Hawkeye Producer Says Alaqua Cox Is "Badass," Explains How Actor Landed Own Marvel Show

By Adam Barnhardt

In a matter of days, Hawkeye fans will be introduced to a character named Maya Lopez, more popularly known as Echo in the Marvel Comics lore. The character is being played by Alaqua Cox, an actor whose first-ever professional gig will come with Hawkeye. While Marvel producer Trinh Tran admitted in one recent interview that inexperience caused some nerves with the studio at first, the actor ended up being a total "badass," enough so, the character managed to land her own show at Disney+.

"She is such a badass in this series," Tran said in an interview with Murphy's Multiverse. "She really completely impressed us all with her determination and hard work in wanting to make sure Maya Lopez is the way everybody wants."

She added, "I have to say there was a bit of nervousness at the beginning because Alaqua hasn't been a part of the industry. To get somebody brand new and pull her into a character like Maya Lopez, it's a big deal. But she took it in strides, worked hard, and proved to us that there is a character who's deaf but is able to be a part of the MCU and be a superhero in her own right."

At the time Cox auditioned for the project, she was working in a warehouse when friends noticed a casting call.

"It's crazy how much my life has already changed because I was a college dropout," Cox told People Magazine last month. "I worked at a factory. I'm so excited to show people who I am and what I can do, what anybody can do."

"They saw the casting call looking for a Native American actress and female deaf actress," she added. "It just matched so perfectly, so I decided to go for it. I had never seen anybody on the screen that maybe looked like me ... deaf, an amputee,"

Hawkeye debuts with a two-episode premiere on Disney+ on November 24th.

What other characters do you hope to see pop up in Hawkeye? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

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