Credit: Marvel StudiosA top executive at Marvel Studios has seen the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: the gritty, violent miniseries Echo, starring Alaqua Cox as the antihero Maya Lopez.
In a recent press conference for Echo, Marvel Studios head of streaming Brad Winderbaum gave his thoughts on the upcoming miniseries, describing it as opening up a whole new aspect of the MCU (per Slashfilm). Winderbaum said:
“Marvel is such a big, vast universe. The comics have been called the greatest ongoing story that’s ever been written — certainly the longest. And there are so many corners to the universe that are still unexplored, even today. Maya allowed us to see a corner of the MCU that hadn’t been seen before. To me, that is the future of Marvel. It is being able to tell stories that are unexpected, that operate on the fringe of what we’ve seen before, and are standalone, character-focused, and have a unique personality all their own.”
Related: First EXTENDED Look for Disney’s TV-MA Daredevil Revealed by Marvel
Echo is the tenth Disney+ series in the MCU so far and a direct spinoff of Hawkeye, the series that saw Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) handing over his role as resident superheroic archer to Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Hawkeye introduced Maya Lopez (Cox), a deaf Native American criminal gang leader who goes toe-to-toe with Barton, Bishop, and Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) simultaneously.
Hawkeye also introduced Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, to the MCU, once again portrayed by Vincent D’Onofrio. Echo will see the return of Fisk, who acts as both a mentor figure to Maya Lopez and an enemy, as well as Matt Murdock, AKA Daredevil, once again played by Charlie Cox.
Maya Lopez (who originally appeared in Marvel Comics in 1999) was clearly being prepped for a solo series of her own, which Marvel Studios has been promoting as a darker, edgier alternative to previous Disney+ shows. Echo is the first show to be produced under the Marvel Spotlight banner, which will feature “grounded, character-driven stories” with less direct connection to the larger MCU narrative.
The miniseries will see Echo leaving New York City to return to her roots in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, while evading Wilson Fisk’s minions. It will co-star Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, and Graham Greene; Marion Dayre and Amy Rardin will be head writers, and Sydney Freeland will act as lead director.
Related: Marvel’s MCU Will Soon Change Forever, Everything We Know
Winderbaum’s comments can be inferred to indicate that Marvel has heard complaints about the increasingly weighty amount of lore and continuity that fans have to keep up with in order to follow the plots of movies like The Marvels (2023) and Disney+ series like Secret Invasion.
The plan seems to be to try to roll out more shows that can be viewed as connected to the MCU but not dependent on it. Apparently, Echo is the test run for this new tactic, so we’ll have to see what the future brings.
What are you looking forward to happening in Echo? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below!