Echo's Top 11 Pivotal Moments

All the things that make Echo unique are also the same things that make her the hero you know today – the current host of the Phoenix Force. A near benevolent cosmic force that is exceptionally choosey when it comes to picking a host. But before there was Echo, there was and still is Maya Lopez – an Indigenous deaf woman of the Cheyenne Nation with photographic reflexes.

We’ve put together a list of pivotal moments in the life of the woman who is an embodiment of an echo!

11. Welcome to Hell’s Kitchen: Daredevil #9 (1998)

Echo made her first appearance as a potential adversary of Daredevil. She is introduced as Maya Lopez a world-renowned concert pianist and expert fighter raised by the Kingpin, which is the tip of her complicated upbringing.

Maya was the daughter of a mob enforcer working for Kingpin. Her father hid his job from Maya, unfortunately his occocupation eventually caught up to him. His boss, Wilson Fisk, had him murdered, and in a sad twist of fate for Maya it led to her being raised by her father’s killer. Fisk was impressed with Maya’s gift of photographic abilities that made her a wunderkind and later a pawn in one of his plots to destory Daredevil.

10. Day date with Matt Murdock, evening fight with Daredevil: Daredevil #11(1998)

Wilson Fisk believed Maya would be someone Matt Murdock would let his guard down around because Maya would fill a void for Matt. If Fisk wasn’t a crime lord he would be a successful match maker because he was right. In Daredevil #11, Maya and Matt Murdock spend an entire day getting to know each other. It’s a perfect date for them both, but when the Kingpin is your matchmaker there is a good chance things will go wrong.

After they say their goodbyes as the sun sets, they later say hello again as adversaries under the moonlight. Echo believed Daredevil was the man who killed her father because Fisk told her as such. The beginning of a torrid love affair by day and epic fights by night.

9. It was Kingpin all along: Daredevil #15 (1998)

Echo may have been led astray by Kingpin, but she’s no one’s mindless assassin. Daredevil is able to get through to Echo during their last fight. Once Echo accepted the truth about who killed her father it led her right to the man she considered a surrogate father. And just as she was ready to kill Daredevil, she didn’t hesitate to deliver her justice to Fisk.

In that moment Maya freed herself from the ivory tower Fisk put her in putting her on a path to make her life truly her own. It was also the moment Maya became someone who should never be underestimated.

8. Echoes of the past: Daredevil #52 (1998)

After finding out Daredevil had a new woman in his life upon returning to New York, Maya left again to go to her father’s reservation. She meets with the Chief she and her father would visit when she was younger. He suggests she embark on a “vision quest,” ultimately sparking the much needed restart to Maya’s life.

7. Performing matters of the heart: Daredevil #55 (1998)

Maya’s final vision ultimately motivates her to start telling stories just like her father once did. She returns to New York to perform her stories in the theater using sign language, dance, and music. This new start to Echo’s life also meant the close to a chapter in her life that never got a chance to flourish. Echo and Daredevil share a bittersweet goodbye, effectively making whatever they once shared a distant memory.

6. Ronin’s here to help: New Avengers #11 (2004)

Maya eventually finds herself assisting the New Avengers after Daredevil refers her to Captain America. Instead of working with them as Echo, she helps them deal with the Hand and Hydra under the ninja identity of Ronin, making her the first to use it.

Maya later reveals to other members of the Avengers that she was Ronin. After Madame Hydra is arrested, Maya arranges with Captain America to stay in Japan to keep an eye on Hand activity. Subsequently resulting in her death by Elektra and later her resurrection through the Hand’s dark magic. Maya did the whole brainwashed routine working for the Hand until members of the New Avengers came to her aid.

5. Skrull conspiracy theory: New Avengers #39 (2004)

Maya can be stubborn, and it sometimes works in her favor, but when it came down to her refusing to take stock in the idea that a potential invasion by the Skrulls had already been set into motion, it almost became her downfall.

While Echo survives an encounter with a Skrull disguised as Daredevil, she soon after makes a choice decision to get involved romantically with Clint Barton. A fate worse than almost getting killed by an alien posing as your ex.

4. Teaming up with Moon Knight: Moon Knight #2 (2010)

With the events of Secret Invasion now over, Maya goes undercover in LA to infiltrate a seedy organization. Moon Knight blows her cover, leading to the two of them working together to find out who the LA Kingpin is.

3. Deceived by Loki for a greater purpose: Marvel Voices: Indigenous Voices #1 (2020)

Maya finds herself on an alien planet that reminds her of home and some of the painful memories she’s tried to keep at bay. Maya gets to fight a battle uninterrupted, a moment she honestly hadn’t had up until this time.

2. Clashing with the Submariner Himself: Avengers #42 (2021)

Maya and Namor have an epic fight under the sea to determine the one true Phoenix. Although Namor defeats her, the Phoenix Force still chooses Maya. It’s drawn to her suffering, but more importantly, the Phoenix Force is drawn to Maya’s ability to adapt.

1. One with the Phoenix Force: Phoenix Song: Echo #1

Phoenix Song: Echo #1 starts Maya’s journey with the Phoenix Force and a mission to save her ancestral line. It’s the first solo series for Echo since she entered the Marvel Universe decades ago in Daredevil’s series. Maya Lopez finally has the room to spread her new wings as far as they’ll extend.

Since she made her debut, we’ve gotten bits and pieces of what makes Maya Lopez the hero we know as Echo. She wouldn’t be who the Phoenix Force chose if it weren’t for the pivotal moments in her life pushed her along in her journey. Hopefully, with Phoenix Song: Echo, we’ll get to see how all the pieces come together to make the whole that is Maya the living echo.

Read more about Echo in our character close-up reading list, only available on Marvel.com!