In a short amount of time, the new addition to the MCU Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox) has already made a huge impact on fans and skeptics of the Hawkeye series alike. Not only has she given an amazing performance in her first acting role, but her character’s backstory and relationships with the people around her have stuck around in my mind in the days since the last episode, and I suspect the same for many others.
Spoilers for episode 3 of Hawkeye and spoilery speculation for the rest of the series below!
With a short, sweet, and deeply resonating flashback to her early life and relationship with her father, I was immediately won over by Maya. The conversation she has with her dad is incredibly heartfelt, and seeing a deaf little girl ask her father “what sound does the sky make” brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. But a quick flash forward almost immediately brings down the mood when we see an adult Maya witness the death of her father at the hands of Ronin.
While the true identity of who might’ve been behind the act has occupied the speculative space in my brain, for Maya, the idea of it being the Ronin is more important than who might’ve been under the hood. The life that William lived and the danger he put himself in had caught up to him, and in a sick and twisted way, even tho he garners a lot of empathy through his scenes with his daughter, he was paying for the life that he chose to live.
What could be enormously important to the further development of Maya, though, could be the question of “who pointed Ronin in the direction of William?” The shadow of someone referred to as Uncle has loomed rather large, with him being shown (but obstructed) and referred to as a higher-up of the Tracksuits by both Kazi (Fra Fee) and Clint (Jeremy Renner). Well, if the bright flashing neon signs yelling “right here stupid” are in fact to be believed, then the figure of Uncle is likely to be the MCU official premiere of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk.
For the uninitiated and uninformed, the story of Echo in the comics is tightly woven through the stories of both Daredevil and Fisk, so his appearance wouldn’t be as big of a surprise to the comic fans, though still exciting I’m sure. But, her interwoven nature with Fisk is tightly wrapped with a bow marked “tragedy” as it is revealed that her adopted father was responsible for the death of her biological father. The very tragedy she thought Fisk had saved her from, was the tragedy he caused.
If the Hawkeye series is following closely to Echo’s story of the comics, I’d expect as much to be revealed soon. What I’m interested to see is how Maya reacts to the news. Learning that you’ve been chummy with the person responsible for the death of your closest loved one is rough, and especially when it’s someone you’ve been close enough to call “Uncle.” It seems likely that by the end of the show Maya’s ambitions may very well be aligned with the goals of Clint and Kate.
Something else that’s important about the growth of Maya in the comics is her eventual transformation into Ronin. With the way the show’s unraveled so far, I’d really love to see this version of Maya do that same thing eventually. For both Clint and Maya, Ronin has been a figure for nothing but brutality and anger, and death, so it could be rather euphoric for the two of them to have someone take on the role in a more positive capacity.
With Echo’s solo show coming soon on the horizon, there’s still clearly a ton of ground to cover with her character and especially her relationship with the people around her. Hopefully, we’ll even get more flashbacks with Echo and her father because I think Zahn McClarnon’s time in the role was cut far too short.
New episodes of Hawkeye air Wednesdays on Disney Plus. What did you think about Maya/Echo’s introduction in Hawkeye? What would you like to see happen to her in the series and beyond? Let us know in the comments or on social media!
