Black Widow Repeats Falcon & Winter Soldier’s MCU Setup Mistake

[Animous]

Both Black Widow and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier make the same mistake in setting up the future MCU superteam of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Had things gone according to plan then Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) would've debuted in Black Widow, which was originally slated to release in 2020. The character then would've featured in Falcon & Winter Soldier, but while that order switched, the mechanics of her introduction and what it sets up largely remained the same.

It remains to be seen exactly what Val is building towards, but it's seemingly some kind of MCU superteam, with the most likely option being the Dark Avengers (though it's not impossible she's now helping to head up the Thunderbolts. So far her two recruits are John Walker (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), but there'll presumably be many more to come, with Val set up to be a dark mirror to Nicky Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) across Marvel's Phase 4,.

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In isolation, that's an intriguing and even exciting idea, as the MCU building towards the Dark Avengers is a logical direction to go in given the characters being introduced. Unfortunately, in both of Contessa Valentina's appearances so far, the setup has been a case of putting the MCU's future ahead of its present (or in Black Widow's case, its past). Val arrives at key moments in both Falcon & Winter Soldier and Black Widow, helping to transform Walker into U.S. Agent and giving Yelena a new target in the form of Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), respectively. Both of those stories are worth exploring, but each presents a problem: for Walker, it exacerbates the issue of so much of his arc being rushed to fit his transformation into Falcon and Winter Soldier season 1; for Yelena, it undermines the tribute to Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson).

Val forms part of Marvel's attempt to make viewers like John Walker, despite his behavior spiralling out of control and his vicious murder of Nico (Noah Mills). The Falcon and the Winter Soldier already had a very limited amount of time to reckon with that, because it was trying to quash so much into six episodes. Adding Val into the equation made it worse, though, because it gave Walker an immediate out, setting up his future role and needing to serve that, rather than fully dealing with the fallout of his actions. It tries to give Walker a sense of redemption in the finale, but it's not really enough to cement it, and before any transition feels like it's been completely earned he's being turned into the anti-hero U.S. Agent by Val.

Contessa Valentina's appearance in Black Widow's post-credits scene brings with it a similar issue. On this occasion, it doesn't directly hurt the story of the piece, because it's coming after the main narrative is over. However, it's perhaps even more egregious, because it undercuts what should be the emotional crux not only of the movie itself, but continuing on from Avengers: Endgame, Nat's death, and the controversial lack of a funeral held for her there. Finally, Marvel gives Black Widow a memorial, but there's no time for pathos or remembrance, nothing that allows the moment to sink in or carry any real weight, because Val pops up to give Yelena a picture of Clint Barton and send her after him. Once again, the MCU chooses to tease the future rather than allow time for what's happening in the moment.

Again, these aren't bad ideas from Marvel. Yelena going after Hawkeye, Walker becoming U.S. Agent, and Val building the Dark Avengers all have merit, both in isolation and when taken as part of a larger whole that the MCU is building towards. But the problems stem from how they're executed, and how they have to come at the expense of what should be more important elements in their respective movie and TV show. Black Widow's ending should've felt like a poignant goodbye to Nat, and Walker's arc in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier should've fully reckoned with his terrible crimes, but Val's presence, with its major implications and Louis-Dreyfus' scenery-chewing performance (which would otherwise be enjoyable), dominates and gets in the way of both.

[Silent Watcher]

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