Echo – Female, Native American, Latina, Deaf Superhero

(post revised 3/30/16)

Created by David Mack and Joe Quesada, Maya Lopez, (a.k.a.- “Echo”) first appeared in Daredevil Vol. 2, #9 (12/99). She was half Cheyenne, half Latina and after Kingpin killed her father, (Willie “Crazy Horse” Lincoln), Kingpin raised her as his own (lying about her father’s death of course). Fisk tells her that Daredevil is responsible for her father’s death and sends her to kill him. Which, of course, doesn’t go as planned and they end up falling for each other. (Daredevil: Parts of a Whole 2/2010; Mack/Quesada) There is beautiful artwork in this book!

A dance prodigy with photographic reflexes, Echo had the ability mimic anything she saw, even once. She fought Elektra, the Hand, Kingpin and several of Daredevil’s enemies . Echo’s only weakness was darkness. (She couldn’t mimic what she couldn’t see and was deaf). In the comic her “disguise” was a white handprint covering most of her face, which served the dual purpose of concealing her identity and as a reminder of the last time her father ever touched her as he lay dying.

One work that I did not mean to leave out of the original post, but David Mack was kind enough to remind me of on twitter (insert fangurl squealing here), is Daredevil: Echo – Vision Quest (David Mack, 1998-2011; collects #51-55) which is basically Echo’s origin story, as well as more about her father, Crazy Horse. I feel she is an important character to mention, because in all the discussions of #PoC in comics, how often do we hear of a Native American, Latina, with a disability?

Echo as Ronin

Another thing most don’t know, is that not o ly was Echo an Avenger, but she was the original Ronin (New Avengers #11, Brian Michael Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki; 2005), she later handed off the mantle to Clint Barton a.k.a. -”Hawkeye”. Echo’s character has been revived and killed a few times, including her death in the Moon Knight series where Count Nefaria vaporized her heart. (Moon Knight Vol. 2 – Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev;2010)

The Marvel U brought her character back most recently with the ongoing series Daredevil: End of Days. (Bendis, Mack, Klaus Janson, Bill Sienkiewicz, Alex Maleev; 2013-) In which Ben Urich investigates Daredevil’s death through the eyes of those who knew him best, including the Black Widow, Typhoid Mary, Elektra, the Punisher and of course Echo, who has left superhero life and become a college professor. Their relationship is seen through flashbacks.

@theblerdgurl @BlackGirlNerds Thanks for thinking of Echo & for giving her a shout out to new readers 🙂

— David Mack (@davidmackkabuki) March 30, 2016

(hear that? yep. that’s me screaming)

I will go on record as saying that I will absolutely lose my effing mind if they cast her character in Daredevil S3 on Netflix.