Marvel’s Echo is here, with all five episodes now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. The latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is the first to receive a TV-MA rating and the first under Marvel’s Spotlight banner, implying that fans don’t necessarily need to be up to date on all the happenings of the MCU.
After meeting her in Marvel’s Hawkeye, we rejoin Maya Lopez to learn more about her past and see what her future holds after her falling out with the infamous Kingpin. The third episode sees some of the consequences of Maya starting her war against the Kingpin’s people.
The episode opens with another flashback to one of Maya’s ancestors, as each episode has so far. This one takes us to a silent movie about a Native American police force known as the Lighthorsemen. Maya’s ancestor Tuklo was a young girl when she begged her father, the leader of the Lighthorsmen, to let become a part of the team. After he refused, he and his men fell into the trap of some criminals and found themselves pinned down in a fire fight. Tuklo took it upon herself to rescue them, proving that she was more than capable to be a member of the Lighthorsemen.
Back in present day, Chula meets with Maya’s grandfather in the pawn shop. It becomes apparent the two of them are no longer together. He tries to convince her to go and see Maya while she’s in town, but Chula doesn’t seem interested in trying to repair that relationship.
Vicky, the employee form the skate rink, makes a call to Zane, one of Kingpin’s men who was at the site of the explosion. They discuss Zane collecting the bounty for Maya and Zane tells him to have her ready for them tonight. Maya walks around her house before she is startled by a vision of Chafa and then several other ancestors. While she is stunned by the vision, she is ambushed and taken by two people in masks.
Maya wakes up, hanging upside down from the ceiling of the skating rink. She falls and finds Vicky and two women holding guns. They take her to a back room and she sees that they have also tied up Henry. Bonnie comes to the skating rink looking for Henry and Vicky has him try to get her to go away. After he plays it off, Vicky’s team ambushes Bonnie in the parking lot and they take her too.
They put Bonnie in the same room as Maya and she is shocked to see her cousin also tied up. Maya cuts herself free and does the same for Bonnie. Maya then immediately gets to work on arming herself and finding a way out but Bonnie stops her to discuss their strained relationship.
Meanwhile, Henry tries to talk Vicky into letting Maya go but learns that Vicky has made the call to collect the bounty. Vicky’s team rushes into the room where Maya is being kept because they heard movement. They talk about someone coming to get Maya and Bonnie relays the information. In order to get Bonnie out of there Maya stage a fight between the two of them and forces the others out of the room. Maya then gets back to work on arming herself with what she can find in the room.
Zane and his men arrive and immediately take charge of the situation while Vicky struggles to pretend he has any power in the situation. Meanwhile, Maya creates a makeshift gun out of skate parts and knocks out the lights outside her room. One of the women enters the room to try and stop her but Maya takes care of her easily.
Zane sees that Henry is tied up there also and tries asking him about Maya. Vicky and the other woman receive a text from Maya with a picture of the first woman tied up. Vicky’s partner heads off to take care of that situation but when Vicky tries to join her, Zane has him killed. It’s one of the more graphic moments of the show but still doesn’t come close to the Marvel Netflix series.
Zane tries to ask Henry for more information on Maya but is cut off when the lights go out and loud music plays. Zane’s men lead Henry away and Maya starts picking them off one at a time. The fight spills back out into the rink and surrounding arcade and as Maya uses various skills, we get flashes of Tuklo executing the same moves. It’s one of the monster creative and entertaining fight sequences in the MCU, thanks to the use of various arcade equipment.
Eventually though, Maya is surrounded and Zane puts both her and Henry at gunpoint. As he is about to execute them both though, he is interrupted by a phone call. Whoever is on the other side of that call tells them to let them all go and simply leave. It’s very ominous, but I think we all know who made the call.
Maya takes Bonnie outside and tells her to go home and stay safe. She promises to reach out to her as soon as its safe and Bonnie reluctantly agrees. Back inside, Maya asks Henry why Zane and his men let them live. Henry tells her there’s only one person who could have made that call and Maya says she shot him in the face. Henry tells Maya he is willing to join her side in this fight.
At Maya’s house, her grandfather arrives with her new leg, which is a bit more decorative than she had hoped. The leg has the symbol of a Choctaw warrior, which he tells her she should be representing in New York. He also lets her know that he and her grandmother are no longer together and that she should go see her while she’s in town.
Maya takes a ride around the town and stops at a bar where Bonnie waits for her inside, but she leaves without going inside. Instead, she goes back to her house and is shocked to see none other than Wilson Fisk standing outside waiting for her. The Kingpin takes a few steps towards her and that’s where the episode comes to a close.
Here we go. Now we’ve gotten back to the Marvel we know and love. This series continues to be different while also giving us some awesome action and tying in the characters we all want to see. The conclusion to this episode is one of those that will have you sighing before clicking “play next episode” as you resign yourself to simply not getting enough sleep before work tomorrow.
All five episodes of Marvel’s Echo are now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.