What We Know About The Character At The End Of Hawkeye Episode 2

At the end of the second episode of the new Disney+ series "Hawkeye," things aren't looking so good for our heroes, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). They've been captured by the Tracksuit Mafia, who have duct taped them to kiddie rides, and it seems pretty grim. One of the Mafia members goes to inform a young woman that the two have been captured, and she waves him off with a cold gaze. Who is this mystery person, leather clad and terrifying in her silence? 

That character is Echo (Alaqua Cox), and she's going to have her own spin-off series on Disney+ sometime soon. Here's everything we know about Echo, a sometimes superhero with ties to Daredevil and the criminal Kingpin, Wilson Fisk. 

Echo was created by writer David Mack and artist Joe Quesada, first appearing in Daredevil #9 in December 1999. She was created as a mirror to Matt Murdock/Daredevil, a blind superhero whose other senses are heightened as a result of the accident that took his sight. Echo is a deaf Indigenous woman, and her superpower is her photographic reflexes, which allow her to mimic any action she sees. (If that sounds familiar, the "Black Widow" villain Taskmaster has the same ability.) 

Echo's birth name is Maya Lopez, and she was raised by Fisk after he killed her father. Fulfilling his long-time enemy's dying wish, he raised Maya the best way he knew how, sending her to expensive schools and training. She eventually even learned how to speak, mimicking the way other people moved their mouths. Kingpin suggested that Maya date Murdock, reeling from the death of a past lover. When Maya and Matt fall for one another, Kingpin tells Maya that Daredevil killed her father. This sets off a nasty battle between them, ending with Maya discovering the truth along with the secret identity of the Man Without Fear. Eventually Maya becomes Ronin, a superhero title taken up by several other major characters, including Clint Barton himself.

It's likely that the Maya we see at the end of the second episode of "Hawkeye" is still early in her superhero journey, and she's probably working for her surrogate father. That means that we could possibly see Fisk (played by Vincent D'Onofrio in the Netflix "Daredevil" series) as a villain on "Hawkeye," though he doesn't have a comics history of working with the Tracksuit Mafia. Then again, maybe that's why he sent Maya.

So what do we know about the actress bringing Echo to life? Alaqua Cox has never acted professionally before, only having a bit background part in a high school play. Like the character she plays, the Indigenous actress is also deaf. She grew up on the Menominee Reservation in northeastern Wisconsin and is of the Menominee and Mohican nation, and she is also an amputee with a prosthetic leg. If ever there was a perfect performer to play Echo, it's the delightfully authentic Cox.

We'll have to see where her story goes on "Hawkeye," but here's hoping that the "Echo" series finally gives this incredible character her due.