Echo is a deaf, indigenous superhero who is key to Marvel Phase 4

echo is here and with her: Echo (Alaqua Cox), who is venturing out on her own and finding out what it means to be a hero.

She was first introduced in the second episode of Disney Plus. Hawkeye, originally an antagonist of Kate Bishop and Clint Barton. It wasn’t long before it was announced that Cox’s superheroine would have her own show – which eventually premiered on Disney Plus and Hulu in January.

But is she a good guy? While she spent most of her action-packed first episode chasing after our heroes, Marvel Comics readers know it’s a little more complicated than that.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Hawkeye through episode 3.]

Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) sits in the back of a truck and looks at something

Teased in the final scene of HawkeyeIn this week’s second episode of “Echoes,” superheroine Echo makes her full debut. The episode begins by presenting her backstory, in which she is played by young actress Darnell Besaw. The daughter of a member of the Tracksuit Mafia, she lost her hearing as a child. Without the money to enroll in a school for the deaf, Maya was forced to improve her lip-reading skills in order to interact with the hearing world that was not welcoming to her.

And in the series, just as in Marvel Comics, it seems that Maya Lopez’s attention to visual detail has evolved into a kind of supernatural power – she can read and mimic body language.

Who is Maya Lopez/Echo in Marvel Comics?

Maya Lopez/Echo catches an escrima stick with a fap sound while casually juggling half a dozen shurikens with her other hand. “Hello, villain,” she says. “I have a performance for you” in Daredevil (1999).

Echo first appeared on the pages of Daredevil, created by David Mack and Joe Quesada (Mack wrote the series and he and Quesada both provided art), as the antagonist. In the comics, she was born deaf and possessed the supernatural ability to perfectly mimic the movements of anyone she saw – much like Taskmaster, the Avengers villain who debuted in the MCU in 2011 Black widow

Maya became an orphan when her father died while working as an enforcer for Wilson “The Kingpin” Fisk, who you may remember from Netflix Daredevil series or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Fisk took her under his wing to develop her skills, convince her that he really was a nice guy, and eventually turn her against the “villainous” Daredevil. Her most common “superhero” symbol is a handprint on her face, a tribute to her father’s final moments, just as he was Hawkeyeis “Echoes”.

As a supporting character in Marvel Comics, Maya has gone through many ups and downs. She dated Daredevil, befriended Wolverine, was the first person to wear the Ronin suit/identity in the Marvel comics, was entangled with Elektra and the Hand, and hung out with Moon Knight. She was a multiple member of the Avengers, where she was often credited with the “supernatural” ability to read lips, even when characters (such as Spider-Man) wore full masks.

Maya has always been a Native American superhero, but recently she’s been specifically established in the comics as a member of the Cheyenne Nation, rejoining the Avengers and becoming – let me check this out – host of the Phoenix Force. At least that part is likely not will come in Hawkeye. But Clint Barton’s show won’t be the last we see of Echo.

Maya Lopez is getting her own Disney Plus spinoff show and fans are keeping their fingers crossed echo series will reintegrate the world of Netflix Daredevil with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But they will wait a while longer echo currently has no release window.