Echo almost entirely redefined the iconic character for a new Marvel Cinematic Universe audience. However, early concept art for the series reveals Maya Lopez originally wielded powers similar to her Marvel comic book counterpart.
While MCU fans were delightfully surprised with Echo, that doesn’t mean the series was without its problems. Many fans point to how different Maya Lopez’s powers are in the series from the original Marvel comics, focusing more on her ancestry than mimicry. Yet it seems those powers almost became a reality, with concept art for the series revealing one of her ancestors would give her the ability to see into the future.
“I had A LOT of fun on this keyframe for [Echo],” Concept Illustrator Andrew Kim wrote on his Instagram. “At the time of doing this concept, the idea was that she has the power of foreseeing the opponents’ movements and reacting accordingly to avoid their hits/tackles. Hence she’d have choices to choose from to make her next moves. In the actual show, I didn’t see any of that so I guess that part was cut but still, I had a blast painting this one.”
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It’s unclear exactly why Marvel cut the comic-accurate powers shown in this concept art. However, given Echo was one of the MCU shows with the rockiest productions behind-the-scenes, it’s likely the powers were trimmed down for simplicity. Here’s to hoping Maya Lopez unlocks those powers in a future appearance!
Where Echo lies within the MCU
Alaqua Cox’s Hawkeye spinoff series is the tenth overall original Marvel Studios series for Disney Plus. It’s also one of two live-action spin-offs from a previous series — the other being the WandaVision offshoot Agatha: Coven of Chaos.
Serving as executive producers on Echo are Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Stephen Broussard, Richie Palmer, Marion Dayre, and Jason Gavin, while Amy Rardin, Sydney Freeland, Christina King, and Jennifer Booth serve as co-executive producers.
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