10 Biggest Changes Echo Makes From The Marvel Comics

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Echo.

When adapting Maya Lopez and her backstory for her solo MCU series, Echo, Marvel Studios made several changes to her story from Marvel Comics. Marvel Studios’ five-part Echo series was released in its entirety on January 9, 2024, with Alaqua Cox reprising the titular role following her debut as a minor antagonist in Phase 4’s Hawkeye. The series saw Maya Lopez explore her ancestral roots, deal with her villainous “Uncle”, Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin, and discover new and powerful abilities, and while Marvel Studios stayed fairly true to Echo’s history in Marvel Comics, many aspects of her life and power-set were changed significantly for her introduction into the MCU’s live-action continuity.

Maya Lopez made her Marvel Comics debut in 1999’s Daredevil #9, and went on to become a crucial member of the Avengers and New Avengers teams. Her strong connections to other heroes in the Marvel Universe hasn’t yet been properly explored in the live-action MCU, though with prior experiences with Clint Barton’s Hawkeye, Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin, and Matt Murdock’s Daredevil, it’s possible that Cox’s Maya Lopez could return to the MCU soon to establish herself further in the MCU’s timeline. Even so, it’s unclear how many of these connections will be adapted for the MCU, as Marvel Studios has already made some major changes to Maya Lopez’s Marvel Comics backstory.

10 Maya Lopez Is A Part Of The Choctaw Nation In The MCU

In Marvel Comics, Maya Lopez’s Roots Are In The Blackfeet Nation

In Marvel Comics, Maya Lopez has roots in the Blackfeet Nation, an indigenous group of people primarily based in Montana, but this origin was slightly altered for the MCU’s adaptation of Echo. In Echo, Maya Lopez is revealed to have come from the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma, and Marvel Studios does a fantastic job of representing the Choctaw community throughout the series, having worked alongside the Choctaw Nation and the IllumiNative organization to preserve authenticity, language and culture. Echo also explores Choctaw folklore, including the creation myth of the first Choctaws rising from the great mound Nanih Waiya, though this was changed to a cave in the MCU.

9 Echo Has Connections To Wolverine In Marvel Comics

Wolverine Teaches Maya Lopez Japanese Customs In The Comics

Similarly to the MCU’s Echo series, after Maya Lopez shoots Kingpin in Marvel Comics, she returns home to explore her roots and find herself. After embarking on an intense and revealing vision quest, Maya meets and befriends Wolverine, a member of the X-Men. During their brief time together, Wolverine helps Maya recover, and teaches her about Japanese culture, customs and organized crime, spurring her on to become a hero in subsequent stories. Wolverine hasn’t yet been introduced to the MCU, so there was no opportunity for him to make an appearance in Echo, meaning this element of her backstory was omitted completely.

8 Marvel Comics’ Echo Becomes The Ronin

Clint Barton Became The Ronin During The MCU’s Blip

The mysterious identity of the Ronin was taken up by Clint Barton during Avengers: Endgame’s five-year-long Blip after his entire family was killed by the Mad Titan Thanos. Barton became Ronin to track down criminals around the world and eliminate them, feeling as though they should have been taken by Thanos instead of billions of innocent people. Maya Lopez resents Ronin for killing her father in the MCU, but in Marvel Comics, it’s Maya herself who first assumes the Ronin role after her attack on Kingpin. It’s very unlikely that Maya Lopez will ever become Ronin in the MCU, especially since the suit was burned at the end of Hawkeye.

7 Echo & Hawkeye Briefly Have A Relationship In Marvel Comics

There’s No Romance Between Echo & Hawkeye In The MCU

Maya Lopez soon passes the Ronin identity on to Clint Barton in Marvel Comics, beginning a lengthy and powerful bond between the pair. This ultimately leads to them briefly having a romantic interaction in the moments before 2008’s Secret Invasion storyline, though this is very short-lived. There is no chance this relationship will be adapted for the MCU, not least because Clint Barton has been in a happy relationship with his wife, Laura Barton, for several years, and the pair have three children together. Barton also murdered Maya’s father in the MCU, meaning even if Barton expressed attraction towards her, it’s very unlikely their relationship would be taken any further.

6 Echo’s Father Was Killed When She Was A Child In Marvel Comics

Maya Lopez Was An Adult When Her Father Was Killed In The MCU

Marvel Studios’ Echo revealed Maya Lopez’s mother had died in a car accident when Maya was a child, leaving her to be raised by her father and be taken under Wilson Fisk’s wing. Maya’s father, Zahn McClarnon’s William Lopez, was murdered by Ronin when Maya was an adult, but in Marvel Comics, it was her father – named Willie “Crazy Horse” Lincoln – who was killed when she was a child. Echo’s powerful bond with her father was explored in both Hawkeye and Echo in the MCU, but this wouldn’t have been possible had Marvel Studios adapted the comic accurately. In both instances, however, Maya is practically raised by Kingpin.

5 Kingpin Killed Echo’s Father Directly In Marvel Comics

Kingpin Blamed Daredevil For Echo’s Father’s Death In The Comics

The identity of William Lopez’s killer in the MCU has never been a secret, as Ronin took him out during the Blip after being tipped off by Wilson Fisk. This storyline is quite different in Marvel Comics, however, as Kingpin himself killed Maya Lopez’s father, but told her that the masked vigilante Daredevil had actually done the deed. This prompted a battle between Echo and Daredevil, though she soon learned the truth and shot Kingpin, just as she did at the end of Phase 4’s Hawkeye. Both of these events led Maya to return home and explore her ancestry, eventually helping her to become a better and more powerful hero.

4 Maya Lopez Was Given A More Privileged Upbringing In Marvel Comics

Kingpin Raised Echo After Her Father’s Death In The Comics

In the MCU, Maya and her father relocated to New York in 2007, and Maya was enrolled in a regular school, despite being deaf. Following her father’s death in Marvel Comics, however, Maya is sent to a school for students with special needs, but when she begins to understand her photographic reflex ability, Kingpin moves her to a school for prodigies. This privileged upbringing is something that Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez didn’t have in the MCU, though she did experience moments of luxury when spending time with Fisk. Marvel Comics’ Echo developed a love for the performing arts because of her education, but this hasn’t been represented in the MCU.

Echo’s Handprint Marking Has Huge Significance In Marvel Comics

Maya Lopez is consistently represented as having a painted handprint over her eye in Marvel Comics, which hasn’t yet been seen in the MCU. While her father was dying in Marvel Comics, he reached out to Maya and left a bloody handprint on her face, so she repaints it as a memorial which empowers her to keep fighting. Neither Maya Lopez’s mother nor father in the MCU left this handprint on Maya’s face, so it’s unlikely that it will be seen in the MCU, despite it being such a recognizable trademark of her character in Marvel Comics. Echo does retain her sun-shaped logo from Marvel Comics in the MCU, however.

2 Daredevil & Echo Have A Relationship In Marvel Comics

Matt Murdock & Maya Lopez Have Only Met Once In The MCU

Perhaps Echo’s most substantial relationship in Marvel Comics was that with Matt Murdock’s Daredevil. After Kingpin told her that Daredevil had killed her father, Fisk sends Maya into the arms of Matt Murdock, but neglects to tell her that his alter ego is Daredevil. Maya and Matt fall in love, and Echo and Daredevil engage in battle, neither knowing the other is their loved one, but the truth soon comes out, and Murdock exposes Kingpin’s lies. It’s this interaction that leads Maya to shoot Kingpin in the face and leave New York.​​​​​​​ This relationship could still be established in the MCU’s future, potentially in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Daredevil: Born Again.​​​​​​​

1 Echo’s Abilities Are Very Different In Marvel Comics

Marvel Studios Drastically Changed Maya Lopez’s Abilities

The biggest change that Marvel Studios made to Maya Lopez’s Echo when adapting her for the MCU is in her power-set. In Marvel Comics, Maya is a skilled martial artist and has photographic reflexes, but in the MCU, her abilities are far more supernatural, and are tied directly to her Choctaw roots. Maya is able to call upon her ancestors – who echo through her – and harness their abilities, leading all the way back to Chafa, the first Choctaw. This gifts her enhanced strength, a regenerative healing ability, expert marksmanship and supreme agility, making Echo an incredibly powerful new addition to the MCU’s Phase 5.

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