Marvel Seemingly Throws Anticipated Show Under Bus, as Fans Debate "Woke" Strategy

This upcoming Marvel show is being pushed aside to make way for bigger projects.

Related: ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Explained: What We Might See In Marvel’s Revival

For over a decade, The Walt Disney Company has held ownership of Marvel Studios, which includes the immensely popular Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a deal that cost a staggering $4 billion. The character Tony Stark/Iron Man was first portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the 2008 film Iron Man, and since then, the groundbreaking movie The Avengers (2012) solidified the original six Avengers as iconic figures. However, the grand narrative of the MCU, known as the Infinity Saga, reached its conclusion in Phase Three with the films Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), directed by the renowned brothers Anthony Russo and Joe Russo (who will not be returning to Marvel).

Now, a whole new age of the MCU is about to begin in the Multiverse Saga.

Marvel Studios intends to create a fresh team of superheroes with a street-level focus, and to achieve this goal, they plan to extend their current franchises, including those previously developed in the now-defunct Netflix Marvel collaboration. By doing so, they aim to attract new audiences in Marvel’s Disney+ era. As part of this strategy, Feige has announced the launch of several highly anticipated series, which will further develop these characters’ stories. Among them is the Man Without Fear – Daredevil, who will take the lead in Phase Five (and Phase Six).

The (unfortunate) MCU show in question, Echo

The MCU has started a trend of reintroducing some of its most beloved heroes and villains, which began with the inclusion of Wilson Fisk (played by Vincent D’Onofrio) as the primary antagonist in the Clint Barton/Hawkeye-centered (Jeremy Renner) 2021 Hawkeye TV show. Fisk will reprise his role as the villain in the upcoming Echo Marvel series, which was originally set to premiere in Summer 2023. Now, the date has been officially postponed to later this year. Echo will feature Echo/Maya Lopez (portrayed by Alaqua Cox) as the lead character.

Related: What Is Marvel’s “Secret Wars”? MCU’s New Phase Five and Six Explained

Not much is known about the Marvel Studios Echo series apart from the fact that it will follow Maya Lopez on a journey back to Oklahoma from New York City after Hawkeye, and find her reconnecting with her Native American roots. Additionally, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen, Daredevil/Matt Murdock, portrayed by Charlie Cox, is also set to make an appearance. The much-anticipated Marvel Echo show stars Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez, as well as several currently undisclosed roles played by Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Devery Jacobs, Cody Lightning, and Graham Greene.

Why is Marvel throwing Echo under the bus?

For starters, because it’s being released essentially back-to-back with a much more popular, much more established Disney+ show (which is now in its second season), with a famous main star directly from the mainline MCU movies — Loki.

But it’s not just the fact that it’s being released alongside Loki (2021) starring Tom Hiddleston’s Loki Laufeyson/Odinson. Arguably, the biggest blow to Echo that fans are debating right now is the fact that this was a tactical move by Marvel Studios to basically get the general public to forget about the show’s existence. In contrast, Loki is getting a full “episode-a-week” schedule, while Echo is being dropped all at once. Known Marvel source and insider CanWeGetSomeToast shares their views on Echo being all but abandoned by Marvel Studios — while dropping a juicy Daredevil tease:

Echo dropping ALL of its episodes at once feels like Marvel wants it out of people’s minds ASAP, which is unfortunate :/

Everything I’ve heard about this project sounds fantastic. At least we get a Daredevil cameo in Episode 2 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Echo dropping ALL of its episodes at once feels like Marvel wants it out of people’s minds ASAP, which is unfortunate :/

Everything I’ve heard about this project sounds fantastic. At least we get a Daredevil cameo in Episode 2 ¯_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/c1ddfvRZ0Y

— CanWeGetSomeToast (@CanWeGetToast) May 16, 2023

As usual, with any big shifts in Marvel Studios roadmap and expectations, the usual crowd of social media users complaining about the “M-She-U” or Marvel’s increased “wokeness” have surfaced. Users like @YCaldout seem particularly ready to gripe about the “female empowerment” and “manshaming” that will inevitably come from a show around a female character like Maya Lopez. The user’s tweet also calls out Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany), as well as Echo for being shows “nobody watches”:

The issue with the current MCU is: 1: The current strategy is all about female empowerment. Wakanda Forever, Wandavision 2. Manshaming is also acceptable and alienate male customers. 2: make shows nobody asked for. 3: bad leadership agendas. 4: bring back masculinity.

The issue with the current MCU is:

1: The current strategy is all about female empowerment. Wakanda Forever, Wandavision 2. Manshaming is also acceptable and alienate male customers.

2: make shows nobody asked for.

3: bad leadership agendas.

4: bring back masculinity. pic.twitter.com/xbSTzlbccC

— YouBeenCaldout (@YCaldout) May 17, 2023

Now, this immediately brought up the fact that Marvel Studios has been giving more voices to minority and female characters as of late, rounding out their slate of superheroes as the journey into bigger stories that encompass more walks of life. Users like @akachi_is immediately jumped to the characters’ rescue, bringing up how even in the Marvel Comics, characters like Ms. Marvel were popular, while @YCaldout insists that “majority” of Marvel fans agree with them:

@akachi_is: She was still a fairly popular character in comic sales and people like you are the reason it won’t get that many eyes on it

“It’s woke!” “Women are taking over!” AND she’s brown? Yeah ofc there’s gonna be people like you lobbying at every corner to drive Mfs away

@YCaldout: Shes a mid character and just got killed off in the comics.

Her show got equally bad views.

Maybe majority of MCU fans arent you. Perhaps find a new universe.

Shes a mid character and just got killed off in the comics.

Her show got equally bad views.

Maybe majority of MCU fans arent you. Perhaps find a new universe. pic.twitter.com/tsZgJV4ag2

— YouBeenCaldout (@YCaldout) May 17, 2023

However it’s clear as day to many others that Echo is likely being passed over by Marvel in order to see how many people binge watch the new show — although the Echo character being a lesser known superhero is still something many like Dan Holo have also taken into consideration:

Echo is not a super familiar name to even Marvel fans, so I’m assuming this is being done so people don’t lose interest on a character people don’t know about. Giving people the ability to binge watch the show enables them to connect to it quicker.

Echo is not a super familiar name to even Marvel fans, so I’m assuming this is being done so people don’t lose interest on a character people don’t know about. Giving people the ability to binge watch the show enables them to connect to it quicker.

— Dan Holo 🇵🇭 (@thedanholo) May 17, 2023

The debate rages on about whether Marvel Studios is hurting from focusing on lesser known, less mainstream characters. But one thing’s for certain — there will always be a crowd to fill that niche, in a media entity as large as Marvel Studios.

What do you think about Echo‘s episodes being dropped all at once? Is “wokeness” hurting Marvel, and are they trying to correct for lesser known characters? Share your thoughts in the comments below!