Marvel’s MCU shows have been hit or miss. Despite their star power, action-packed scenes, and increased diversity, not all of them are winners in comparison to the blockbuster storytelling of MCU’s film installments. And while many conversations have been had about audiences’ growing Marvel fatigue, it’s clear that diminishing box office returns, along with one of franchise new stars’ legal trouble, has made Marvel go back to the drawing board in search of ways to win audiences back, as a new Variety article reports.
But even with what sounds like a bit of chaos going on behind the scenes, Marvel still has exciting projects coming down the pipeline that could put the MCU back on a more desired track. One such upcoming show is Echo.
First introduced in the holiday miniseries Hawkeye (arguably one of Marvel’s better shows), Echo (played by Alaqua Cox) isn’t necessarily a superhero, but not exactly a villain either. As we know from Avengers: Endgame, Hawkeye spent much of the time during the blip (after Thanos snapped his fingers and removed an significant portion of Earth’s population) under the alias Ronin, killing criminals who survived Thanos’ snap. In the process, he killed Maya Lopez’s father, who led a criminal outfit called the Tracksuit Mafia (silly name, we know). Lopez, now with the alias Echo, takes over the crime group and enters the tutelage of her new, adoptive father, the villainous Kingpin.
While anyone coming in late to the Hawkeye story may wonder if this is just another disconnected miniseries to lead into the movies, Echo isn’t a show to write off. With her direct connection to Kingpin, Echo is like a bright red blinking arrow pointing straight at Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel’s attempt to reintegrate a much beloved character into the MCU. While the Netflix shows of Marvel superheroes like Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and Daredevil don’t fit into the MCU’s continuity and don’t count as canon, there’s a strong fan base for the shows and–Iron Fist aside–they all had solid characters with quality storytelling. If we’re lucky, Echo, Marvel’s first TV series to earn a TV-MA rating,is the MCU finally giving those Netflix fans what they’ve waited for. Seriously, you should get excited.
When is Echo Season 1 coming out?
Marvel has just released an Echo Season 1 trailer along with a pretty soon release date: January 10. The series will be streaming both on Disney+, like other Marvel shows, and on Hulu. Disney now fully owns Hulu, which means they can easily host any of their content on the platform. According to an Instagram post from Marvel Studios, Echo will be available for Hulu subscribers to watch until April 9th.
What is Echo Season 1 about?
Based on the trailer, it appears that we’ll dive deeper into Maya’s backstory as she trains to become the Echo we know. It’ll also give us insight into Kingpin and his criminal enterprise, as Maya likely takes on various jobs for him.
The most likely place the show will pick up from, however, is where we saw Maya at the end of Hawkeye. Determined to kill her father’s murderer, Maya at first set her sights on Hawkeye, but later learns her father was potentially killed by someone who worked under Kingpin. Last we see her, she’s confronting her adopted father. And as we know from Vincent D’Onofrio’s larger than life performance as Kingpin, he’s a formidable opponent. We could see Maya take on Kingpin…and she may even run into some other New York City locals who want to take him down, like Daredevil.
Who stars in Echo?
The actress who plays Echo/Maya Lopez is Alaqua Cox. The 26-year-old’s first acting role (really) was in Hawkeye, and she’s now the lead of her own show. Much like Maya Lopez, Cox was born Deaf and is also an amputee, both of which are part of her MCU character’s story.
While you may not have seen Cox in anything else yet, her performance as Echo could lead to a long career in both the MCU and television overall.
Milan Polk is an Editorial Assistant for Men’s Health who specializes in entertainment and lifestyle reporting, and has worked for New York Magazine’s Vulture and Chicago Tribune.