'Echo' Series Coming to Disney+

Marvel Studios has entered production on a new Disney+ original series: Echo, starring Alaqua Cox as the titular deaf Native American hero who has the power to perfectly copy another person's every move. Cox reprises her role from Hawkeye, where she stars alongside Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop/Hawkeye, and Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow. Etan Cohen and Emily Cohen are set to write the series and serve as executive producers.

Maya Lopez is one of the few deaf heroes in Marvel canon and will be the second deaf superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Lauren Ridloff's Makkari in Eternals. Echo has crossed paths with many other superheroes in the comics, most notably Daredevil and Moon Knight. She initially operated under the guise of Ronin, a mantle Clint Barton took up in Avengers: Endgame. The Hawkeye series will explore more of his time as Ronin, and Yelena Belova is rumored to be wearing a Ronin-inspired costume in the show as well. It's possible that Maya Lopez was only part of Clint Barton's life during the Blip, while this spinoff show could follow her story after the events of Endgame.

While an Echo series seems like it's come out of nowhere, this could actually be a fantastic place to bring together some of the ground-level elements in the MCU. With connections to characters like Daredevil and Moon Knight (rumored to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home and getting their own Disney+ series, respectively), Echo could serve as a bridge between all of these characters. We know Hawkeye is set in winter 2023 or 2024, but I expect the "present-day" story to revolve around Clint Barton and Kate Bishop almost exclusively. Maya Lopez and Yelena Belova could come into the show as flashback characters appearing throughout the series, similar to Arrow. This would allow Maya to be fleshed out before appearing in her own post-Endgame story.

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Source: Variety