Binge Or Cringe: ‘Echo’ Is A Culturally Rich Break From Marvel’s Formulaic Vapidity
Everyone loves a good villain, especially with superhero mediocrity over saturating popular media. Marvel’s Echo follows a similar vein as Punisher — the story of an antihero looking for escape and acceptance — but crafts a neat story of self-discovery with the rich background of Native communities. Echo continues Maya Lopez’s (Alaqua Cox) story after the events of Hawkeye (2021); she is on the run, from both Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) and her past, beginning a journey of cultural reconciliation and self-acceptance in Oklahoma. Despite being the first series under the “Marvel Spotlight'' banner (a moniker for self-contained stories that have little impact on and don’t require extensive knowledge of the MCU), Echo makes more sense if you are up to date with Marvel’s recent Disney+ lineup. For non-Marvel fans, years of lore instantly makes Echo inaccessible. However, the series tastefully toys with Marvel's typical conventions while keeping the familiarity fans have come to love. Most importantly, the series creates a new standard for representation within the MCU and the current media landscape. Marvel’s Echo is brave, oftentimes absurd, and narratively convenient, anchored in culturally rich diversity that will capture the eyes of audiences.
Meet Maya Lopez
Maya is on the run after an assassination attempt on Wilson Fisk, the savage billionaire running New York’s criminal underground, leaves her with little options but to escape New York. She is forcibly brought back home to Tamaha, Oklahoma where she must confront the community and heritage she left behind. Hawkeye depicted Maya as unruly, vengeful, and entirely reliant on nihilistic brutality as a form of emotional expression. Now, without the gritty violence of New York’s crime-ridden streets to depend on, she is an emotional wreck. For the first time in her life, she is vulnerable, but she continues her hardened facade despite her best interests. This is Cox’s first acting role, but her performance would have you think she’s an industry veteran. She subtlety communicates Maya’s whirlwind of emotions with immense precision, portraying a more interesting side of Maya than her cliched villain role in Hawkeye.
What sets the series apart from the rest of Marvel’s catalog is Maya’s culturally rich storyline. She is plagued by visions of her female ancestors throughout the series. Appearing during times of distress, they provide guidance and support for Maya whenever she’s in trouble, yet the extent of their reach is never explained. Much of the plot is driven by coincidences that turn this culturally dense love letter to Native American history into a by-the-numbers Marvel origin story that disregards its self-contained story. With her newfound superhero identity, it would be odd if her clairvoyant healing powers aren’t utilized in the next Avengers movie. Despite this, Echo is a fresh take on an antihero storyline that normalizes disabilities as traits worthy of superhero stardom. Her story is laced with tasteful Native American iconography and history, positioning it as an underrated Marvel project.
While Echo’s Choctaw tribe lends itself to fantastic imagery and surreal sequences not typically seen in Marvel, its incorporation of stereotypical Marvel tropes undermines a powerful story about family and heritage. Echo consists of exhilarating action sequences and an uplifting emphasis on womanhood. It stands out in a sea of Marvel mediocrity, pushing the boundaries of representation while edging the MCU towards adventurous characters and meaningful storylines.
Was It Binge Or Cringe?
Echo is a brave take on a relatively unknown character, putting Native and disabled communities in the limelight. However, Echo’s pacing is painstakingly fast due to its short season. It feels as though the series wrote around Maya’s character arc with the season finale in mind. She needed to become the savior of her people, and instead of letting Maya use her MMA skills and powerful criminal ties for good, the series hands her powers out of left field. Marvel is insistent on making every character a part of a bigger universe, and this ultimately strips Echo of its authenticity. Regardless, Echo has a wide array of realistic characters whose pain is felt beyond the screen. The amazing supporting cast steers Fisk and Maya’s relationship in an evocative direction atypical of the MCU. On top of this, Echo’s uncompromising set design amplifies its excellently choreographed fight scenes.
Unfortunately, you’d have to watch Daredevil and Hawkeye to truly understand the drastic new role Fisk plays. In Echo, he’s emotionally open and equally as tormented by the events of Hawkeye and Daredevil as Maya. D’Onofrio shows a different side of Fisk that pleasantly breaks his hardened persona seen in Daredevil. The series does a decent job at creating a self-contained story without needing an MCU encyclopedia, but Echo was not the series to launch this ‘Spotlight’ series. It’s too caught up in the events of Daredevil and Hawkeye and portrays a significant transition for the character of Fisk, who may appear in later MCU projects. It’s a quick and engaging binge full of rich Native American representation, but it requires a master’s degree in all things Marvel to truly appreciate.
Who Will Like It?
Fans of Marvel’s more experimental projects, such as Werewolf By Night, might find Echo to be a refreshing yet familiar take on an MCU newcomer. The series is low-stakes and offers plenty of surreal imagery, empathetic characters, and amazing action to entice viewers. The series sadly resorts to standard Marvel banality that diminishes Echo’s role as a stand-alone story dedicated to family, community, and heritage. Non-Marvel fans may not get anything out of Echo, but they will find a series willing to platform underrepresented communities with immense sincerity and finesse. Marvel’s first ‘Spotlight’ series suffers under the weight of its own formula, but the series presents a hopeful future for underrepresented communities in media. All five episodes of Echo can be streamed on Hulu and Disney+.