Now streaming on Disney + and Hulu, Marvel has just debuted its first female deaf and amputee superhero in its mini-series Echo.
The show tells the story of Maya Lopez, a former villain who returns home to the Choctaw Nation, a Native American Tribe based in Oklahoma, after turning her back on her surrogate uncle and New York mafia leader, Wilson “Kingpin” Fisk.
Lopez, portrayed by Alaqua Cox, a real-life native american, amputee, and deaf, was the leader of the Tracksuit Mafia.
Marvel intended this mini-series to “bring more grounded and character-driven stories to the screen.” However, many fans were left disappointed as the series began early this week.
Conversations in the scenes were made through sign language, and the filmmakers worked closely with leaders of the Choctaw Nation as they attempted to make “diversity” more appealing to their audience.
Comics fans of Echo were quick to point out how the series failed to portray Maya’s power. The series shows how her superpower channels the “collective strength” of her Choctaw ancestors, but in the end, all the audience sees is that her hands are stronger and glow. It deviates from the original story, where Maya has the power to perfectly replicate a person’s movements.
The launching of the series comes at a precarious time for Disney as they struggled to stage a come-back at the box office after a series of flops.
In 2023, Disney’s profits plummeted while subscribers continued to boycott their platform. They also faced criticisms as their preference for “woke” themes grew. The company intends to cut its losses by laying off 20% of its workforce this year. Last year, they dismissed more than 7,000 employees.
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger admitted this downtrend and quipped last year that their writers were more concerned with “positive messages,” instead of “their number one objective.”
“What I’ve really tried to do is to return to our roots, which is remember we have to entertain first. It’s not about messages,” Iger said.
With diversity at the core of the series Echo, it seems that it chose to tread the downward slope.
Even users on social media could not hide their dismay with how Marvel and Disney presented the Echo.
A user, End Wokeness, wrote: “Marvel just got its first female, Native American, deaf, amputee superhero.”
“No, this is not satire.”
Another said, “Echo is the Mount Rushmore of Disney Marvel’s woke nonsense. A series so baffling & disjointed that I could barely fathom its existence.”
Jeffrey James commented, “Wow, Marvel Studios, like Star Wars, is just getting pathetic. Woke, liberal garbage thinking has ruined two amazing franchises.”
“Echo” will be the latest woke Marvel flop series. It’s not even worth monitoring it because it’s a foregone conclusion,” wrote Brian McWilliams on X.
Some also cringed at the first episode of how it ended.
An X user said, “It was a “WOKE” ending because fck me Maya’s last words made me cringe and laugh my a*off.”
Another shared, “Marvel goes FULL Panderverse with Echo! Woke shills call it a MODERN masterpiece?!”
