Why Echo Was Uniquely Positioned to Get Her Own Series
While Marvel Studios is no stranger to creating streaming series based on lesser-known characters, the newly released Echo is the first time the studio has focused on a villain.
Alaqua Cox was introduced as Maya Lopez/Echo in the 2021 series Hawkeye, where she served as an antagonist to the two archer heroes.
According to Echo director Sydney Freeland, it was Lopez’s villainous background that set the tone for the new series.
“I think everything stems from the story. So, what is the character? Where are they coming from? Where are they going? What is the emotion? And so, in our case, we have Maya Lopez, who is, you know, in ‘Hawkeye,’ she’s introduced as a villain. And, you know, that was really our jumping-off point.”
A Grittier Side of the MCU
As Freeland explains, the Echo team knew that they didn’t want to turn Maya into a hero, so they decided to lean into the darker side of the MCU.
“And the fact that she’s a villain. And so, the goal was never to try to turn her into, like, Captain America. Right? In the conversations with Marvel, the response was like, hey, let’s lean into that. Let’s see if we can push it out a little. Let’s see how far we can go down that rabbit hole. And so, really, the tone and the visual style came from the story and the circumstances of the character.”
Exploring Echo’s story also allowed Freeland and her team to bring back the popular Kingpin and explore his “street-level” villainy.
“And you have Maya Lopez, you have Wilson Fisk, and you have this whole sort of New York criminal underworld as a jumping-off point. And so, you know, in the conversations early on, it was always talking about, like, hey, this is actually very interesting.”
A Unique Story
Finally, Maya Lopez’s unique characteristics, including the fact that she is a Choctaw and an amputee, allowed Marvel to tell a unique story.
“And then answering the question, “Well, what is that like when she goes back home?” You know? And I think for, you know, just for myself and you know, being indigenous, being an American, it was such a fun and exciting place to be,” Freeland explained.
“And then once you layer on the Choctaw cultural specifics onto that, it gave us a chance to tell a really fun story, you know?”
Echo is now streaming on Disney+.
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