Every Part Of The MCU Timeline You Need To Know Before Watching Echo
Phases 4 and 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been full of big risks and huge swings, from the sitcom antics of "WandaVision" to the quantum escapades of "Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania." While these projects have seen mixed reactions in critical reviews, one thing Marvel fans are eager for is a movie or series that surprises them. Though it may not be the most highly anticipated Marvel miniseries in the past few years, "Echo" might be the one to pull back skeptical audience members.
"Echo" centers on Maya Lopez, the deaf Tracksuit Mafia leader played by Alaqua Cox, who first appeared in 2021's "Hawkeye" series on Disney+. It's revealed in the show's finale that Lopez is also the surrogate daughter of Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin, played by Vincent D'Onofrio in a reprisal of his role from the Netflix "Daredevil" series. Cox and D'Onofrio return in "Echo," coming January 2024 to Disney+ and Hulu, which will also feature Charlie Cox returning to the mantle of Daredevil after appearances in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and "She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law."
Based on the first teasers for "Echo," the show looks to be the most brutal and action-packed series the MCU has had to offer so far, garnering a TV-MA rating. If you're interested in checking this series out but don't want to watch over 120 hours of Marvel content released since "Iron Man," here's the basic rundown of what you need to know to head into Maya Lopez's solo adventure.
Maya struggles to fit in as a deaf child
In the third episode of the Disney+ series "Hawkeye," titled "Echoes," Maya Lopez's backstory is revealed at the top of the episode as the audience's introduction to the character. Despite being a deaf child, Maya attends a regular school in 2007, where she adapts to the environment by learning to read lips. Although she faces discrimination from her teacher, she excels in her studies anyway.
At home, it's revealed that Maya is the daughter of William Lopez (Zahn McClarnon), leader of the Tracksuit Mafia in New York City, who tucks her into bed and teaches her what the sky and dragons sound like. Maya asks her father why she's not going to a school for hearing-impaired children, and her father responds by telling her that, though they can't afford to send her to a deaf school, Maya will be stronger for having to adapt to her deafness and jump between worlds.
Later on, William enrolls his daughter in karate classes, which is where Maya learns to fight and befriends Kazi Kazimierczak (Fra Fee), who later becomes her closest confidante in the Tracksuit Mafia. Here, she learns from her father the strategies for facing opponents who are much bigger than her.
Kingpin partners with the Tracksuit Mafia
It was around the same time as Maya Lopez's struggles in school that she became acquainted with a very important figure in the street-level goings-on of the Marvel universe. In a deleted scene from "Hawkeye," Maya is picked up from karate class by Wilson Fisk. Although Marvel fans know Fisk as the ruthless antagonist to heroes like Daredevil and Spider-Man, to Maya he was a kind uncle figure who offers to take her for ice cream.
As it turns out, Fisk was business partners with William Lopez and became a leader of the Tracksuit Mafia in New York City prior to the antagonist's appearances in the Netflix "Daredevil" series. Fisk also carried out other criminal activities, such as being a loan shark to figures like Derek Bishop (Brian d'Arcy James), the father of Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), but Derek's death in the Battle of New York resulted in Kate's mother, Eleanor Bishop (Vera Farmiga), having to work for Fisk to pay off her late husband's debt.
Maya's growing up with Fisk as a close figure will also play a major role in "Echo," as indicated by the first trailer for the series, which showcases a scene where Maya is rudely discriminated against for her deafness by a New York City street vendor. In retaliation, Fisk drags the street vendor into an alley and beats him to a bloody pulp, which Maya unfortunately witnesses.
Matt Murdock becomes a crime-fighter
"Echo" will also feature an appearance from Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, the blind New York City lawyer who moonlights as the vigilante Daredevil. Cox's original appearance in the Netflix series "Daredevil" remained disconnected from much of the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe for three seasons. However, Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio's appearances in the MCU firmly canonize Murdock's Netflix origin story.
As revealed in the Netflix series, Murdock was blinded as a child due to a chemical truck accident, later learning how to defend himself thanks to a blind martial artist he befriends named Stick (Scott Glenn). Later, Murdock meets fellow law student Foggy Nelson (Elden Henson) at Columbia University, and the two enter into a legal practice together. But as Murdock begins to view the law as not enough to protect the people of New York City, he begins wearing a mask and becomes a vigilante crime-fighter.
Murdock's vigilantism eventually attracts the attention of Wilson Fisk, and the two become adversaries as Murdock seeks vengeance against Fisk for his numerous criminal enterprises. Murdock eventually adopts the superhero moniker "Daredevil," complete with a maroon outfit, and defeats Wilson Fisk in combat, turning him in to the NYPD.
Kingpin pits the Punisher against Daredevil
Charlie Cox and Vincent D'Onofrio aren't the only "Daredevil" cast members who might be appearing in "Echo." Since Jon Bernthal has been confirmed to be reprising his role as Frank Castle aka the Punisher in the upcoming Disney+ series "Daredevil: Born Again," rumors have swirled regarding the actor first making a cameo appearance in the first season of "Echo." Bernthal first portrayed the iconic role of the Punisher in Season 2 of "Daredevil" before getting his own spin-off series on Netflix.
Matt Murdock's backstory with Frank Castle may also hint at how the Punisher could factor into the story of Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk. As revealed in "Daredevil," Frank Castle was a vigilante much like Daredevil, though the two were initially at odds with each other, as Castle's methods were much more brutal and unrelenting than Murdock's. Murdock nevertheless gets Castle arrested, and in his attempts to appeal to a jury to have Castle committed for insanity, Castle instead embraces his label as the Punisher and is imprisoned.
Fortunately, it's while imprisoned that Castle meets fellow inmate Wilson Fisk, who hires Castle to assassinate another prisoner named Dutton in exchange for information about an assassination attempt against Castle. After surviving a brutal prison fight, Fisk helps Castle escape from prison so he can continue brutally targeting crime syndicates in New York City.
Matt Murdock teams up with Jessica Jones
Another figure from the Netflix Marvel Cinematic Universe shows who may reappear in "Echo" is Jessica Jones, a private investigator with super-strength who joined Matt Murdock, Luke Cage (Mike Colter), and Danny Rand (Finn Jones) to become the superhero team "The Defenders" in the Netflix series of the same name. Krysten Ritter portrayed Jones across three seasons of her own series on Netflix, and rumor has it the character will be tied into Matt Murdock's appearance in "Echo," whether that means Ritter will make a cameo or the character will simply play an important off-screen role.
Murdock and Jones first meet in "The Defenders." Murdock is hired to represent Jones when the private eye is arrested after a skirmish with Elektra (Élodie Yung). As the duo team up with Cage and Rand to help take down a criminal organization known as the Hand, they grow to have a friendly if sometimes combative rapport with each other, enough so when it seems that Murdock is killed in a climactic fight with Elektra, Jones is heartbroken about his loss.
As revealed in Season 3 of "Daredevil," although Murdock survives the destruction of Midland Circle that separated him from his fellow Defenders, Elektra seemingly does not. Murdock has yet to reunite with his fellow Defenders on-screen since the titular Netflix series, but potentially, "Echo" will set Murdock up to team back up with Jessica Jones in "Daredevil: Born Again."
The Snap leads to a rise in crime
The Marvel Cinematic Universe changed for good with 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War." In the blockbuster crossover film, the heroes lose the fight against Thanos, who assembles the six Infinity Stones and uses them to randomly wipe out half of the universe's population. The ramifications of Thanos' decision drive the main story of 2019's follow-up "Avengers: Endgame," which sees Earth struggling to recoup from the devastating loss five years later.
Thanos' genocide — or "the Snap," as it would be later referred to — results in massive changes all across the universe, especially on Earth. Those changes are explored in many of the MCU projects post-"Avengers: Endgame." The Snap particularly leads to an increase in organized crime, including Wilson Fisk's Tracksuit Mafia in New York City and increased cartel activity in Mexico and underground Yakuza in Tokyo.
As a survivor of the Snap, Wilson Fisk continues to reign as a criminal overlord in New York City and returns to nearly the level he was at before Matt Murdock began his crime-fighting career as Daredevil. This eventually leads to Wilson Fisk's involvement in the "Hawkeye" series on Disney+, as well as a major moment in Maya Lopez's origin story.
Clint Barton becomes Ronin and takes down organized crime
After Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) loses his entire family to Thanos' Snap, he sets out on a revenge quest to take down crime syndicates that had survived the Snap, believing them to be less deserving of life than his own family. Barton adopts a new superhero moniker, "Ronin," and begins wearing a masked ninja outfit and wielding dual katanas, though his activity taking down the Mexican cartel eventually garners the attention of the Avengers.
In "Avengers: Endgame," Barton's string of massacres is stopped when Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), recruits him to help the Avengers travel through time, collect the six Infinity Stones, and potentially reverse the Snap. Barton fails to stop Romanoff from sacrificing herself to retrieve the Soul Stone, which becomes a major narrative point in "Hawkeye" — though in that series, Barton also sees his activity as Ronin come back to haunt him.
As revealed in "Hawkeye," Barton as Ronin took vengeance on the Tracksuit Mafia in New York City, mercilessly slaughtering them all. Maya Lopez eventually walked in on the massacre just as Ronin was leaving and held her father William Lopez as he died of his wounds. With William gone, Kingpin assumed control of the Tracksuit Mafia, while Maya became his top commander.
Maya Lopez and Kazi hunt for the Ronin
The Ronin becomes the Tracksuit Mafia's primary target following the massacre of William Lopez and his gang, though Clint Barton hangs up the costume upon rejoining the Avengers. That didn't stop the Ronin costume, and its weapons, from being sold on the black market, after which it is stolen by college student Kate Bishop, an admirer of Hawkeye secretly investigating her mother's fiancee, Jack Duquesne (Tony Dalton). Although Kate is unaware of her mother's involvement with the Tracksuit Mafia, she is hunted by their members after donning the Ronin outfit and fighting them.
Alerted of potential Ronin activity, Barton tracks Kate down and steals the Ronin costume back, but the Tracksuit Mafia is still operating under the impression that Kate was the face behind the mask. Barton visits the Tracksuit Mafia to clear her name, although he and Kate end up captives of Maya Lopez and her righthand man, Kazi.
Unfortunately for Hawkeye, Maya doesn't buy his lie that the Ronin was killed by Natasha Romanoff, forcing Barton and Bishop to escape. Maya and Kazi lose track of the archer duo after Kate fires a Pym Particle arrow at their van, destroying it. However, this wouldn't be the last confrontation between the two during the "Hawkeye" series.
Clint helps turn Maya against Kingpin
After failing to catch Clint Barton and Kate Bishop, Maya Lopez faces internal conflict with Kazi, who feels she's too obsessed with catching the Ronin. However, since Maya Lopez had stolen a Rolex watch owned by Barton's wife, Laura (Linda Cardellini), it's up to Hawkeye himself to stop her by confronting his past. Donning the Ronin outfit, Barton confronts Maya at the Tracksuit Mafia's base of operations, knocking out Kazi so that he and Maya could face off one-on-one.
Barton successfully gains the upper hand and disarms Maya before revealing the truth about his massacre of the Tracksuit Mafia. Blinded by the rage of his family's death, Barton had accepted a tip from an informant who wanted William Lopez dead — and he reveals to Maya that the informant had been instructed to do so by Kingpin. Maya initially doesn't believe Barton but fails to stop Kate Bishop from helping him escape.
Against Maya's instincts, she begins to suspect both Kazi and Kingpin for their involvement in her father's murder. Maya requests some time off from Fisk to clear her head but ends up heading to Rockefeller Plaza to intervene in the Tracksuit Mafia's fight with the Hawkeye duo. Lopez sadly kills Kazi, then later confronts Fisk in an alley after his encounter with Kate Bishop. As Fisk pleads with Maya for his life, she shoots him.
Across the world, a former Marine becomes the Fist of Vengeance
Although Maya Lopez made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in "Hawkeye," she almost appeared alongside a completely different character in another Disney+ series. According to Jeremy Slater, the head writer of "Moon Knight," Echo was nearly involved in their series as a potential love interest to the titular superhero. Slater told the House of R podcast that "she didn't work at all for the story we were telling" despite Echo's history as a love interest to Moon Knight in the 2012 comic series "Moon Knight" by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev.
Given the character's comic book connection and Marvel Studios' interest in pairing them up, it's possible that Oscar Isaac's Moon Knight could appear in some way, shape, or form in "Echo." However, the character is currently on the opposite side of the world — "Moon Knight" centers on Isaac's Steven Grant, a museum employee who discovers he's the dissociative identity of Marc Spector, a U.S. Marine-turned-mercenary-turned-Egyptian god Khonshu's totem known as Moon Knight, who is tasked with stopping the return of a genocidal god known as Ammit (Sofia Danu and Saba Mubarak) and her devout cult.
The series certainly sets Isaac up for a future in the MCU, introducing a third personality in Spanish-speaking limo driver Jake Lockley, who could possibly be persuaded by Khonshu (Karim El Hakim and F. Murray Abraham) to travel back to the United States, where he might run into Maya Lopez.
The Department of Damage Control investigates Maya Lopez
Another big threat that could be coming Maya Lopez's way is the Department of Damage Control, introduced in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as a governmental entity responsible for cleaning up superheroes' messes. Led by Agent Cleary (Arian Moayed), the DODC attempts to prosecute Peter Parker when his identity as Spider-Man is revealed. However, Parker's legal troubles are solved by Matt Murdock, who also made his MCU film debut in "No Way Home."
The Department of Damage Control plays a major role in 2022's Disney+ series "Ms. Marvel," which centers on a Jersey City-based teenager named Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) who comes into possession of a magic bangle that gives her the ability to create matter out of light. In the series, Kamala becomes targeted by the DODC, particularly the xenophobic agent Deever (Alysia Reiner).
What's notable about the DODC's appearance in "Ms. Marvel" is one scene in which a corkboard showcases photographs of individuals from the Disney+ MCU shows, including Jack Duquesne from "Hawkeye," Jennifer Walters (Tatiana Maslany) from "She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law," and Maya Lopez. This potentially hints at the Department of Damage Control playing a role in the "Echo" series, since it's been confirmed that they're investigating Maya.
Matt Murdock spends time away from Hell's Kitchen
With Matt Murdock confirmed to be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in "Echo," many fans of the character and his Netflix show are rightfully excited for this upcoming Disney+ series. However, Charlie Cox's appearance in the show will likely be limited due to his involvement in his own show, "Daredevil: Born Again," as well as the character's other in-universe commitments, as seen in "She-Hulk: Attorney-at-Law."
In the legal comedy starring Bruce Banner's cousin Jennifer Walters, Murdock showed up in Los Angeles to defend Luke Jacobson (Griffin Matthews), a superhero costume designer, against Walters' client, an amateur superhero known as Leap-Frog (Brandon Stanley). Murdock and Walters later team up in their superhero personas to help chase down Leap-Frog after he kidnaps Jacobson. Throughout the adventure, they bond over their shared struggle to balance their legal careers with the responsibilities of being a hero.
That bonding ends up going pretty well by the end of the episode, with Murdock and Walters hooking up. Murdock later joins Walters in a family barbecue, indicating that their relationship may continue off-screen. With that in mind, it would make sense why Murdock might not be around Hell's Kitchen for long in the "Echo" series, as he may be spending time in Los Angeles with his new super-girlfriend.