Echo (Marvel)
Echo is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Maya Lopez
Her father Crazy Horse came to be business partners with Wilson Fisk where he moved to New York and fathered his child Maya Lopez. (Daredevil v2 #10) At first, the Maya was non-responsive as a baby and rarely made sounds, causing the doctors to think she was mentally challenged for a time. Maya's mother, unable to handle Crazy Horse's life of crime, left early in Maya's life. (Daredevil v2 #52) Maya learned to communicate by drawing pictures and never knew her mother. She took to playing the piano early on. After going to a special school, she learned to read lips and sign language. She asked her father questions constantly, even as other children saw her as mentally challenged. Crazy Horse sometimes took Maya to the reservation, where she interacted with other Native Americans. A shaman taught her Native Sign Language, and told her it was her calling to be a storyteller. (Daredevil v2 #51) Crazy Horse took Maya to a small park frequently, and she loved her time with him there. (Daredevil v2 #14)
When her father got into trouble, he would end up going to the reservation that was not the home of one particular tribe but rather an interzone of tribes. (Daredevil v2 #51)
Around 20 years ago, her father Crazy Horse was noted to had crossed the Kingpin who had no choice but to make an example of him. He came to shoot the man in the head but not before promising to care for his deaf daughter Maya who never knew about the true murderer of her father. (Daredevil v2 #10) It was noted that Maya was only 9 years old when her father had died. (Daredevil v2 #51) Fisk came to look after her financially as she grew to adulthood. (Daredevil v2 #11)
Echo
Wilson Fisk then informed her that her father was a close friend of his and that he had been killed at the hands of Daredevil. (Daredevil v2 #10)
She then travelled to the offices of Nelson and Murdock in order to meet Matt Murdock where she asked to meet him in private outside at a set time and place as she had information on Wilson Fisk. (Daredevil v2 #10)
Pursuing Daredevil, she managed to get the upper hand on him and prepared to shoot him with a gun. However, a group of children were present at the scene and Maya did not want to expose them to death. This led to her leaving the scene but promising to get her revenge on Daredevil as she left the scene. (Daredevil v2 #13) She next spotted him on a rooftop talking to the Black Widow and attempted to take out Natasha Romanoff with a tranquilizer dart from a sniper rifle. Echo then fought against Daredevil where he had her in a dark warehouse thus depriving her of her sight and then used nerve strikes to prevent her from fighting before escaping. (Daredevil v2 #14) For their next fight, Echo decided to set the scene of their battle to blind her foe of all her senses. She nearly killed him until she came to learn that Daredevil was actually Matt Murdock and that he could not have killed her father as he would have been a child when he died. It was then that she came to the realisation that Wilson Fisk had lied to her because he was responsible for her father's murder and went to confront him. Upon finding him, she came to shoot Fisk to avenge her father leaving him blinded as a result. (Daredevil v2 #15)
Maya left the country to travel the world and rediscover herself, visiting the art museums wherever she went. (Daredevil v2 #51) After months away, she returned to New York to reconcile with Matt, only to find he was already with another woman. (Daredevil v2 #52) She then left New York to go to her father's reservation and visited the Chief who was the old medicine man that she and her father would visit when she was younger. After listening to his stories about her father, Maya decided to follow his suggestion and went on a 'vision quest'. She went to the woods to fast and meditate to receive visions which she hoped would provide her with some answers on what to do next with her life. (Daredevil v2 #53) On the fourth day of her 'vision quest' during a thunderstorm she was startled by what she believed to be an animal spirit and briefly fought him. Once she realized her mistake they talked and she shared some of the visions she received. (Daredevil v2 #54) When she got to her final vision about 'two dogs fighting', he ended up telling her a story about it. This ultimately motivated her to start telling stories just like her father did. She went back to New York and began to perform in the theater using sign language, dance, and music. She spoke with Matt again who said that he attended her first performance titled Parts of a Hole and that he would see The Echo Story with a friend. He made no attempt to stop her from kissing him because he knew it was a goodbye kiss. (Daredevil v2 #55)
Ronin
She continued to operate in Japan as Ronin when the Civil War erupted among the superhero community in America. Alone, she was targeted by the Hand who were led by Elektra where she personally killed Echo. Echo's body was then taken to the Hand's headquarters where they resurrected her and proceeded with their attempt at brainwashing Maya to become one of their warriors. She was saved by the intervention of the New Avengers who arrived at the scene and took her from the Hand. (New Avengers v1 #27)
Despite her team mates fears, she did not believe in their warnings of a potential Skrull infiltration and invasion of the planet. Instead, she believed that this was simply an excuse for the team who were living the life of miserable fugitives and them ignoring their situation. In the middle of the night, she decided to go to Nelson & Murdock to meet with Daredevil to ask Matt Murdock why he had sent Captain America to rescue her. It was during this encounter that she became suspicious and believed Daredevil was not who he claimed to be with her confronting him. She was then shocked to see that Daredevil was a Skrull who morphed into a copy of her and intended to replace her on the New Avengers. From behind, the Skrull was attacked by Wolverine who was following Echo to make sure she was alright with the two forcing the alien infiltrator to flee. The next morning she returned to the New Avengers where she was approached by and comforted by Clint Barton who helped ease her mind by telling of his own experiences when he first joined the Avengers. Thus, he assured her that though she felt out of place that in the end things would work out for her. The pair then kissed after showing that they were attracted to one another leading to Maya starting a relationship with Barton. (New Avengers v1 #39)
The world later came under attack from the Hulk and his Warbound. In this time, Echo attempted to defend Rick Jones from Hiroim and Elloe Kaifi during their attack on the Sanctum Sanctorum where they attempted to capture Doctor Strange. Despite their efforts, she along with the Iron Fist Danny Rand ad Clint Barton were defeated and captured. (World War Hulk v1 #3)
Afterwards, she moved to Los Angeles where she went undercover as a stripper only for Moon Knight to attack a meeting she was in forcing her to break her cover. (Moon Knight v6 #2) Echo accepted the offer to help Marc find out who was the Kingpin of L.A. and started a relationship. While Moon Knight was fighting the revealed Kingpin, Count Nefaria, Echo recorded it on a video camera to bring to the police. Days later, she and Moon Knight were cleaning up some criminal hideouts until Nefaria confronted them. During the fight, although fighting very well, Echo was seemingly killed by Nefaria's optic blast; submitting to his Wolverine personality, Moon Knight then brutally attacked Nefaria in revenge. (Moon Knight v6 #9) Maya resurfaced years later alive and well. She witnessed the beginning of an attempt by Klaw to take over New York City, turning its citizens into sound constructs, and alerted Daredevil about it. Together, they stopped the villain and reverted the effects of his infection. (Daredevil Annual v4 #1)
Phoenix
Later on, the Phoenix Force returned to the Earth in search for a host and brought select people into the White Hot Room who were candidates for the role. Maya came to be among those gathered that were forced to fight in a trial by combat to be the new Phoenix. (Avengers v8 #40) Among the earliest fighters in the tournament, she came to face off against Namor where they battled at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. (Avengers v8 #41) These conditions came to favour Namor who managed to overpower Echo and left for dead on the ocean floor. (Avengers v8 #42)
Overview
Personality and attributes
A young Maya was present at the side of her dying father who left a bloody handprint on her face as he passed away. (Daredevil v2 #10) As an assassin, she came to seek revenge against Daredevil and came to be known as Echo. (Daredevil v2 #14) After bonding to the Phoenix Force, Maya came to briefly operate under the name of Phoenix. (Avengers v8 #45)
Her father used to tell her an old Native American tale that he used to teach her sign language. (Daredevil v2 #10) As a child, the world seemed carefree and big to her where everyday seemed like kindergarten to her. (Daredevil v2 #14) As a kid, drawing was one of her earliest forms of communication. (Daredevil v2 #51)
She was conscious of how death could affect a child and refused to kill a person in front of children. (Daredevil v2 #13)
As one of the Cheyenne, she believed in a great winged spirit of change that protected the tribe from darkness with this being the Thunderbird. (Avengers v8 #44) Her father Crazy Horse once told her the story about how a man having two dogs inside of himself, one good and one evil, and he had to choose which one to feed. (Daredevil v2 #54)
Maya was the daughter of Crazy Horse whose real name was Willie Lincoln. It was he who told her many stories of her heritage. (Daredevil v2 #52) When she was young, her father on some occasions took her to the park where she was said to had loved her time with him there. (Daredevil v2 #14) Maya was only 9 years old when her father was killed. (Daredevil v2 #51)
She had never known her mother who had left both her and her father after she could not cope with Crazy Horse's criminal life. (Daredevil v2 #52) As such, it was noted that she never came to know her mother. (Daredevil v2 #51)
After her father's death, the young Maya was cared for by Wilson Fisk who took care of her financially. At first, she used to speak of him lovingly and with a level of warmth. (Daredevil v2 #11) This was until she came to learn that he was responsible for her father's death and looked to kill him. (Daredevil v2 #15)
Initially, Maya came to believe that the masked vigilante known as Daredevil had been responsible for killing her father and she sought revenge against him. (Daredevil v2 #10) Around this time, she came to be involved with the blink attorney Matt Murdock. Murdock had felt that she was the most charming girl he had ever met. Maya was said to exude quiet confidence and strength yet also the vulnerability of a child. Her impairment was said to set her apart from others and offered her a different perspective with her knowing what it was like to be detached from other people. (Daredevil v2 #11)
Powers and abilities
Maya Lopez was noted to had been born deaf where she was unresponsive to sound at first. Initially, this led to some believing she was mentally challenged until she was diagnosed. In the beginning, she found that the only way she could communicate with others was by drawing pictures. This was until she was at a special school where she learnt to read lips and sign language. Later on, she would sometimes be taken to the reservations where a shaman taught her Native Sign Language where he remarked that she had the makings of a storyteller. (Daredevil v2 #51)
A gifted artist and athlete, Maya Lopez had an uncanny ability to mimic physical action if she saw it. (Daredevil v2 #12) She saw the actions and the mechanics of another person's movements along with the body's geometry of motion. Through this, she was able to absorb an arsenal of actions in order to duplicate them with the same accuracy. Thus, she could replay their performance in her head again in order to steal their movements. (Daredevil v2 #11)
Through hours of visual assimilation, she was capable of a number of fighting skills. It was noted that she was skilled in unarmed combat where she had perfectly copied one of Daredevil's throws, counter his moves and mimicking his movements perfectly. Echo also had a number of weapons for use that included throwing stars which she used with the same degree of accuracy as Bullseye and could throw clubs similar to Daredevil. (Daredevil v2 #11)
Darkness was said to be her one main weakness which left her feeling very isolated and powerless. (Daredevil v2 #14)
She was shown to capable in handling small arms like pistols and sniper rifles. (Daredevil v2 #14)
Through a medicine man from her tribe, she could take part in a vision quest. This saw her travelling to an isolated location in order to fast and meditate in order to receive visions which would provide her with some answers on what to do next with her life. (Daredevil v2 #53)
Later on, she came to be a host to the cosmic Phoenix Force that was a fiery element of change. (Avengers v8 #44)
Notes
- Echo was created by David Mack and Joe Quesada where she made her first appearance in Daredevil v2 #9 (December, 1999).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Ultimate Spider-Man, Echo made an cameo appearance in the setting of the animated television series in the episodes "Agent Venom" and "The Next Iron Spider". She was shown as being one of a number of young superheroes that had been inspired by Spider-Man and were being monitored by S.H.I.E.L.D.
- In Hawkeye, Maya Lopez appeared in the setting of the live-action television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where she was portrayed by actress Alaqua Cox.
Video games
Appearances
- Daredevil v2: (1999)
- New Avengers v1:
- Moon Knight v6:
- Avengers v8:
- Phoenix Song: Echo v1: (2021)
External Links
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