In the Disney+ series Hawkeye, Echo was the adopted daughter of the heavy of the series, Kingpin. Now Marvel tells her story.

This five episode mini-series tells the tale of a Native American deaf girl with a prosthetic leg who, through rigorous training and a dark outlook on life she inherited from her adopted father, becomes a powerful force to be reckoned with. It is the first Marvel series to feature a Native American character, the first to be simultaneously released both on Disney+ and on Hulu (Disney is buying the rest of and the first to receive a TV-MA rating.

From the look of the trailer, it has earned it its rating. The trailer is dark, and violent.

In some ways, it looks like a successor to Daredevil, which streamed on Netflix from 2015-2019. Both Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Vincent D’ONofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin) appear in the show, which stars Alaqua Cox, reprising her Hawkeye role as Maya Lopez/Echo. The darker tone of the show evolves from the fact that the lead character is a villain.

The television show sets itself apart from Marvel Studios in various aspects, notably by focusing on an indigenous protagonist who is deaf and uses American Sign Language (ASL) for communication. The inclusion of diverse representation was a vital consideration for directory Sydney Freeland and her team. Freeland, who spent her childhood on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, led her department heads to seek inspiration from the Choctaw Pow Wow in Oklahoma. Additionally, the team undertook lessons in ASL to further enhance their understanding and portrayal.

Marvel Studio’s Echo debuts January 10, 2024.

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