Disney’s Echo Won’t Have Comic Superpowers
Echo Kingpin
Marvel revealed the first trailer for Echo last weekend, but the director has revealed that the TV character won’t have the same superpowers as her comic book counterpart.
According to director Sydney Freeland, the comic book powers are “kind of lame”.
“Her power in the comic books is that she can copy anything, any movement, any whatever. It’s kind of lame,” Freeland told variety. “I will say, that is not her power. I’ll just kind of leave it at that.”
In the comics Echo can mimic fighting styles, similar to Taskmaster, but also other skills such as dance, and playing musical instruments.
Echo is many firsts for the Marvel and Disney show. It’s the first to feature a deaf Native American lead character. It’s the first to be rated TV-MA due to violence. It’s the first to debut on Hulu and Disney+ simultaneously. And it will do so with all episodes available to watch on day one.
Day one is January 10, and you can peek the first trailer below.
Marvel unveiled the first two episodes of Echo in Durant, Oklahoma, during Choctaw Nation’s annual Powwow. “It’s so exciting to be able to premiere Echo and it is extremely meaningful to myself to have this screening in Chocktaw Nation,” said Freeland. “One of the things we’re most excited about is being able to portray the Chocktaw culture hopefully in an authentic and exciting way.”
The series lead, Maya Lopez, is Choctaw and the show highlights Choctaw culture, legends and history throughout the five episodes. During production and postproduction, the Echo filmmakers worked closely with both Choctaw Nation and advisers from the woman-led Native organization IllumiNative.
If Echo looks familiar, it’s because she made her debut in the Hawkeye TV series. You’ll also spot the return of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin and a very brief glimpse of Charlie Cox’s Daredevil.
Echo will also be the first release under the Marvel Spotlight banner. Named after the original Marvel Spotlight books that gave us Ghost Rider and Spider-Woman, Marvel Spotlight is designed to tell stories that aren’t necessarily linked to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity,” said head of streaming Brad Winderbaum.
Just like comics fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.”
