Contessa had joined Hydra, where she then assumed the title of Madame Hydra.
Hilariously though she then also betrayed Hydra to the organisation known as Leviathan, until she eventually handed herself over to the authorities, with Fury having been able to outplay both groups. The series ends with Fury, still unable to shake his feelings for Fontaine, preparing to break her out of prison, because gosh darn it, ol' Nicholas J. is anything if not romantic.
What does this all mean? Well, essentially, La Contessa is the quintessential Cold War spy. Duplicitous, resourceful and with her own ambitions, she remains one of the most important characters in Marvel's espionage books, which makes it a bit of a surprise, actually, that it's taken so long for her to make the leap to the MCU.
What matters now though is that she's actually there, and there's actually a lot that the comics - plus what we know of her role in Black Widow - may inform us about her motivations with Walker more specifically.
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