MarvelBlog’s Essential Reading Guide for Echo
There’s been a lot of talk of Jeremy Renner‘s Clint Barton’s Ronin on the first season of Hawkeye on Disney+. But do you know who wore the Ronin costume first, Marvel Blog True Believers?
Yup, it was Maya Lopez, played by Alaqua Cox on the Disney+ series, she is one of Marvel’s most skilled fighters, quickly picking up her opponent’s combat style. Even without any mutant powers, she is an extremely powerful fighter, even becoming an Avenger at one point.
Photo: Disney+
Raised by Kingpin, she was the original Ronin, but now, she goes by the moniker Echo because she can feel the physical vibration of sound through the floor.
If you’re a fan of Cox’s interpretation of Maya Lopez and want to learn more about the character’s comic book history, Marvel Blog has prepared the essential Echo reading list. Read on!
Daredevil #9
Of Cheyenne descent, Maya Lopez first appeared in 1998’s Daredevil #9 by David Mack, Richard Isanove, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Comicraft’s Rich + Liz.
Lopez was born deaf and can mimic anyone’s combat skills. Absorbing her opponents’ arsenal of actions by watching them, Echo can duplicate anyone’s training with the same accuracy. She is also able to imitate the different styles of pianists and dancers merely by observing their movements as well.
Photo: Marvel Comics
Daredevil #11
Although we learned some of Maya’s backstory in her introduction, in Daredevil #11 by David Mack, Richard Isanove, Joe Quesada, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Comicraft’s Rich + Liz, Marvel readers get more of her backstory, learning that Maya’s father was killed by his own boss, Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.
Oh, and in this issue, Matt Murdock and Lopez go on a date. It’s a fun twist.
Photo: Marvel Comics
Daredevil #14
Echo started out as an antagonist for Daredevil and an enforcer for Kingpin, which is best exemplified in Daredevil #14 by David Mack, Richard Isanove, Joe Quesada, David Ross, Mark Morales, and Richard Starkings & Comicraft.
Marvel Blog True Believers, this Daredevil, Echo, Kingpin arc ends in Daredevil #15. For Hawkeye season finale spoilers, my suggestion is to keep reading these incredibly beautiful Mack issues because Marvel Studios is definitely pulling from this run!
Photo: Marvel
Daredevil #53
Maya confronts Kingpin in Daredevil #15, and she blinds him. After this event, she flees from the United States to process her trauma.
In Daredevil #53 by David Mack and Cory Petit, Lopez returns to New York City. When she tries to reconnect with people from her past, she finds that Daredevil has a new woman in his life, and although Kingpin still loves her like a daughter, he’s up to his usual games of chess. So she goes home to her tribe and goes on a vision quest, and we get lots of information on the psychological underpinnings of Echo.
Photo: Marvel
Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1
In the Marvel’s Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 story “Echo: Hitting Back” by Rebecca Roanhorse and Weshoyot Alvitré, Maya Lopez is being set up for her new role in the Marvel Universe as the current host of the Phoenix Force, having won the Phoenix’s favor in the Marvel Comic’s event Avengers: Enter the Phoenix.
Photo: Marvel Comics
Phoenix Song: Echo #1
Phoenix Song: Echo #1 by Rebecca Roanhorse, Luca Marsca, Carlos Lopez, and Ariana Maher is the most current Marvel Comics title featuring the breakout character of the Hawkeye series on Disney+, Maya Lopez.
Photo: Marvel
New Avengers #11
*Spoiler Warning* Do not read any further if you do not want any potential spoilers for the season finale of Marvel’s Hawkeye on Disney+.
Photo: Disney+
In New Avengers #11 by Brian Michael Bendis, Frank D’Armata, David Finch, Danny Miki, Richard Starkings, and Albert Deschesne, Daredevil declines to join the Avengers, but Matt Murdock suggests to Captain America that Lopez joins the team… And she does, becoming the first person to take on the title of Ronin.
It is Maya’s legacy as Ronin that most directly connects her to Hawkeye, at least in comic terms. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ronin is the identity taken on by Clint Barton during the Snap. In the Hawkeye series, Clint’s past as Ronin is coming back to haunt him, specifically in the form of Echo, who blames Ronin for her father’s death (although in a story that reflects her comic book story with Daredevil).
Photo: Marvel Comics
