This piece contains spoilers for all five episodes of Echo on Disney+.
After an up-and-down year for the MCU in 2023, Marvel Studios is starting off 2024 with something completely different. The grounded and gritty ultraviolence of Echo sets the stage for a year with only one Marvel movie, the R-rated Deadpool 3. Now that the impressive five-episode Echo limited series — which our reviewer called a "resounding success" — has hit Disney+, we're here to break down the final moments of the show, answer your burning questions, and look at how the MCU's first Marvel Spotlight show connects to the wider MCU.
Marvel’s Echo Ending Explained
The finale episode of Echo centers on a showdown between the young anti-heroine, Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), and her adoptive father figure, Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio), at the Choctaw Powwow. As the latter kidnaps Maya’s grandmother, Chula (Tantoo Cardinal), and cousin, Bonnie (Devery Jacobs), the nefarious Black Knife Cartel shows up aiming to collect the bounty on Maya's head.
While it could have been an all-out brawl, instead the creative team behind Echo leave the Black Knife Cartel to Maya's uncle, Henry Black Crow Lopez (Chaske Spencer), and her other cousin, Biscuits (Cody Lightning), who take them down with a bullet and monster truck respectively. That leaves Echo to save her cousin and grandma from the clutches of Kingpin. She does that by channeling the powers of her Choctaw ancestors and sharing them with the women in her family. In an interesting twist, we see her enter Kingpin's mind and "heal" his rage and pain, though whether this is a blessing or a curse we're yet to discover. The episode ends with Maya reconnecting with the family that Kingpin isolated her from while her surrogate father escapes before the police can catch him, leading us to our mid-credits sequence.
Does Echo Have a Post-Credits Sequence?
Echo has a mid-credits scene but not a post-credits one. Don't despair though, as it's a huge moment that could – ahem – echo through the future of the MCU.
As Kingpin escapes on his private jet, he watches a news report about the mayoral race for New York City and how it's lacking any standout candidates. As the newscaster shares that he thinks New York wants a "bare-knuckle brawler," Kingpin realizes that he is the perfect person to lead the city he calls home!
This moment sets up Disney+'s upcoming Daredevil: Born Again series, which will reportedly feature Kingpin as the Mayor of New York. What's really intriguing after the ending of Echo is whether or not Kingpin will truly believe that he is reformed and wants to change New York. Whenever he's run for office in the city in the comics, he's claimed to be a changed man who wants what's best for NYC, and Daredevil is the only one who really knows the truth. Could Kingpin really be changed after Echo showed him love and compassion and healed his rage? We doubt it, but it could be a great cover for a public rebrand as a mayoral candidate and stand-up politician.
What Are Echo's New Powers?
Though there's been much talk of Echo's new powers in the series, after the five episodes it seems more like they've had a shift in origin and scope rather than skillset. In the comics, she is essentially a ground-level fighter akin to Taskmaster who can replicate any combat skill. She's an intense fighter here too, but that prowess is revealed to have come from her Choctaw ancestry — which "echoes" through her — rather than the more vague origins of it in the comics.
In the series' final battle we also see that her ancestors can fight alongside her as she channels them and that she can awaken the powers in other members of her family like Bonnie and Chula. She also displays a psychic ability now that allows her to go into Kingpin's head and potentially take away his rage. It's also a glowing orange power that evokes the famed cosmic power known as the Phoenix Force, which Echo once commanded in the comics. While that's likely a coincidence, it's still an interesting choice.
Is Daredevil in Echo?
Daredevil does make an appearance in Echo when we're catching up with Maya and her growth as one of Kingpin's most impressive henchmen. In the first episode of the series we see Maya on a mission for Kingpin. She helps take down not only their criminal competition, but in one of the most exciting action sequences of the season, she also faces down against Daredevil. Her mentor Kingpin is impressed as he's never seen one of his men stand up to the Devil of Hell's Kitchen as well as she did, and it cements his growing pride in her. It also adds an interesting context to the upcoming Daredevil show as we know that Echo will be known to Daredevil, as well as being an antagonist for Kingpin, meaning there's likelihood of a team-up in the future.
Are the Netflix Marvel Shows Canon?
With the appearance of Vincent D'Onofrio as Kingpin — who prior to Echo was last seen getting shot in the face during the holiday shenanigans of Hawkeye — and Charlie Cox as Daredevil — last seen before Echo taking the walk of shame in She-Hulk — the question of whether the Marvel Netflix shows are MCU canon is an obvious one. After Echo, the answer feels even more certain as we get a more grounded and gritty MCU entry that features some Netflix-level R-rated violence. We also get direct references to lore established in those series with the show flashing back to the episode where Kingpin killed his father. It goes beyond a flashback, in fact, becoming a vital plot point when Kingpin gifts the hammer he used to kill his father to Maya as an offering of his trust and their closeness after her first attempt on his life failed. Of course, she can't kill him. But the gesture signifies their similarities. That use of footage and the hammer motif from the Netflix Daredevil series is definitely the biggest clue yet that we're in the same or at least similar continuity.
In an interview with Polygon, Echo executive producer Richie Palmer looked to the expansive and ever-changing world of the comics to answer this very question. "When different teams of writers and artists picked up different characters from one to another, it definitely honored what came before it, and just helped push it forward. And I think that going from the Netflix series, which we all really loved, and our fans really loved, we wanted to be able to honor that, but make subtle nods that these characters are in the MCU now. But really, it's all one universe."
And if that answer isn't enough then the fact that the shows have been added to the MCU Timeline order on Disney+ is likely confirmation enough that, yes, these shows are canon. Or it could just be some really good marketing from Disney to encourage folks to watch Echo.
Echo Easter Eggs and How Echo Connects to the MCU
Despite its slightly more insulated narrative, we still get some fun nods to the wider MCU world outside of the Daredevil appearances. Early in the series, we get a comedic Madripoor mention thanks to Biscuits and Skully (Graham Greene). The famed X-Men location is already canon in the MCU due to its appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Another fun nod that you might have missed was the Roxxon Gas Station, which is a nod to the comic book origins of the corporation created by Steve Englehart and Sal Buscema. In the comics they're more of a generic evil corporation with their fingers in many pies, including the oil and gas industry, hence their cameo at the Reservation gas station. Speaking of comics, the show also introduces the Ed Brisson and Guillermo Sanna creations The Black Knife Cartel from the 2017 Bullseye run that the pair worked on together.
While the series was advertised as a "Marvel Spotlight" show, meaning that you didn't have to watch other interconnecting projects to understand it, Echo is actually deeply connected to what has come before and likely what will come in the future. Echo herself is of course intrinsically connected to the MCU thanks to her debut in Hawkeye and the fact that she was raised by none other than Kingpin himself. The Daredevil villain plays a major part in the series as Maya deals with the fallout of her attempted hit on her surrogate father. Interestingly, we leave him in an intriguing place as Maya lets him live but makes him give over his pain and anger to her, implying that his powers or life will be impacted going forward. And then we get that huge mid-credits reveal that Kingpin will run for mayor of NYC, setting up Daredevil: Born Again.
Did you enjoy Echo? Are you excited to see where Kingpin and Daredevil end up next? Let us know in the comments!
