The Marvel Cinematic Universe has experienced quite the shakeup in recent years with the world still reeling from the death and loss of multiple Avengers during Endgame. Further prompted by everything from the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the time displacement of the original Captain America, there has been no shortage of deeper-cut comic book characters making their MCU debut. Que Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, boasting a purple streak in her hair as she appears in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
In the MCU, de Fontaine serves as the Director of the CIA. As such, she has been steadily recruiting antiheroes to form the MCU’s version of the Thunderbolts. Back on the comics side of things however, in International Iron Man #6 (by Brian Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Paul Mounts, and VC’s Clayton Cowles), de Fontaine’s recruitment efforts were for the betterment of S.H.I.E.L.D., and she set her eyes on what was perhaps their strangest candidate of all: the Rocket Man himself, Elton John.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Has Previously Recruited Musicians
This bizarre revelation comes about as de Fontaine sets her sights on another, particularly punk-leaning musician named Amanda Armstrong, performing in a Greenwich Village bar several years ago. After catching her set and genuinely enjoying it, she approaches Amanda with a proposal for a recording contract. The musician will genuinely get to record, put out albums, and go on tours. Furthermore, if she calls the number on the card de Fontaine gives her, a man named George Martin (aka the “Fifth Beatle”) will answer and produce her.
It is a year later when Armstrong meets another S.H.I.E.L.D. operative and discovers that she is not the only musician they’ve contracted. Of at least two others, one is “That guy in the duck suit," who turns out to be the real world musician Elton John. The reference to a duck costume comes from Elton’s performance in Central Park on September 13th, 1980. During his encore performance, he had stepped away from the stage for a wardrobe change and returned, dressed head to toe, in a custom-made Donald Duck costume, in which he’d then go on to play “Your Song.”
S.H.I.E.L.D. Had a Reason For Recruiting Elton John
S.H.I.E.L.D.’s recruitment of musicians, particularly talented ones with the right motivation and psychological profile, makes a lot of sense. As the issue demonstrates, the touring life of a successful recording artist gives them the perfect opportunity to hide agent movement in plain sight both internationally and domestically as they convene with other assets and transport sensitive materials. Plus, as de Fontaine adds, it gets her free copies of good albums.
Having performed over 4,000 shows in over 80 countries, Elton John’s contributions to S.H.I.E.L.D. would have been invaluable. And not necessarily because of the importance of each assignment but the sheer amount he was able to pull off. With his recent performance in Glastonbury being the final show of his farewell tour though, his super spy days may finally be behind him. And so, with the Rocket Man goes one of the best, underrated secret agents S.H.I.E.L.D. may have ever known.