Echo
Things are about to get a bit shaken up in the non-stop world of MCU Disney Plus series. We are one episode away from wrapping up Loki, but the next time we’ll head back will be for Echo on January 10.
Echo being manifested as its own show seemed unlikely and a bit odd after the character showed up as probably the fifth most important character in Hawkeye back in 2021. While Alaqua Cox did a great job in the role, it was a bit of a surprise for her to be spun out into her own series. But now that a trailer is here? Everyone is very much on board:
As you might be able to tell from that, this is going to be the first MA-rated Disney Plus series, flashing back to another Kingpin project, Daredevil, back when Marvel could get brutal and bloody on Netflix.
This is part of an experiment for Marvel in a number of ways:
- The show is five episodes and being dropped all at once, unlike the other current MCU shows.
- It will air on both Hulu and Disney Plus at the same time, though on Disney Plus you will have to actively change your settings to allow TV-MA content.
- It is the first in a new series of Marvel “Spotlight” projects that focus on individual character studies rather than grand plans tied into the larger MCU, even if they exist in the same world. So…pretty much like how the Netflix shows used to be.
In many ways Echo feels like the polar opposite of something like the upcoming The Marvels, an MCU movie that in theory, requires you to have seen Captain Marvel and the MCU shows, Ms. Marvel, WandaVision and Secret Invasion to fully understand it. Meanwhile, you may want to watch Hawkeye to get a backstory for Echo, but even that may not be necessary.
The MA-rating is also significant. I believe that Disney realizes they are going to have to start branching out a bit from their safe and sound TV-14/PG-13 ratings. If Echo makes this work and is well-received, I can imagine the new Daredevil series also definitely going MA, and with rumors The Punisher could return, his show as well. For movies, you’ll almost certainly keep seeing mostly PG-13 blockbusters, but the upcoming Deadpool 3? No way, R all the way. And I would advise them to allow certain projects like say, the struggling Blade film, to be R-rated and let them fully unleash their potential.
Echo looks good, sounds good, has Kingpin, all of it seems to add up. But if it succeeds, it could represent a real sea change moment for the MCU’s ambitions and allow better focus on a wider range of projects rather than everything being fed into the shared universe machine.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.