It’s unlikely that any Marvel fan had it on their Bingo cards that Elaine from Seinfeld would one day be the best villain the franchise has. But here we are!
The Marvel Cinematic Universe just released the 36th entry in its gigantic, all-encompassing superhero franchise: Thunderbolts*.
The cast includes Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour, but more importantly, it features comedic titan Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the main antagonist. She’s the outrageously named Valentina Allegra de Fontaine—and she’s amazing. (She also happens to be styled exactly like polarizing U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Coincidence?)
It’s a surprising choice to cast an actor so well-known for comedy as this movie’s Big Bad. Usually, MCU villains are deadly serious characters who thirst for malice and destruction—not exactly the kind of people that put a smile on your face or make you laugh. But that’s precisely why watching de Fontaine is so much fun. She’s every bit as outrageous as her name, and the most exciting villain in the superhero franchise since Thanos.
Thanos, first introduced in the end credits scene in The Avengers, upped the stakes considerably; this is the man, after all, who wiped out half the world’s population with the snap of a finger in Avengers: Infinity War. He met his downfall in Avengers: Endgame. Since then, there’s been a bargain bin assortment of forgettable, impactless villains.
Only the most dedicated MCU stans can name every villain over the 36 films, or even the current Phase 5 (which Thunderbolts* brings to a close). Without googling, who’s the villain of The Marvels? Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Exactly.
Part of the antagonist problem with the MCU is that it’s practically guaranteed before the movie starts that the heroes will win. Investing in the villains, then, is pointless. That’s a big reason why de Fontaine is such a breath of fresh air—she actually impacts the story, and at the end of the film, her time with the Thunderbolts is far from over.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Thunderbolts*.)
Fontaine is the Director of the CIA and the chairwoman of O.X.E., a black-ops organization. That means de Fontaine is not to be messed with, and she’s likely seen gnarly things like you wouldn’t believe.
She’s severe and takes no flak from anyone—when she’s being faced with impeachment due to alleged experimenting on humans, she snaps when a congressman doesn’t say the “de” in her name, refusing to move forward until it’s rectified. One of those things leading to her potential removal is Project Sentry, which involved extensive human experimentation to try and create superheroes. And while de Fontaine says she’s happy to help with the investigation, covertly, she orders the destruction of any evidence linked to the project. She’ll praise you with one hand, and stab you in the back with the other.
It’s like Louis-Dreyfus’ character Selina Meyer from HBO’s Veep was inserted directly into Thunderbolts*. Yes, that Meyer, whose manic energy and frequent dropping of f-bombs made her an iconic character. While Louis-Dreyfus doesn’t get the same delicious dialogue to chew on in Thunderbolts* (or as much profanity), her energy is delightfully similar. When things start going wrong for de Fontaine, you almost expect her to whisper “What the f—?” under her breath just like Meyer would.
Most Marvel villains are interested in a mixture of vengeance and world domination, but de Fontaine is concerned with one thing and one thing only: herself. That’s a frightening prospect. While most Marvel baddies openly brag about their machinations, Fontaine is secretive, doing her dirty deeds behind closed doors.
Louis-Dreyfus’ energy is giddily demonic, continually undervaluing her assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) and throwing everyone under the bus she possibly can. That includes the members of the Thunderbolts, as she sends each of them into an O.X.E. secret base with the plan that they’ll jealously wipe each other out. Unfortunately for her, they band together and try to take her down instead.
This isn’t a villain with any powers. She can’t fly, nor does she have superstrength; she is trained, however, as we see her attack an assailant, taking them down with ease. We don’t need a backstory to enjoy de Fontaine, and that’s thanks to Louis-Dreyfus’s wiry, pitch-perfect parody of corporate fatcats. It’s exciting to watch her revel in pure selfishness, manipulating everyone around her with the sole purpose of self-preservation.
After narrowly escaping death at the hands of Sentry (Lewis Pullman), de Fontaine has one last run-in with the Thunderbolts at the end of the film. It seems like they’ll get revenge and take her out, but she’s got one big trick up her sleeve.
She slips through a curtain and the Thunderbolts follow, revealing a press conference where de Fontaine activates peak upper management energy and takes full credit for assembling the Thunderbolts, announcing their newly founded supergroup as “The New Avengers”. That not only changes the foundation of the MCU (and explains the asterisk in the film’s title) but it ensures de Fontaine won’t be killed.
Fontaine is no longer interested in fighting with the Thunderbolts. That’s not because she likes them—one could argue she wants them dead—but because she can use them. Her move to hold a press conference and call the Thunderbolts the “New Avengers” is the perfect decision to keep her on top. Unlike so many MCU villains, she’s not one-and-done—it’s clear that there’s plenty more of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to come. And I can’t wait to see how her villainous schemes manifest next.
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