Posted in: Disney+, Hulu, Marvel, TV | Tagged: Alaqua Cox, Echo

Echo Star Alaqua Cox: "We're Both Warriors, We're Tough, We're Badass"

Marvel Studios' Echo star Alaqua Cox on the traits she shares with Maya Lopez, why she connects with the character on a personal level & more.

Marvel has been pretty upfront that Echo was not a show they planned on making, but Alaqua Cox came in for Hawkeye and convinced everyone otherwise. It spoke volumes about Cox as a talent that they were willing to hand her an entire show after a supporting role on one show, but this studio does have an eye for picking out people from nowhere and turning them into superstars. There has been some speculation surrounding Echo for a while now, and the show is being dropped in the binge model instead of weekly, but it is also soft-launching Marvel Spotlight, which will tell Marvel stories with some more mature themes. There was a virtual press conference for the show, and Cox revealed the connection that she feels with Maya, saying that she feels they are very similar but both warriors, tough, and badasses.

"Well, we're similar," Cox explained." I was raised with some trauma. We both have childhood trauma, of course, that we're raised with. And it was different, of course. For example, I grew up, and as you know, I am an amputee. So, I went through many different kinds of surgeries as a child. And so, that made me a warrior, in a sense. And Maya had the death of her mother and all these tragic events that happened in her life. So, we both have different traumatic experiences. So, it kind of makes us very similar in a way because we're both warriors, and we're tough, and we're badass, and I believe that's how we're the same."

In  Hawkeye and the footage we have seen from Echo, it's pretty clear that Cox could knock most people flat on their asses without breaking a sweat, and we love that for her. The corner of the Marvel universe that Echo is entering is one similar to the Netflix era, with series known for its stuntwork and fight scenes in both the good and the bad. So, the fight scenes and how they are choreographed will be a focus of this show once it is released, and Cox was asked about the stuntwork.

"Luckily, I grew up playing different kinds of sports as well," she explained." Plus, I do have an older brother who helped me become more of an athlete, because he's very much an athletic person. We're about a year and a half apart, so we wrestled growing up. So that toughened me up. And then, when I did get the role, I had a stunt training team. About five days a week, I would go to the training, and it was a lot. I learned so much as well because growing up in sports, there weren't a lot of stunt-specific things in sports, so stunt training was a whole new world to me. And I was able to learn choreography, jabs, fights, and those specific moves, and that was so fun, and very challenging as well, but that was the greatest part of the project. So, it was a fun journey for me."

Marvel Spotlight could be one of the ways that Marvel gets back that diversity of tone and genre that it has been sorely lacking in the last couple of years and is the foundation of what made the MCU successful to begin with. Echo is being put in a hard position where it has to justify this new corner of the MCU alone, and that is a lot of pressure for any show to handle. We'll have to see how it works out later this month.

Echo: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Marvel Studios presents Echo, spotlighting Maya Lopez as she is pursued by Wilson Fisk's criminal empire. When the journey brings her home, she must confront her own family and legacy. Echo stars Alaqua Cox (Hawkeye) as Maya Lopez, as well as Chaske Spencer (Wild Indian, The English), Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon, Stumptown), Devery Jacobs (FX's Reservation Dogs, American Gods), Zahn McClarnon (Dark Winds, FX's Reservation Dogs) and Cody Lightning (Hey, Viktor!, Four Sheets to the Wind), with Graham Greene (1883, Goliath) and Vincent D'Onofrio (Hawkeye, Daredevil, Law & Order: Criminal Intent), who returns to the villainous role of Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin.

Episodes of the series are directed by Sydney Freeland (Navajo) and Catriona McKenzie (Gunaikurnai). Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard, Louis D'Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Victoria Alonso, Richie Palmer, Jason Gavin (Blackfeet), Marion Dayre and Sydney Freeland. Co-executive producers are Jennifer L. Booth and Amy Rardin. Marvel Studios' Echo launches on Disney+ and Hulu on January 9, 2024.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!