A spin-off series starring industry newcomer Alaqua Cox, a Menominee deaf actor, was first rumored long before she debuted as Echo in Disney+’s Hawkeye in November 2021. A few weeks after Hawkeye‘s successful premiere, Marvel Studios officially confirmed Cox’s Maya Lopez, a deaf Indigenous vigilante, would be leading her solo series Echo.
The Indigenous, deaf, and female hero made her Marvel Comics debut in 1998’s Daredevil #9 by David Mack, Richard Isanove, Joe Quesada, and Jimmy Palmiotti, giving herself the moniker Echo as a tribute to her murdered father. Because she can sense the physical vibration of sound through the floor, which helps her in hand-to-hand combat, she is one of the most skilled fighters in the Marvel Multiverse. Like the Black Widow villain Taskmaster, Maya can perfectly copy another person’s fighting style with her photographic reflexes just by watching her opponent in combat.
Echo‘s release is just around the corner, as it not only kicks off the MCU’s 2024 slate but also will launch a new banner, “Marvel Spotlight,” and be the first mature-rated project in the MCU, beating Deadpool 3 in six months. What started out as a series, many asked why Marvel would make it, and it has now become an anticipated event as it looks to offer up something new to the MCU. Here is everything we know about Echo.
Update January 8, 2024: With Echo premiering soon, here is everything to know about the upcoming series that will start 2024 for the MCU.
Echo’s Release Date
Echo will drop all five episodes on Disney+ and Hulu on January 9, 2024. While it was originally planned to be released on November 29, 2023, it was pushed back to January 2024. Why the series was delayed is unclear, though the biggest reason might be to avoid overlap with The Marvels, which was released on November 10, 2023. A January release date allows Echo to kick off 2024 for the MCU.
Unlike other MCU projects, Echo will not directly be impacted by the writer’s and actor’s strikes. The series completed filming earlier this year and isn’t set for any more reshoots. What sets Echo apart from other MCU shows like Secret Invasion and Loki season two is that all episodes are dropping at once. It’s the first time Marvel Studios and Disney+ have experimented with the binge model of streaming, and it’s sure to be a test if that method works better for their series.
Plot
Echo will take place after the events of Hawkeye, following Maya Lopez as she finds her way in the world. Concerning Lopez, the Disney+ series skewed reasonably close to her comic book history, including the sixth episode cliffhanger — and that means the story of Cox’s Echo is just getting started. By the end of the Hawkeye series, Maya still hadn’t taken the moniker of Echo. Seeing as how WandaVision showed how Wanda Maximoff became The Scarlet Witch, the series will likely explain how she adopts the moniker of Echo. Hawkeye ended with Maya shooting Kingpin, although it is highly rumored he isn’t dead. Instead, she blinded him. This has seemingly been confirmed by the trailers, which see Kingpin sporting an eye patch. This will likely be a major part of the series.
The official synopsis from Marvel’s website states that the origin story of Echo revisits Maya Lopez, whose ruthless behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown. She must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots, and embrace the meaning of family and community if she ever hopes to move forward.
While Maya has the ability to have photographic reflexes in the comics, it seems that the series may be taking the character in a different direction and giving her new powers. Reportedly she will have new powers tied to her Choctaw roots. What is interesting in the comics is that Maya Lopez is the newest host of The Phoenix Force, the powerful cosmic entity commonly associated with Jean Grey and the X-Men. Mutants have been teased in the MCU with characters like Namor and Ms. Marvel. While it is unlikely that Maya Lopez will get The Phoenix Force, this might be the MCU’s way of leveling up her power scale to be a major player in the MCU.
Cast: Who We Expect to See?
Alaqua Cox is reprising the role of Echo and will also be joined by a few major MCU characters. The biggest name that has been officially confirmed by Marvel is Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio), the criminal mastermind known as the Kingpin. D’Onofrio himself has talked about how excited he is for his character’s return. He told MovieWeb “We’re very fortunate to be able to portray these characters as a father-daughter, or a niece-nephew, however you want to say it, kind of relationship. We’re bringing forward this kind of intensity in their normal relationship that might have some trepidation in it, like real life, as people deal with every day.”
Charlie Cox will also be reprising his role as Daredevil in the series. It’s unknown at this point how much the Man Without Fear will play a factor in the series, but it’s a guarantee that he’ll have one more appearance before his own series, Daredevil: Born Again. Since Echo premiered in a Daredevil comic and has close connections to the character, it makes sense for him to appear in the series. The two do develop a romantic relationship in the comics, but it is unknown if that will play out in the series. With Kingpin and Daredevil both set to appear, it’s likely to set up that series where both of them will show up next. It’s possible that Echo could even be a major player in Daredevil: Born Again.
Rumors have been swirling that Daredevil’s inclusion in the series might connect to another member of The Defenders. The rumor is that it will involve the search for Jessica Jones. While Kryster Ritter has not officially joined the cast, Marvel might be saving her reveal as they did with Kingpin in Hawkeye. There is some weight to this theory as Jon Bernthal will return as The Punisher will appear in Daredevil: Born Again. Marvel Studios is bringing back more members of the Marvel Netflix series into the MCU.
Zahn McClarnon, who played Maya’s father, William Lopez, in Hawkeye, will reprise his role, so he will likely play into flashbacks that will connect him to The Kingpin. Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs) will play Maya’s cousin Bonnie. Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves) is signed on to play Skully, Maya’s grandfather, while Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon) will play Maya’s grandmother, Chula. Cody Lightning (Run Woman Run) will play Maya’s cousin Biscuit while Chaske Spencer (Twilight Saga: New Moon) will play Henry, Maya’s uncle and brother to her father William; they are all set to appear in the series in undisclosed roles.
Everything Else We Know
In March 2021, Variety reported Etan Cohen (Men in Black 3, Holmes & Watson) and Emily Cohen, a Jewish Native-American comic creator of An American Indian Guide to the Day of Atonement, had signed on as the writers and executive producers of Echo. In January, it was announced Marion Dayre (Better Call Saul) had joined the series as lead writer, and the writers’ room would also include Shoshannah Stern (Supernatural) and Bobby Wilson (Reservation Dogs). Additionally, The Punisher‘s Ken Kristensen had signed on as a writer, who wrote “Virtue of the Victorious,” the first season’s tenth episode, and from season two, “Trouble the Water,” the third episode, “Flustercluck,” the ninth episode. Also in the writers’ room is another Netflix Marvel series writer, Dara Resnik, who wrote the eighth episode of Daredevil season three, “Upstairs/Downstairs,” and co-wrote the third season’s eleventh episode, “Reunion.”
Sydney Freeland, known for her work on films like Drunktown’s Finest, is one of the directors for the series, and she also serves as one of the executive producers. Catriona McKenzie (Satellite Boy) is also signed on to direct an episode.
The biggest development is Echo, which is serving as the launch for the “Marvel Spotlight” banner. The banner is meant to focus on smaller-scale character-centric stories that do not have many major tie-ins to the larger MCU. This allows Echo to be both part of the MCU and also more welcoming to new viewers who might be put off by another superhero show. Part of the way Marvel Studios is looking to make Echo stand out is the fact that it will be rated TV-MA, the first for an MCU Disney+ series. Echo will also premiere simultaneously on both Disney+ and Hulu, another first for the MCU.
