‘Echo’ Writer Explains the Relationship at the Heart of Maya’s Story
For their first release under the new Marvel Spotlight Banner, Marvel Studios released Echo.
The new series tells the story of one of Marvel’s first true antiheroes- Maya Lopez.
Originally introduced in Hawkeye, Maya now finds herself back home in Tahama, Oklahoma, reconnecting with the Choctaw family and culture.
Maya’s Relationship With Wilson Fisk Defines the Series
While Echo was the first Marvel Studios series to receive a TV-MA rating, at the heart of the series is the complex relationship between Maya and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin.
Following her mother’s death, Maya and her father (who worked for the mobster Fisk) moved to New York. Growing up, Kingpin became something of a surrogate father to Maya, molding her into a rage-filled killer.
Eventually, Maya shoots Fisk in the head after learning that he had coordinated the murder of her father. Fisk survives, and the two eventually meet in Oklahoma.
For Echo writer Amy Rardin, it was the unique relationship between Maya and Kingpin that drew her to the series’ story.
“Fisk is probably one of my favorite characters I’ve ever written. He is so complicated and Vincent D’Onofrio obviously is a master of playing this character. And I think that what is interesting to me is to get to tell a side of him as a ‘father,’ which I think we haven’t really seen before. He’s a surrogate father and had such a monstrous childhood.”
Does Kingpin Love Maya?
Despite the violence and rage that have come to define their relationship, Rardin believes that deep down, Fisk and Maya do love each other.
“I think Fisk, in his own twisted way, has the capacity to love,” Rardin began. “It may be really messed up, the way he loves people, and that is what Maya realizes. But I think in her own way, she also loves him somewhat.” Rardin points to the moment in the series finale when Maya uses her powers as a healer to try to mend Fisk’s childhood trauma. “I think that moment in the 4-H barn is so pivotal to their relationship because she’s trying to give him the chance to change. And she feels that maybe somewhere in there can be the person that she loves, and he just can’t do it.”
In the end, Maya chooses her own path and heals from the childhood trauma that she suffered. For Rardin, Maya’s story answers the question, “Are we defined by our past,” and by extension, our trauma? “I think there are a lot of people who have complicated lives, and complicated paths, and complicated childhoods.”
Echo is streaming on Disney+.
Thanks for visiting MickeyBlog.com! Want to go to Disney? For a FREE quote on your next Disney vacation, please fill out the form below. One of the agents from MickeyTravels, a Diamond level Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, will be in touch soon! Also, thanks for reading!