Marvel’s Echo Trailer Includes Sneaky Reference to Netflix’s Daredevil Show

The first teaser trailer for Marvel’s Echo has arrived, taking fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe back on a journey into street-level storytelling. At least for this show, gone are the days of multiversal threats and journeys across the cosmos and instead, a Marvel series will examine humanity in what appears to be a show with a microscopic scale. The tone of the trailer closely rivals that previously seen in the DefendersVerse, and it even includes a pretty direct reference to Netflix’s Daredevil series.

In a blink and you’ll miss it moment, Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) can be seen looking at a painting on the wall. While a man of Kingpin’s stature admiring art isn’t all too rare in its own right, it does seem like a direct connection to Daredevil given how integral paintings were to the development of Kingpin as a character.

Immediately after murdering his abusive father, a young Kingpin couldn’t help but stare at the closest wall, a blank one painted white. A grown Kingpin then bought “Rabbit in a Snowstorm” from Vanessa Marianna, his eventual partner, because the painting reminded him of the traumatic moment. The villain can be seen several times throughout the series just standing and staring at the painting.

While the painting in the Echo trailer isn’t “Rabbit in a Snowstorm,” its monotonous tones are comparable to its predecessors, and the moment does seem to be a link between the two properties and the return of the Kingpin of Crime.

“I dunno if I can say this, but I love the Netflix Daredevil, it’s great,” Echo producer Sydney Freeland shared at a press event earlier this month when asked if the intent of Echo was to follow the Defenderverse. “And so we certainly took, obviously the Daredevil fight, it was a little bit of a nod to that series … But then also we wanted very adamantly to show that these are people in our show. They bleed, they die, they get killed, and there are real-world consequences. And again, talking, it’s not the fate of the universe at stake because I think once you go that broad, you can sort of lose sight a little bit. And so that kind of dictated the tone a little bit. So I guess to answer your question, it was a conversation, but it wasn’t that reason.” 

In addition to Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez/Echo and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, the cast of Echo includes Chaske Spencer as Henry, Tantoo Cardinal as Chula, Graham Greene as Skully, Cody Lightning as Cousin Biscuits, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, Devery Jacobs as Bonnie, and Zahn McClarnon as William Lopez.

Every episode of Echo will be released both on Disney+ and Hulu simultaneously on January 10, 2024.