Echo reviews call new Hawkeye spin-off one of Marvel’s ‘best shows in years’

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The first Marvel launch of 2024 has arrived, and critics are calling Echo one of the studio’s “best TV shows in years”.

The new five-part miniseries – airing on Disney+ – stars Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, who makes historical past as Marvel’s first Indigenous, deaf, amputee superhero.

The character was first launched in the 2021 sequence Hawkeye as a member of the Tracksuit Mafia, a gang of enforcers for Wilson ‘Kingpin’ Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio). Kingpin had taken Lopez below his wing after the demise of her gangster father William (Zahn McClarnon).

Now, the character leads her personal story which picks up after the occasions of Hawkeye. Alongside Cox in the lead position, the sequence additionally sees D’Onofrio return as Kingpin and Charlie Cox cameo as Daredevil.

The gritty sequence is Marvel’s first to obtain an MA (Mature Audience Only) score and is already being tipped to be one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) highlights of the 12 months. The studio has a comparatively gentle 2024 launch schedule, with simply one movie slated to be launched to date.

Rolling Stone’s Alan Sepinwall wrote that he feared the worst after current lacklustre Marvel efforts equivalent to Secret Invasion and The Marvels, however discovered Echo to be “one of the stronger MCU shows overall when it comes to accomplishing what it sets out to do.”

He added: “Echo isn’t aspiring to high art, but the ensemble make Maya’s pulpy world feel completely lived-in, real, and complex, which adds welcome depth and shading to all the kick-kick, punch-punch sequences.”

In a three-star assessment for the Evening Standard, Vicky Jessop wrote that whereas the sequence is “disjointed” and “uneven”, the lead efficiency stands out.

“Cox really is great as Maya,” writes Jessop. “The resentment practically burns off her: one glint from her eyes conveys a world of sullenness. Her Deafness is never commented on, and it’s never portrayed as a drawback: instead, Sign language (both American and Plains Indian) is used plentifully by both hearing and non-hearing throughout the series, which is great, as is the sound editing which periodically brings us into and out of Maya’s world.”

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IGN‘s Hanna Innes Flint rated the series even higher, calling it a “resounding success” in her 8/10 review.

“Echo is a refreshingly gritty, grounded, and unflinchingly violent superhero story – though its connections to the larger MCU continuity may run deeper than advertised,” says Flint. “Amid nods to vintage Westerns and premium crime dramas, Alaqua Cox delivers a culturally authentic and captivating antihero worth rooting for.”

The show has also received praise from Indigenous critics, with Native Viewpoint’s Vincent Schilling writing in his 9.7/10 assessment: “Echo delivers something I have yet to see in a Marvel movie or series: the feeling of being on a Rez. Inasmuch as I was watching a series, I felt something else I had never felt before. I felt like I was watching what I might see in my own home, with my own family.”

And though Empire’s Sophie Butcher felt the sequence was “inconsistently paced and lacking in character development”, she concluded that: “Echo is still an interesting look at a pretty remarkable hero, with some thrilling fights — and the more adult tone is a welcome new direction for the MCU.”

Echo is on the market to stream now on Disney+.