‘Too woke’? Marvel’s Echo, starring Alaqua Cox as a deaf Native American superhero with a prosthetic leg, comes at a delicate time for Disney
- Streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, Echo follows tough former villain Maya Lopez, who returns to her Oklahoma hometown to rediscover her indigenous roots
- Disney has found itself at the heart of the US culture wars after films such as Lightyear and Elemental, attacked by right-wing commentators and politicians
Can a deaf, Native American superhero with a prosthetic leg reinvigorate Disney’s Marvel franchise, just weeks after its CEO appeared to criticise his filmmakers for prioritising messaging over storytelling?
Streaming series Echo, which launched on Disney+ and Hulu on Tuesday, tells the story of Maya Lopez, a tough former villain who returns from a life of criminality in New York to rediscover her indigenous roots in her Oklahoma hometown.
Much of the dialogue takes place through sign language, with subtitles, and filmmakers worked closely with leaders of the Choctaw Nation, a Native American tribe, to create authentic scenes, including a flashback to a sporting festival in pre-European-contact America.
“I’m just so proud to be able to represent a platform that is uplifting voices for indigenous people … we’re doing it the right way,” says star Alaqua Cox – who is herself deaf, indigenous and an amputee.
But the series comes at a delicate time for Disney, whose Marvel superhero films have struggled recently at the box office after over a decade of global domination.