Who Is Echo: Hawkeye's Maya Explained (Comics History & Origin)

Maya Lopez, aka Echo, makes her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Hawkeye, setting up her eventual spinoff series and possibly connecting the MCU films to the Netflix shows. Played by Alaqua Cox, Lopez is a leader of the “Tracksuit Mafia,” a New York-based crime organization who Clint Barton hunted as Ronin. Like Barton, Lopez is a master martial artist and markswoman whose deafness doesn’t hinder her fighting skills. Lopez has a brief but storied history within the mainstream Marvel comics universe, with connections to street-level heroes, such as Daredevil, and the larger-scale superhero members of The Avengers. The MCU’s Echo makes some key changes to her comic counterpart that will likely impact her relationship with her infamous mentor.

Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame, Hawkeye depicts the aftermath of the Infinity Saga from the perspective of a founding member of The Avengers and an up-and-coming superhero who’s inspired by Hawkeye. In the five years that followed Thanos’ snap, Clint Barton adopted the persona of Ronin and began a deadly quest of vengeance, ravaging the criminal underworld in his grief over losing his family to the Mad Titan. One such crime organization is the Tracksuit Mafia, comprised of not-especially bright brutes led by the formidable Maya Lopez and Clown (Kazi Kazimierczak), who appears to be her second-in-command.

Lopez is personally invested in what appears to be the return of Barton’s Ronin alias. When Kate Bishop, wearing the original Ronin suit, runs afoul of the Tracksuit Mafia, she’s mistaken for the original vigilante and teams up with Barton to clear her name and ensure her safety. Barton has been shown throughout Hawkeye to be far more formidable than his reputation suggests, defeating enemies with casual ease and proving to be an invaluable ally to Bishop. Despite this, Barton only manages to best Lopez with significant difficulty, demonstrating that the MCU’s Echo resembles her comic counterpart as a fighter, though her origin story has several key differences from the comics.

Who Is Maya In Marvel Comics?

Though a recent character, Maya Lopez has a storied history in the Marvel comics universe. Debuting in a 1999 issue of Daredevil, Lopez is the daughter of an enforcer for Wilson Fisk, aka The Kingpin. Lopez’s father was killed on Kingpin’s orders, but Fisk adopted her and kept the details of her father’s death a secret. Lopez honed her intellectual and athletic talents, becoming a deadly martial artist who shared a unique skill with the Avengers antagonist Taskmaster. Referred to as “photographic reflexes,” Lopez could replicate the skills of anybody through simple observation. This ability inspired her alias “Echo.”

Echo was briefly an enemy of Daredevil’s when Fisk tricked her into believing that the former was responsible for killing her father. With her martial arts training, combined with her photographic reflexes, Echo was an extremely challenging opponent for Murdock, who managed to end their feud by revealing to her the truth about her father. This prompted Lopez to turn on Fisk and become an ally to Daredevil. Dropping her persona of Echo, Lopez created the Ronin mantle, which Clint Barton would later use, and became a member of The Avengers, working alongside heroes like Wolverine and Moon Knight.

How Hawkeye Changed Echo's Origin

In the third episode of Hawkeye, “Echoes,” the MCU version of Maya Lopez’s origin is shown via flashbacks. The flashbacks show a similar background to her comic counterpart, including her underestimated brilliance and her father’s brutal death. One of the key changes to Lopez’s father, however, is that he’s shown to be leading the Tracksuit Mafia, who were unaffiliated with Echo and her father in the comics. Moreover, Lopez’s father is shown not to have been killed by The Kingpin, but by Ronin instead. Though not explicitly shown to be Vincent D'Onofrio’s iteration of Fisk from the Daredevil Netflix series, Fisk does appear to adopt Echo following her father’s death.

These alterations will fundamentally change the MCU’s version of Echo. It’s not clear whether or not the Tracksuit Mafia was part of Fisk’s criminal empire at the time of the flashbacks, but the group likely is, with Lopez being adopted by him. Having Ronin be William Lopez’s killer also changes Echo’s dynamic with Fisk. The Kingpin didn’t order her father’s death, so Echo would need a different motivation for turning on Fisk and becoming a hero, assuming that she does this at all in the MCU. The canonical status of the MCU’s TV shows isn’t always clear to some viewers, but having D'Onofrio’s Kingpin show up in Hawkeye would definitively connect them to the films and solidify their status as MCU canon.

Who Plays Echo? Is Alaqua Cox Deaf?

Hawkeye’s Echo is played by Alaqua Cox, a newcomer to both the MCU and Hollywood, who depicts Maya Lopez excellently. Like Lopez, Cox is Native American and is part of the Mohican and Menominee nations. Cox is deaf like Lopez as well, making her the third major deaf character in the MCU, after Makkari in Eternals and Clint Barton himself (though Jeremy Renner is not deaf). Unlike Lopez, however, Cox is an amputee, though the MCU’s version of Echo has been adjusted to have a prosthetic leg as well.

Echo's MCU Show Is Surely Now A Kingpin Show

Blended image of Maya Lopez aka Echo in Hawkeye and Kingpin Wilson Fisk in Daredevil

Considering her connection to Wilson Fisk, it seems to be only a matter of time before Hawkeye reintroduces Vincent D'Onofrio’s Kingpin into the MCU. Considering the overwhelmingly positive reception of D'Onofrio’s performance in the Netflix series, Hawkeye may be saving the reveal for later, but Fisk will likely have a major role in the upcoming Echo TV series. Fisk doesn’t seem to have any involvement in the death of William Lopez, so Echo will most likely remain loyal to him throughout Hawkeye and a decent portion of her spinoff series. Perhaps Élodie Yung’s Elektra or Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock (who is already rumored to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home) could appear in a supporting role, assisting Echo in her eventual redemption. Echo could also bring the story of the MCU’s Maya Lopez full circle by having her eventually adopt the mantle Ronin after the events of Hawkeye.

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