The Disney+ show is premiering in the Middle East today DUBAI: Marvel’s latest TV show “Echo” — hitting Disney+ on Jan. 10 worldwide — will tell the story of a little-known villain, as the titular character grapples with her past and charts a new future. For the latest updates, follow us on Instagram @arabnews.lifestyle The story follows the character Maya Lopez/Echo (Alaqua Cox), who was first introduced in Marvel Studios’ 2021 series “Hawkeye,” in which she found herself facing off against her adoptive uncle Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio) — and exacting the revenge she sought while putting herself in grave danger. The climactic conclusion is revisited in “Echo,” to allow new and existing fans to take part in Maya’s intense and very personal journey. “She has to flee to the last place that people would look for her, which is where she grew up in Oklahoma’s Choctaw Nation,” said director Sydney Freeland in a virtual press conference held recently ahead of the show’s premiere. Cox, who plays the lead role of Maya Lopez/Echo, said about her character: “So, Maya is a deaf, indigenous person who has a biological family and an adopted family, and she’s trying to reconnect with her biological family after finding out that her adopted family, her uncle (Kingpin) specifically, betrayed her. So, she went back to reconnect with her biological family and tries to rediscover a more complicated and deep life that she did live.” Speaking about the similarities between herself and the character, Cox said: “We both have childhood trauma that we were raised with.” “For example, I grew up, as you know, I am an amputee. So, I went through many different kinds of surgeries as a child. And so, that made me a warrior, in a sense. And her, Maya, she had the death of her mother, and all these tragic events that happened in her life. So, we both have different traumatic experiences. So, it kind of makes us very similar in a way because we’re both warriors, and we’re tough, and we’re badass, and I believe that’s how we’re the same,” she added. Director Freeland spoke at length about the character’s indigenous roots and the opportunity to explore the Choctaw Nation’s society. “One of the most interesting aspects about the character is the fact that she’s a villain in ‘Hawkeye,’ right? But then within that, once you start sort of pulling in that thread, then you look at where she comes from, right? And you look at, ‘Oh, this is a deaf, indigenous amputee girl from Oklahoma. How the hell does she end up being one of the top-ranking lieutenants in Kingpin’s army?’ And answering those questions was such an exciting place to be,” she said. Freeland added: “And then answering the question, ‘Well, what is that like when she goes back home?’ And I think just for myself being indigenous and being an American, it was such a fun and exciting place to be. And then once you layer on the Choctaw cultural specifics onto that, it gave us a chance to tell a really fun story, you know? I think one example of that is actually in the second episode of our series. “We have a scene that I think I can honestly say has never been seen on film before and we get a chance to visit pre-European-contact America, and that whole scene and sequence came as a direct result of working with the Choctaw Nation.” Executive producer Brad Winderbaum chimed in to talk about the show’s significance in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe and its sprawling, ever-growing cultural landscape. “Marvel is such a vast universe. The comics have been called the greatest ongoing story that’s ever been written. Certainly, the longest. And there are so many corners to the universe that are still unexplored even today. Maya allowed us to see a corner of the MCU that hadn’t been seen before. And to me, that is the future of Marvel. It is being able to tell stories that are unexpected,” he said.