Earlier today, we got our surprising first look at Marvel’s Hawkeye spinoff series centered around Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez, Echo. But now that Maya is getting into the spotlight, she’s going to be even more different than her comics counterpart.
Although currently also the avatar of the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force in the comics (it’s… a long story), mostly Maya is known for her photographic reflexes: similar to Black Widow’s Taskmaster, Maya can perfectly replicate someone’s physical movements and fighting style after seeing them once, granting her the ability to have a variety of weapon proficiencies and martial skills at a moment’s notice.
However, in Echo, she will have something else entirely, because according to Echo producer Sydney Freeland, those powers are “lame.”
“Her power in the comic books is that she can copy anything, any movement, any whatever. It’s kind of lame,” Freeland told press at an event for today’s trailer release (via Variety). “I will say, that is not her power. I’ll just kind of leave it at that.”
Whatever abilities Echo will have remain to be seen—we don’t see anything overtly explicit in the trailer beyond hand-to-hand combat, so it’s unlikely she’ll be flying through the skies blasting energy beams or anything. The MCU already has similar abilities to Echo’s in other characters; other situations in the past have seen alterations made—like Kamala Khan’s crystalline constructs in Ms. Marvel over her stretching and embiggening from the comics—so it’s not surprising to hear a change was made. But it feels dismissive of the character to not just pretty much overhaul her entire toolkit, but call her comics counterpart lame in the process.
We’ll find out what else is new with Maya when Echo hits Hulu and Disney+ on January 10.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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