Echo Is Proof That the MCU Has More and Better Stories to Tell
Some members of the press were given early access to the first three episodes of Disney+'s newest television series set in the MCU, Echo. I've never been more glad to have waited until I saw the entire show before writing about it because the best parts of Echo are its last two episodes. Picking up right after the events of 2021's Hawkeye, Echo follows hired gun Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) after she shoots her adoptive uncle and boss Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) and leaves him for dead. Maya returns to her roots in Tamaha, Oklahoma, to recuperate and attempt to build a criminal empire in the wake of the power vacuum left by the Kingpin's absence.
Echo is a character from the pages of the Daredevil comics, a deaf Native American with the ability to mimic or the physical abilities of others. The MCU's Echo doesn't have this ability to copy fighting styles, something we've already seen with Black Widow's Taskmaster, but is still an exceptional fighter who manages to hold her own against Daredevil. Charlie Cox makes an exciting and welcome cameo in the first episode that works well to link the Netflix series to the rest of the MCU. The adrenaline-charged fight scene with Daredevil is great but this is Maya Lopez's show and it's all Echo the rest of the way.
We can talk about how Echo is such a triumph for representation, with the hero ticking all the boxes: she's a female ethnic minority with a hearing disability and an amputated leg. But Maya Lopez both encompasses and transcends all those things in a story that incorporates them all seamlessly and adds more layers than even what's in the comics. It's notable that Echo in the comics is not an amputee but Alaqua Cox has been in and out of hospitals since the age of three for procedures related to her amputated leg and the series makes it part of her character.
It would've been easy to get bogged down with so many things to focus on, but Echo knows exactly what it wants to do and stays on track from start to finish. The series opens with the creation story of the Native American Choctaw tribe, Echoing through every episode and getting stronger as Maya learns more about her heritage. It crescendoes into a thrilling and surprising finale that subverts the usual expectations of the hero saving the day.
Storytelling in the MCU post-Infinity War has shifted away from the hero who carries their burden alone, with heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil, who keep their identities secret and generally work alone. Maya could easily have followed this template, starting out as a villain, a cold-blooded killer raised by arguably the most terrifying villain in the entire MCU, the Kingpin. And at the start of the series, Maya is exactly that, a lone operative on her motorcycle who returns to her hometown avoiding the family who miss and love her and only contacting the folks from her past who are of use to her criminal ambitions.
But Echo turns from villain to antihero to hero in a span of five episodes told with so much authenticity, earnestness, and heart. The MCU's Echo is worlds better than her comic counterpart because she's given a different purpose and far more meaning, representing the Choctaw Nation both in her new abilities and her costume. The creative team, led by Native American filmmaker Sydney Freehand, worked closely with the Choctaw Nation to infuse Echo with cultural elements and gives viewers a glimpse into the Native American experience the same way Ms. Marvel opened our eyes to Pakistani-American culture and it's wonderful.
The series also spotlights ASL in a creative and engaging way, so Echo isn't something you can have playing in the background because it demands attention. Significant portions of the show are silent, and viewers will only understand what's going on by reading the subtitles. At one point, Maya is given a contact lens that translates ordinary speech into ASL through augmented reality. It's just MCU fiction but the idea is so clever and visually engaging that it needs to be a real thing.
Echo is a series under the Marvel Spotlight banner, which focuses on content intended to be standalone, which means no other stories from the MCU are necessary to understand it. Arguably, Disney+'s Werewolf by Night and Moon Knight could've been under the same banner, but the bonus of having a shared universe is that prior knowledge of other stories only enriches the experience. Fans of Netflix's Daredevil will appreciate and understand the menace of Wilson Fisk. More importantly, Echo builds upon that story by drawing a parallel between Kingpin's traumatic childhood and Maya's path of violence.
It's remarkable how Echo manages to honor and uplift Maya's Native American heritage as much as it celebrates her womanhood by making it a generational story of mothers that goes all the way back to the beginning of the Choctaw people. The series finale finds Maya embracing her heritage and her destiny in an uncommonly selfless and democratic fashion. But as great as that sequence was, it's eclipsed by what happens next, when Maya's final showdown against the series' main villain is resolved in the absolute best way. It's an amazing arc that sees a child who was raised to see cruelty and retribution as appropriate responses recognize and resolve her own traumas as well as those of her enemies. Despite its mature audiences warning, Echo paves the path towards a kinder, more compassionate MCU.
With Echo and the second season of What If? that concluded in December, the MCU proves that there's more to the MCU than just Thanos and Iron-Man. There are people like Maya Lopez, who have interesting stories involving heritage and family. Echo takes the various aspects of its hero and weaves a story that celebrates all of it, reminding us that there are so many more beautiful cultures and people beyond our own and those that have been in the spotlight for so long. The Marvel Spotlight is on Echo, and people should pay attention.
