Marvel’s new show is its most violent yet, say critics
Echo, the newest series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), has been labelled by many critics as its most violent show to date.
The five-episode run, which is streaming now on Disney+, is a spinoff from the series Hawkeye from 2021, and follows the character of Maya Lopez, aka Echo, played by Alaqua Cox.
In the show, Lopez returns to her hometown in Oklahoma, where she is forced to reckon with her past and reconnect with her Native American roots, in an effort to embrace her family and community.
This series was first speculated upon back in 2021, with Echo, who is a deaf amputee with the ability to perfectly mimic the movements of others, heavily rumoured to be the subject of the show, even before Hawkeye had been first aired.
Echo is the first show to be released under the ‘Marvel Spotlight’ banner, which they have introduced for select products that focus on “grounded, character-driven stories” and less on impacting the broader MCU narrative.
Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming, Brad Winderbaum, said: “Just like comic fans didn’t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.”
Many reviews have focused on the surprising levels of violence in the show’s action sequences.
In a three-star review, The Guardian wrote: “The show is significantly gnarlier than its Disney+ predecessors, with far bloodier violence than has graced the streamer before.”
“While Echo doesn’t quite cure the pandemic of Marvel fatigue currently raging across the globe, it shows there may be some life in the old gal.”
Empire Magazine, who also give the show three stars, also points to the excitement in some of the action scenes, saying, “The first big action sequence is a humdinger: stitched together in one long take, it’s a brutal, bloody showdown where Maya really lets loose her ass-kicking skills.” The review does go on to say, however, that the show is “muddled” and “inconsistently paced and lacking in character development”.
Variety wrote a mixed review of Echo, saying that “compressing it down to a two-hour event and cutting away many redundant displays may have increased the emotional impact for viewers”.
More positive is the verdict from IGN, who write: “Echo is a refreshingly gritty, grounded and unflinchingly violent superhero story – though its connections to the larger MCU continuity may run deeper than advertised.”
The Verge commended the show on its embrace of harder violence, saying: “The show’s numerous knock-down, drag-out, blood-smeared fight sequences are the reason it’s Marvel Studios’ first series to arrive with a TV-MA rating.”
“If Echo is any indication, the studio knows what it’s going, and the MCU’s probably going to start getting a bit more bloody around the edges in a very satisfying way.”
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Max Pilley
NME
