Marvel’s Echo is here, with all five episodes now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is the first to receive a TV-MA rating and the first under Marvel’s Spotlight banner, implying that fans don’t necessarily need to be up to date on all the happenings of the MCU.
After meeting her in Marvel’s Hawkeye, we rejoin Maya Lopez to learn more about her past and see what her future holds after her falling out with the infamous Kingpin. The first episode fills in a lot of the gaps for Maya’s story and sets the stage for a big war to come.
The first of five episodes starts off in a way that will likely catch a lot of fans off guard. With this being a much more real-world, grounded story, it’s a bit surprising to see it begin with what appear to be alien-like humanoid creatures in some kind of cave. One of them drinks from a glowing fountain and beings to glow herself. A moment later, a bird lands on the woman’s hand and the cave crumbles all around them. They awaken to find themselves out in a field somewhere on Earth and their rust-colored skin begins to peel away, revealing that they are in fact human. The woman tells the others to follow her before we hear voice over telling us “the first Choctaw’s name was Chafa.” It turns out this was a child’s retelling of the story of the first Choctaw people.
We then see a young Maya making shadow puppets with her cousin, who is roughly the same age. We also briefly meet some of the rest Maya’s family, including her father, who also appeared in Hawkeye. As her grandparents leave their home in Oklahoma, her grandmother sees the same bird from the story and seems to take it as a sign that something bad is going to happen. Later, the girls come in for the rain and Maya asks for hot chocolate. She joins her mother on a trip to the store but during the drive, her mother realizes their brakes have been cut and they get into a terrible accident, killing Maya’s mother.
In a hospital we see that the accident also cost Maya one of her legs, an injury we have seen the character dealing with in the past. Maya’s father tells her grandparents that he learned who cut their brakes and they’ve been “taken care of.” Maya’s grandmother takes no comfort in that fact and blames her father for the death of her mother. He tells them he’s taken a new job in New York, of course referring to profession in organized crime. After they leave, Maya’s father goes in to break the news to Maya of her mother’s death.
Maya and her father leave for New York, while her cousin heartbreakingly chases after the car. We then see a sequence of events we’ve already seen in Hawkeye, including a conversation about dragons between Maya and her father, Maya training in some king of dojo and being greeted by Wilson Fisk, whom at this point, she appears to consider family. This appears to be Marvel’s way of putting this series under the Spotlight banner. By recapping those events, fans don’t necessarily need to have seen Hawkeye to fully understand Maya’s story. However, we do also get a quick montage of some of the events of Hawkeye later on, so it seems they’ve only half committed to that idea.
We then get a time jump, and see Maya training in a boxing ring before heading to her father’s job, only to witness him being murdered by the Ronin. Again, this is something we have seen before in Hawkeye. This time though, it is followed by Maya standing at her father’s grave and receiving a text message from her cousin, Bonnie, telling her she doesn’t need to go through this alone.
Instead of listening to her cousin, Maya attempts to rob a motorcycle dealership and is surrounded by police. After getting caught, Fisk, better known as the Kingpin, arrives to get her out of trouble. It is clear the Kingpin has already established his reputation by this point because every one of the cops simply steps aside to let him through to take Maya. Kingpin tells Maya she direct her anger and pain into a job, working for him.
Maya accepts this proposal and takes a job, meeting up with two of Kingpin’s goons at some kind of nightclub during the day. The trio gets through the first layer of security and the two men explain to Maya they need to kill everyone in a meeting because they’re tying ot move in on Kingpin’s territory. They then force their way into the meeting, starting a brawl. Maya handles herself well in the fight, taking out three of the guards.
Once it looks like the fight is over though, they’re attacked by Daredevil. Yes, THAT Daredevil. Maya is shocked by the appearance of this costumed hero, so it’s clear they have never met before. She holds her own again the Devil but he eventually gets the better of her, disappearing after knocking her down. In the comics, Maya and Daredevil have a complicated relationship that is, at times, romantic. That certainly was not the case here though. Later, Maya meets with Kingpin and he tells her none of his man have handled themselves as well against Daredevil. She shows appreciation for the test and agrees to work with him further.
We then get that aforementioned montage consisting mostly of moments from Hawkeye before ending on the moment we last saw Maya: seemingly killing Kingpin after learning that he had her father killed. However, we still don’t get confirmation that he was killed in that moment.
Five months later, Maya arrives at a gas station and it’s clear she’s been in a fight. She finds a private place to examine a gunshot wound in her side. Clearly in pain, she wraps herself up and gets back on her bike. She drives through the night to arrive at her parent’s old house in Oklahoma, which now sits vacant. After stitching herself up with dental floss and crashing on the couch she wakes up to find someone trying to break in. She stuns the intruder, only to learn that it is her other cousin, Biscuits. She tells her cousin she doesn’t have time to see family and doesn’t want anyone to know she’s here. Clearly Maya has a plan that she doesn’t want being complicated by the people she loves.
Maya heads to the fire department, where she watches Bonnie play basketball, but she drives off before letting her see her. She next heads to a skating rink where, after dealing with an annoying employee, she reunites with aher uncle, Henry, who she tells she needs to speak with in private. After they leave, the employee sends a text message referring to the “King killer,” and asking about a bounty.
Henry implies that the skating rink is not his only work and he might also be involved in organized crime. He also implies that he is aware of what Maya did to Kingpin and that it was the Kingpin’s men who hurt her. He gets Maya and off-the-books doctor to help patch up her bullet wound. While the incredible fight scenes are certainly more violent and bloody than the typical fights we see in the MCU, it’s things like the focus on this wound that would seem to give this show its TV-MA rating. Still, a brief look away solves any issues you might have.
After she gets patched up, Maya and Henry head to the top of a radio tower to scope out a couple of things around the town. First, Henry shows her Bonnie and tries to convince her to go see her cousin. Maya, in the coldest way she can, tells him that’s not going to happen. She then shifts focus to a Fisk Shipping building, seemingly pointing it out as a target of sorts. She explains that she wants to send Fisk’s people a message but Henry refuses to bring a war to his town. Maya tells him Kingpin’s run is done and it’s time for a queen, but he still refuses and leaves her alone on top of the tower.
In the closing moments of the episode, we hear the beeping of a heart monitor and see a dripping IV bag. We then hear a labored breath before seeing the Kingpin, laying in a hospital bed with a patch over his eye. The big guy isn’t dead after all.
This first episode got off to a bit of a messy start, due in large part to Marvel’s desire to recap the events of Hawkeye within the episode. After things get rolling though, there is plenty to love about this new series. Alaqua Cox is great once again, the fight scenes are incredible and the early inclusion of Daredevil certainly doesn’t hurt.
All five episodes of Marvel’s Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.