Marvel’s newest live-action series “Echo” was released on Disney+ Jan. 9. The five episode season is the first release under the “Marvel Spotlight” banner, indicating it requires less knowledge of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) reprises her role that viewers met in “Hawkeye.” Maya is a deaf girl with super strength, great reflexes and martial arts abilities. Maya grows up with her father who works for the gangster “Kingpin” (Vincent D’Onorfio) who becomes her adoptive father after her father’s death. She was groomed for a life of crime until she discovered the truth about her father’s death. After turning on her adoptive father, she returns to her hometown in Oklahoma where she reconnects with her Native American roots and comes to terms with her criminal past.
It is the plot anyone would expect: triumphing over your enemies, righting your wrongs and reconnecting with your roots, with some twists.
Alaqua Cox is the first deaf and Native American protagonist at Marvel. The show has many parts in American Sign Language with subtitles on the bottom. Before she was casted, Alaqua Cox had not considered becoming an actor, but the role seemed to be made for her. Unlike the comic books, “Echo” is an amputee since Alaqua has a prosthetic leg in real life.
Another difference between the comics and the series is her superpower. In the comic books, Maya got the “Echo” name because of her ability to replicate her opponent’s moves. In the series, the focus is on her echoing the supernatural strengths of her Native American ancestors. Part of Maya’s history is that she descended from the first Choctaw and inherited superhuman powers. When not showing fight scenes, the series focuses on the connection to her heritage and how she learned to embrace her family. This is displayed in her inherited magical glowing hand powers, which is another difference from the comic.
The entirety of “Echo” was released all at once, so it is a quick and easy show to binge-watch. It has a MA rating which includes intense action scenes and gruesome moments.
