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All said and done over the last year about Disney and its wokeness, Marvel’s latest offering, Echo—featuring a Native American superhero who is deaf and has a prosthetic leg—has won fans over.
For many months now, the Walt Disney Company has been embroiled in a debate about its alleged wokeness. Whether it was for speaking out against the “Don’t Say Gay” law (formally known as the Parental Rights in Education Act) or it was the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters in the movies, many felt Disney was “pandering to woke audiences.”
Despite all these criticisms, Disney’s latest release has won the hearts of many. What’s notable about it? The protagonist is a deaf Native American superhero with a prosthetic leg.
Echo in Hawkeye / Credit: Marvel Studios
Related: Enough Already! “Wokeness” Aside, Stop Being Angry at Disney for More Diverse Representation
Echo Redeems Disney In the Eyes of Fans
As Japan Today explained, Echo “tells the story of Maya Lopez, a tough former villain who returns from a life of criminality in New York to rediscover her Indigenous roots in her Oklahoma hometown.” The show works hard to stay authentic to the traditions of the Choctaw Nation, which it represents in the show.
Marion Dayre and Amy Rardin are the head writers for the mini-series, and Sydney Freeland leads its directing team.
With the release of Echo, Marvel Studios has begun its new Marvel Spotlight brand, moving away from the current Marvel Cinematic Universe model fans have gotten to know (and recently complained about). Perhaps this new model is the solution to the superhero fatigue many have noted.
Related: How to Watch the Marvel Movies In Order: The Ultimate Guide to Watching Every MCU Film
“I’m just so proud to be able to represent a platform that is uplifting voices for Indigenous people… we’re doing it the right way,” star Alaqua Cox—who is herself deaf, Indigenous, and an amputee—said at a recent press conference.
Molly Freeman from Screenrant shared about the show, “Marvel’s #Echo starts off slow—most of the first episode is essentially a prologue—but it quickly improves from there. With breathless fight scenes and a stunningly unique voice, Echo is one of Marvel’s best Disney+ offerings in a long time.”Â
Marvel's #Echo starts off slow—most of the first episode is essentially a prologue—but it quickly improves from there. With breathless fight scenes and a stunningly unique voice, Echo is one of Marvel's best Disney+ offerings in a long time. Full review tomorrow on @screenrant pic.twitter.com/URyXwPt0jw
— molly freeman (@mollyrockit) January 9, 2024
Related: Marvel’s MCU Will Soon Change Forever, Everything We Know
Another Disney fan agreed with Freeman’s review, “Just finished the new Marvel series ECHO on Disney+. Gripping storytelling and intense action sequences- it feels like Disney’s darkest & most violent show yet. The gritty cinematography and complex characters make ECHO a must-watch for mature Marvel fans.”Â
It’s clear that good storytelling has delivered, in this case; something that Disney CEO Bob Iger stressed Disney was going to focus on in the future. In fact, in November 2023, Mr. Iger had commented, that the company’s storytellers had become more focused on “positive messages” and “lost sight of what their number one objective needed to be.”
“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,” said Iger.
Alaqua Cox, Hailee Steinfeld, Jeremy Renner and Fra Fee in Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye series / Credit: Marvel
However, the show isn’t for everyone. One fan made it clear it wasn’t for them, but still took the time to appreciate the representation of the Choctaw Nation in the Marvel series.
I’ve seen the first 3 episodes of #Echo early and unfortunately for me, I wasn’t a fan. This is another example of how most of Disney+ MCU series have been crafted as films disguised as TV Shows. I appreciate and respect the representation shown and given to the Choctaw pic.twitter.com/vQa9BFXaQH
— Movie Files (@MovieFilesLive) January 9, 2024
Perhaps these are signs of a changing tide for Disney!
Interesting that it has “won hearts and minds” in the few hours it has been released…2 episodes in, it’s so full of pandering and cliches that not even the Kingpin’s presence can redeem it. Very disappointing.