By José María Gámez-Lamadrid, Staff Writer

It is Nov. 4, 2023. Disney and Marvel Studios announced the “Marvel Spotlight” banner for television, featuring grounded, character-driven shows that are disconnected from the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), allowing viewers to enjoy without worrying about missing context. The frontrunner of this banner, Echo (2024), stars the deaf superheroine and the villainous Kingpin in a TV-MA miniseries with street-level stakes. 

It is Nov. 7, 2013. Disney, Marvel Studios and Netflix announced a licensing deal providing the streaming juggernaut with grounded, character-driven shows, disconnected from MCU continuity. The frontrunner of this initiative, Daredevil (2015), stars the blind superhero and Kingpin in a TV-MA narrative with street-level stakes. Déjà vu, much? I wouldn’t disagree with you, but while Echo appears to match the tone and maturity of Marvel’s first attempt at prestige television, it left the substance behind in 2013.

While advertised as a standalone miniseries, Echo pulls from Maya Lopez’s (Alaqua Cox) character arc in Hawkeye (2021) after she’s taken revenge against her adoptive uncle Wilson Fisk — “The Kingpin” (Vincent D’Onofrio) — for killing her father. Wounded and marked for death, she escapes New York City to her hometown in Oklahoma with ambitions to seize Kingpin’s criminal empire. Along the way, Lopez reconnects with family and her Choctaw Nation heritage, unaware that her father’s killer might still be skulking in the shadows.

Echo takes a much darker and more serious spin than its other TV sistren. We can see that right away in the opening alone. There’s no classic MCU introduction with fanfare and clips from past movies like what we’re used to. Instead, we get black-and-white Marvel Studios and Spotlight logos, accompanied with a sophisticated piano score by famed composer Michael Giacchino. 

Viewer discretion advised; this really is one of the gorier MCU shows. “TV-MA” means “adults only.” Don’t show this to your kids. The five-episode structure means all killer and no filler, but this fast, blood-tinged pacing creates a consistent balance of character drama and a showcase of Choctaw culture and mythology.

Echo offers some other aspects worthy of praise. The show offers tidbits of some creative camerawork that’s become rare in recent MCU productions, such as a tribute to the silent era of cinema for an episode opening. During moments of tension, audio fades out to immerse the viewer in Maya’s perspective as a deaf combatant, limited to strictly vibrations and the sights around her. Cox puts in a captivating performance using facial expressions and American Sign Language, and D’Onofrio recaptures his stellar performance as Kingpin from previous Marvel entries. 

Echo makes an attempt to present itself as prestigious television. It reminds me of the classic comedy gag in which one kid stands on the other’s shoulders, disguised with a trench coat and a top hat to pass as an adult.

For the most part, this disguise is convincing enough. However, swipe off the hat and open the trench coat, and you’ll notice this isn’t much different than any other MCU show made for Disney+. The cinematography wastes the opportunity to be more experimental with fight choreography and embrace the mature rating, presenting only a few blood splatters on top of generic blockbuster action sequences. Lopez’s supporting cast of relatives is made up of undercooked family archetypes including the “well-meaning-but-naïve-cousin,” “ex-best-friend-other-cousin,” “distrusting-grandmother,” “good-humored-grandfather” and “exhausted-uncle.” Most of their characterization is held up by the shared trauma stemming from Maya’s tragic origin. 

The powers she unlocks are vague and undefined, and only become relevant in the “remember-who-you-are” final battle in which she rejects the monster she’s become, and uses the power of family to produce an anticlimactic ending that sets ups up the mandatory post-credits scene.

Echo is fine when it comes to the grand scheme of the MCU and is slightly more enjoyable than recent Disney+ ventures. But in a period of diminishing returns for Hollywood superheroes, “fine” doesn’t cut it anymore, and there’s a squandered opportunity to create something fresh under a new Marvel banner. 

It’s a shame, really, because instead of reaching the heights of the Netflix era of Marvel television, the first entry under the “Spotlight” banner only serves as an echo of a past attempt at prestige television.