Like that, without warning, Marvel Studios released the very first trailer for ECHO, its new series which will arrive streaming on Disney+ on January 10, 2024. An unexpected trailer which surprised a lot of people, due to its more adult treatment than other MCU productions. It must be said that the blood flows, the murders are uncompromising and the violence is almost gratuitous, especially when Fisk / The Kingpin attacks an ice cream seller who has disrespected the character of Maya Lopez as a child, due to her deafness and muteness. This character who took his first steps in the Hawkeye series two years ago, at the end of 2021, is the sign of a new direction within Marvel Studios and who will benefit from the TV-Ma classification in the United States, i.e. a television program intended only for an informed adult audience.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Brad Winderbaum (head of streaming, television and animation at Marvel Studios) said Echo shows the extent of what Marvel is capable of. It must be said that there is danger in the house, since the decline of the MCU and the overall disinterest in superheroes in general. Marvel Studios is therefore looking for new levers to capture attention and Echo is in a way a spiritual sequel to Netflix’s Daredevil which was a great success before the purchase of the license by Disney recently. Better, Echo intervenes while Marvel is reshuffling its television activity, in particular with Daredevil Born Again, which is undergoing a soft reboot following the first screenings which were not conclusive. The studio hired Punisher veteran Dario Scardapane as showrunner and Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as part of a creative reboot of the series, which filmed several episodes with a different crew .
The series is also different from Marvel Studios in other ways, centering on an indigenous character who is deaf and communicates in sign language. Representing both was important to director Freeland, who grew up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. This is perhaps the beginning of an awareness at Marvel Studios, which needs to renew itself as quickly as possible so as not to lose its last fans.
