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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to stuff

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Speaker 1: I've never told your production of I Heart Radio. So

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Speaker 1: welcome to another episode of our segment subsegment, subsubsegment Fictional

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Speaker 1: Women around the World. And I'm going to start off

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Speaker 1: right at the top that spoilers. This is a spoiler

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Speaker 1: alert for recent Marvel stuff. Even telling you what it

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Speaker 1: is would be a spoiler, I think, but any recent

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Speaker 1: Marvel thing not going in depths but the topic itself. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's kind of a spoiler in fact, for Samantha, who

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Speaker 1: you have not seen Black Widow yet, have you? Oh? No,

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Speaker 1: I have not. Yep. It's very brief, it's very minor.

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Speaker 1: I'm not. It's not really giving too much away. So

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Speaker 1: here's a pause. You can come back later if you

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Speaker 1: absolutely don't want any spoilers of any kind. Okay, I'm leaving, Bye, Smatha.

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Speaker 1: You're contractually obligated to be spoiled by me. Okay. For

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Speaker 1: those who are still here today, we're talking about Contessa

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Speaker 1: at Antina el regrad Fontaine, who goes by Val often,

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Speaker 1: but she says don't call her Val, recently portrayed in

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Speaker 1: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier and Black Widow by

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Speaker 1: Julia Louis Dreyfuss. Interesting to think that Black Widow was

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Speaker 1: supposed to come out first, so that should have been

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Speaker 1: our first introduction to her, but obviously things did play

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Speaker 1: out that way, so most people saw her in The

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Speaker 1: Falcon in the Winter Soldier first. Also, this character was

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Speaker 1: previously played by Lisa Rinna in live action movie Nick

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Speaker 1: Fury Asian of Shield, which I have never heard of,

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Speaker 1: and I am shocked that this exists and I didn't

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Speaker 1: know it. Yeah, I don't know if I haven't heard

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Speaker 1: of this either. Yes, I gotta find this. I gotta

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Speaker 1: seek this one out. So from what we've seen in

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Speaker 1: the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the m c U, I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to get better about assuming like not everyone knows

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Speaker 1: everything about the nerd stuff i'd talk about. She seems

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Speaker 1: almost like a chaotic, possibly evil version of Nick Fury,

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Speaker 1: assembling a sort of Dark Avengers or Gray Avengers maybe

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Speaker 1: for a mysterious organization that she works for. She certainly

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Speaker 1: seems manipulative and very clever, playing on John Walker, who

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Speaker 1: is kind of the like no good Captain America from

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Speaker 1: The Falcon and Winter Soldier. If you aren't sure who

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Speaker 1: he is. She said things to him like things are

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Speaker 1: about to get weird, so when they do, we're not

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Speaker 1: going to need a Captain America. We're gonna need a

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Speaker 1: US agent. And yes, US agent is a thing in

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Speaker 1: the comics, it's like an actual title. And Elena Belovo's

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Speaker 1: a k Black Widow sir get little sister. Valentina plays

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Speaker 1: on her pain and anger and isolation, potentially alliging to

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Speaker 1: to both of them to get them to do what

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Speaker 1: she wants. She has access to classified information. She knows,

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Speaker 1: for instance, that Walker took the serum to become a

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Speaker 1: super soldier and congratulates him for doing it. She also

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Speaker 1: knows that Clint Barton was with Black Widow when she died.

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Speaker 1: From what we know, she seems ruthless and cynical. She

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Speaker 1: tells John Walker she would have killed the flag Smashers too,

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Speaker 1: and that he would have been doing the US a

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Speaker 1: favor to have killed all of them. And yeah, the

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Speaker 1: Dark Avengers are a thing in the comics. They're pretty

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Speaker 1: much what they feund like, sort of the anti Avengers

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Speaker 1: Bizarrow Avengers. Like every Avenger there's an evil version of

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Speaker 1: that Avenger, Like there's an evil version of the whole

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Speaker 1: is like a multi universe thing. No, no, they're I

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Speaker 1: mean like we've already been introduced to some of them.

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Speaker 1: They exist in the same universe. They're just like an

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Speaker 1: evil team. Um, and they're they're like literally, oh, that's

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Speaker 1: the evil version of the Hulk. Oh that's the evil

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Speaker 1: version of Spider Man, like venom is Scorpion anyway, Yes,

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Speaker 1: the opposite of your favorite Avengers. So you've already got

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Speaker 1: a dark Captain America and a dark Black Widow. I

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Speaker 1: guess um some of Marvel's most infa miss villains ended

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Speaker 1: up in this group. However, because of course things are

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Speaker 1: very complicated in these uh, some people think that this

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Speaker 1: team is going to be more like the Thunderbolts instead,

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Speaker 1: which was a team of villains or one time villains

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Speaker 1: assuming new identities to fill a power vacuum left by

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Speaker 1: the Avengers. And this team was originally led by Baron Zimo,

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Speaker 1: who is the villain in the Captain America's Civil War

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Speaker 1: and in Falcon in the Winter Soldier kind of a

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Speaker 1: in the mysterious non villain but kind of villain space.

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Speaker 1: Most people know him because he did that awkward dance

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Speaker 1: that got looped forever. It was good. Yeah, oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: it was very good. But so the thunderbolts are often

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Speaker 1: called maybe it's not the thunderbolt. One of them is

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Speaker 1: often called, like this, the suicide Squad, like Marvel Universe's

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Speaker 1: Suicide Squad. Yeah, got you. Okay, but there's apparently more

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Speaker 1: stuff we know from the comic books. Uh, And what

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Speaker 1: a story it is. As always, when we discus us

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Speaker 1: such a huge and sprawling universe and all over the

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Speaker 1: place universe, they can get messy to pinned down. Yes,

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Speaker 1: it does. That being said in nineteen sixty seven is

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Speaker 1: Strange Tales number one fifty nine, created by writer and

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Speaker 1: artist Jim Stranco in the comics of Valentina claimed to

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Speaker 1: be an Italian noblewoman who was trained in the world

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Speaker 1: of espionage from a young age. Familiar she rose up

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Speaker 1: the ranks of Shield and all the way up to

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Speaker 1: deputy director under Nick Fury, who, by the way, she

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Speaker 1: had a relationship with. Okay, that was new to know that.

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Speaker 1: And it gets weirder. She went on to secretly infiltrate Hydra,

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Speaker 1: you know, the evil organization that for those out of

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Speaker 1: the loop, this part I knew. Becoming Madame Hydra which

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Speaker 1: is not how it goes in the TV version. Turns out, though,

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Speaker 1: Madam Hydra is like a title. Um, so multiple people

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Speaker 1: have been Madame Hydra. But also I'm pretty sure I

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Speaker 1: just read while I was researching this that yes, the

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Speaker 1: show might not be canon anymore, so I don't know

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Speaker 1: things out of cannon. Okay, what weird? Turns Out she's

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Speaker 1: actually a Russian triple agent who originally worked for Leviathan,

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Speaker 1: a top secret Soviet science and spy organization, before being

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Speaker 1: recruited into Shield as a sleeper agents and then Hydra Lord.

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Speaker 1: One of her main goals was helping Leviathan's leader recover

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Speaker 1: the ability to create superhumans. She convinced Hydra is still

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Speaker 1: a powerful object called the Box and install it for

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Speaker 1: Leviathan before turning herself over and being imprisoned. Uh and

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Speaker 1: then Italian noblewoman thing, an identity given to her and

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Speaker 1: her family by Leviathan. Leviathan recruited her as a child

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Speaker 1: after her parents, also Leviathan agents, were killed by Russian agents. What. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's a mess, but she's clearly very smart, a great

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Speaker 1: liar and great at reading people. Knows a lot of languages,

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Speaker 1: you know, the perfect combat and sponnage agent, and of

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Speaker 1: course she fooled Nick Fury. She defeated him in hand

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Speaker 1: to hand combat too, which you know, he's getting old

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Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure this Leviathan revealed that she was

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Speaker 1: still working for the Leviathan. Happened in like kind of recently.

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Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but this was like an ongoing

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Speaker 1: Wait she's in Hydera. Oh wait, she's a Leviathan the

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Speaker 1: whole time. Yes, very messy and speaking of, oh my goodness,

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Speaker 1: relationship drama aside. So, when Valentina gets jealous of Fury

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Speaker 1: for flirting with an X, she flirts with Steve Rogers,

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Speaker 1: a Captain America, which gets her in trouble with her

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Speaker 1: superior at the time, Sharon Carter, and you can see

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Speaker 1: our previous Fictional Women episode for more about her, and

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Speaker 1: Fury confronts Captain America about it. Valentina apparently developed real,

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Speaker 1: actual feelings for both Captain America and Fury, to the

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Speaker 1: point that Nick Fury essentially pushed Captain America out of

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Speaker 1: Shield because he didn't like what was going on between

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Speaker 1: him and Valentina. This led to a fight between Fury

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Speaker 1: and Captain America Valentina intervened and forced them to talk

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Speaker 1: out and gone to an understanding. Valentina got back with Fury,

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Speaker 1: participating admissions to protect him from assassination attempts. After she

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Speaker 1: learned that Fury had been for many years receiving supplements

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Speaker 1: of something called the Infinity Formula to prolong his life,

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Speaker 1: she finds the supplier, blackmailing him by withholding the serum

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Speaker 1: to get the samples herself, and she does this without

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Speaker 1: telling him. After Fury disbanded Shield for being compromised, she

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Speaker 1: hooked up with shields Ci a liaison. Then Fury restarted Shield,

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Speaker 1: bringing Valentina back into the agency. After a Furious partner

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Speaker 1: at the time was murdered Um and Valentina's left, the

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Speaker 1: pair got back together. The reason she gave her turning

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Speaker 1: herself over with that whole of Iathan thing was so

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Speaker 1: that Fury would know where to find her. And after

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Speaker 1: helping the manipulating Hydra and Leviathan into destroying each other,

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Speaker 1: Fury freeze Valentina from prison. And I was like leaving

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Speaker 1: a bunch of stuff out, And yes, obviously there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of problematic stuff and all of that about her

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Speaker 1: being Nick Fury's girlfriend. Um catfights over men were shared

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Speaker 1: Carter men fighting over women. Often her costumes are hyper

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Speaker 1: sexualized as well. Not all the time, but sometimes I'm like,

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Speaker 1: whoa where did this come from? Did? Though? I didn't

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Speaker 1: see a tuped up but I saw what looked like

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Speaker 1: kind of like a backless like spent leather, bright shining leather,

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Speaker 1: backless like tight jumpsuit sort of thing. Short exactly, I

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Speaker 1: can't answer these questions all right, Well, under Shield, Valentina

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Speaker 1: joined a group called the Film Force, a group of

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Speaker 1: a top female Shield ages led by Sharon Carter. Valentina

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Speaker 1: served as the second in command to keep suspicions off her.

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Speaker 1: She did help out Shield a lot with villains like

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Speaker 1: Dr Doom and Quartermain. She worked with heroes like a Daredevil,

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Speaker 1: and while under mind control, tried to kill Spider Man

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Speaker 1: and Black Widow whoops uh. Some speculate that in the

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Speaker 1: m c U, this character is filling the role of

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Speaker 1: another Marvel character, Valerie Cooper, a government official who worked

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Speaker 1: with superhumans and was responsible for recruiting John Walker. Others

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Speaker 1: have pointed out that in the comics, her character was

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Speaker 1: kidnapped and impersonated as part of the scroll invasion something

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Speaker 1: that could be at play here, especially given the post

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Speaker 1: credit scenes in the most recent Spider Man movie. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so the Scrolls, if you saw, like Captain Marvel, are

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Speaker 1: the sort of reptilian alien race that can impersonate other people.

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Speaker 1: And I guess more spoilers, it was kind of revealed

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Speaker 1: that maybe not everyone is who you think they are

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Speaker 1: at the end of the most recent Spider Man movie

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Speaker 1: that some people are Scrolls. So some people think that

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Speaker 1: maybe it's this going on. I personally have my doubts,

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Speaker 1: but it could be very well could be. So this

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Speaker 1: character kind of gives me this feeling, as does a

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Speaker 1: lot of phase for that it's a new world than

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Speaker 1: what it was when a lot of these heroes got

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Speaker 1: their start, and that we need to adapt, which in

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Speaker 1: some cases could be good and others could be bad.

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Speaker 1: The way she speaks sounds very the ends justify the

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Speaker 1: means to me. The business card she gives to John

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Speaker 1: Walker as a white side and a black side, perhaps

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Speaker 1: meeting she sees good and good and bad is like

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Speaker 1: ultimately the same, and or she is willing to cross

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Speaker 1: lines to be on whatever side is winning or serves

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Speaker 1: her best at any given moment, or maybe she just

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Speaker 1: thought it looked cool. It's possible that I'm reading too

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Speaker 1: much into these things. The writers have said that this

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Speaker 1: character is going to have a bigger part to play,

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Speaker 1: so we'll see. And speaking of Marvel Villains, Uh, definitely

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Speaker 1: planning on coming back and talking about Ravona Renslayer from

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Speaker 1: Loki soon. I know probably a lot of people have

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Speaker 1: questions after that season finale because it just got renewed.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, definitely, I'm ready. Lots of things. Oh, there's

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Speaker 1: so many things. Will I ever get to them all?

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Speaker 1: That's a great question? Oh gosh, is it is an

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Speaker 1: excellent question? And listeners, if there's somebody you want me

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Speaker 1: to move to the top of the list. If you've

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Speaker 1: got questions about some fictional women, please let us know.

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Speaker 1: You can emails that stuff DiDia, mom Stuff I hurt

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Speaker 1: media dot com. You can find us on Twitter at

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Speaker 1: mom Stuff podcast or on Instagram at Stuff I've Never

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Speaker 1: Told You. Thanks as always to our super producer Christina

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Speaker 1: Oh thanks and thanks to you for listening. Sup one

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Speaker 1: never told you? Protection If I hire radio for more?

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Speaker 1: Podcast from my Heart Radio is the heart radio app

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Speaker 1: Apple podcast wherever you listen to your favorite shows,