Julia Louis-Dreyfus entered the MCU with her surprise cameo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, which she soon followed up with an appearance in Black Widow‘s post-credits scene. Val looks set to turn up in various Phase 4 projects, then, and one of those could be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. At least, that’s according to the detective work of some dedicated Marvel fans.
Over the weekend, the Veep actress thanked her make-up artist, Karen Kawahara, for her new look. Fans then checked out Kawahara’s page and discovered she had shared a set pic from a Marvel production taking place in Atlanta, Georgia, with Louis-Dreyfus glimpsed among the cast and crew. At this point in time, Ryan Coogler’s aforementioned sequel is the only MCU project shooting in Atlanta. Hawkeye was, up until recently, also being produced in the Peach State, but the abundance of green screens in use heavily suggest this is Black Panther 2 and not a more grounded production like Clint Barton’s solo adventure.
We already know that the movie will do some heavy lifting for the future of the franchise. Dominique Thorne has been confirmed to be making her MCU debut as Riri Williams in Wakanda Forever, ahead of her very own Ironheart TV show. If Val is likewise appearing in the film, that indicates she could be about to land herself another member of her ever-growing super-squad, which so far includes U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh). Fans are pretty confident she’s assembling the Thunderbolts.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever could feasibly be the next time we see Val, as upcoming movies and series such as Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness seem outside her wheelhouse. A role in Hawkeye does seem a possibility, though, even if that’s not what this photo shows. Catch the movie when it hits theaters on July 8th, 2022.
