Hawkeye Directors Reveal the Source of Echo’s Superpower

Episode 3 of Hawkeye, titled “Echoes,” revealed part of Alaqua Cox’s origin as Echo, leader of the Tracksuit Mafia. A skilled fighter, Echo gave Clint Barton and Kate Bishop a run for their money with her impressive fighting skills, before the duo eventually outmaneuvered her. Even though Echo is deaf and an amputee, she comes across as confident in her abilities, even as a young child in flashback scenes. Hawkeye directors Bert and Bertie revealed how Echo uses her disabilities as fuel for her superpowers, and how her life experiences helped Echo fine-tune her craft.

“That’s her superpower,” Bert and Bertie told TVLine about Echo’s disabilities being used as her superpower source. “Everything that she’s learned in life comes from what we see as a disability… but that’s the reason she kicks ass.” Echo is only deaf in the comics, while Alaqua Cox also has a prosthetic leg. The directing duo decided to incorporate this into Maya Lopez’s character, making her even more impressive of a foe. “It was like, ‘Oh, that can actually add to the superhuman nature of [Maya].’ She’s a hero. Alaqua is a real-life hero, and what she’s overcome in her life is really mirrored in Maya’s story,” they added.

The flashback showed how Maya watched as her father, at the time a leader in the Tracksuit Mafia, was killed by Ronin during a nighttime raid. When Kate Bishop pops up wearing the Ronin costume, Echo sees it as her opportunity for revenge. “It all became about revenge for her father’s death,” the duo said. “She spent her life driven by that moment when she loses him.”

Bert and Bertie went on to tease how Hawkeye will show more of Echo’s relationship with Kazi (Fra Free), another member of the Tracksuit Mafia. “The version of Maya we’ve seen has been born of losing her father, and she reacts to things very emotionally and very in the moment, whereas Kazi is a passionate, more level-headed character. Fra [Fee] and Alaqua’s dynamic throughout the show is dynamite, so you’re going to see much more from there. There’s a great Tracksuit story,” the directors teased.

There’s a report that the fifth episode of Hawkeye will result in a large reaction from the Twitter crowd, with TVLine‘s Matt Mitovich teasing in response to an email question, “Only that Episode 5, I hear, should blow up Twitter a bit.” What could cause such a reaction will remain a mystery for now.

What did you make of Echo’s fighting ability in Hawkeye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!