Julia Louis-Dreyfus was thrilled to 'almost reinvent' Marvel character in Thunderbolts

Julia Louis-Dreyfus was thrilled to be able to "almost reinvent" her Marvel character in the new movie Thunderbolts.

The Seinfeld actress made her debut as the mysterious Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, who hires anti-heroes for off-the-books missions, in the 2021 TV series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

She went on to make small appearances in 2021's Black Widow and 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, when it was revealed she was the new director of the CIA.

Louis-Dreyfus finally gets a substantial role in Thunderbolts, in which the anti-heroes she assembled - such as Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova and Wyatt Russell's John Walker - team up against her.

During a recent virtual press conference, the Veep star told reporters that she felt like she got to "almost reinvent" Valentina after dipping her toe into the MCU a few times.

"In this case, it was a toe dip and a little bit of a toe dip and (another) toe dip, and in this particular film, you really get to know who this person is. So this experience, albeit I loved everything before, but this was a lot to chew on and a lot to explore," she shared.

"It's interesting to consider what fuels her insatiable thirst for power so it was a really exciting opportunity to sort of almost reinvent her to a certain extent."

Louis-Dreyfus added that she approaches every character "without judgement" and found that to be an "exciting" way into Valentina and her drive for power.

However, she refuses to call her villain, because she believes there is more to her character than that.

"I'm referring to her as sort of anti-villain, the way these guys are anti-heroes, because I think you get an opportunity to understand maybe why she is the way she is. (It) doesn't necessarily excuse things, but it's understanding," she said.

Thunderbolts is now showing in U.K. cinemas.