Echo, or Maya Lopez, was introduced to the MCU in the 2021 Disney+ show Hawkeye as the commander of the Tracksuit Mafia, a gang that was previously run by her father. Born deaf, she's the second deaf superhero to show up in the MCU, following the appearance of Makkari' in Eternals (2021).
Marvel's latest superhero series, Echo, is now streaming on Disney+. Deaf actress Alaqua Cox plays the eponymous superhero, a character she already portrayed in the Hawkeye series in 2021.
Who is the deaf native superhero in Disney debuts?
The main character, Maya Lopez (aka Echo), is based on the comic book character. She is Native American, deaf, partial amputee and a 'villian' set in the Daredevil storyline. She is a protégé of William Fisk aka Kingpin (Vincent D'Onofrio).
Alaqua Cox is making history as the lead star in the new Disney+ series, "Echo." Cox, who is deaf and hails from the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin, said Monday on "Good Morning America" that being an actress has given her a platform to address the importance of representation in Hollywood.
"I grew up playing different kinds of sports — I would play one-on-one basketball with my older brother — so I love doing those kinds of physical things," the actress, who, like her character Maya Lopez, is an amputee and has been deaf all her life, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue.
HAWKEYE BECOMES DEAF SCENES PACK. DISNEY PLUS HAWKEYE SERIES.
Is Maya mute or deaf?
Originally thought to be learning-disabled, once her teachers notice her ability to duplicate musical performances, they come to realize she is in fact deaf. At age nine, Maya's gangster father works with his partner in crime, Wilson Fisk, AKA Kingpin, who eventually kills him.
LOS ANGELES – The protagonist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series Echo, Maya Lopez, is not your typical superhero. The Native American is also deaf and an amputee with a prosthetic leg.
I want them to know that their dreams should not have limitations and that they don't have to 'fix' themselves.” Although Maya did not originally have an amputation, Marvel studio execs rewrote the character to have a prosthetic leg like Alaqua.
Some deaf people don't really have vocal capability but will try their best to speak. Others have some residual hearing left. They may be hard of hearing, and may be able to speak. Then there are those with even more residual hearing who may speak well and use speech reading to follow along in conversation.
Yes, she is still an Indigenous ASL speaker and amputee whose father was murdered by the Kingpin and who was subsequently raised by the master villain.
Streaming series "Echo," which launches on Disney+ and Hulu on Tuesday, tells the story of Maya Lopez, a tough former villain who returns from a life of criminality in New York to rediscover her Indigenous roots in her Oklahoma hometown.
SuperDeafy is about a deaf superhero who gets into comical situations with a police officer. Jacob identifies with SuperDeafy because he, too, is deaf; he fantasizes about being a superhero and surmounting his problems via imagined superpowers. Tony Kane plays SuperDeafy in the TV program and is deaf in real life.
Actor Jeremy Renner, who is not deaf in real life, is cast as Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye, a hard-of-hearing individual who wears a hearing aid. Actress Alaqua Cox as Echo (Maya Lopez) is a Deaf Native American, who makes her debut appearance at the end of Hawkeye's 2nd episode, and then again in episode three.
That's where the Echo series will pick up. Cox, who like her character is also deaf and an amputee, previously spoke to Yahoo Entertainment about the importance of representation in pop culture. “Watching things on the screen, it was always a white guy who played the superhero,” she said at Disney's D23 Expo in 2022.
Around half of all deaf people diagnosed with schizophrenia report experiencing “voices,” during which they sense someone communicating with them in the absence of any external stimulus. This closely parallels prevalence rates of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in hearing people with schizophrenia (50–70%).
Yes, but it depends on the person. Me for example, I don't have the fluency in English to read lips well, but pretty much most Deaf people can read lips at least a little bit. It's not easy, but with a lot of time and practice they can. Some people may not be able to catch every word that's spoken and may miss parts.
If people become Deaf after the age of five, they will probably have an auditory component in their dreams, even after a severe hearing loss. This might range from short auditory flashes to complete auditory recreations.
Multilingual: Maya is able to read, write, and speak foreign languages after seeing them written or spoken one time. As a result, she is fluent in multiple languages. Although she is deaf, she can understand people by reading their lips and learned to speak by watching their tongues.
“Maya is an incredible character because she balances good and evil,” Executive Producer Brad Winderbaum explains. “She's not what you think of as a classic Marvel Silver Age hero. She lives in a morally gray area.”
Maya Lopez was born to Taloa and William Lopez and grew up in Tamaha, Oklahoma, where she was surrounded by a close family. Just like her mother, Lopez was also deaf, but all of her family all knew sign language and were able to communicate with her.
Maya is a Native American female who was born deaf. Her childhood wasn't as colorful as other kids of her age. Her father, Willie "Crazy Horse" Lincoln, was an ally to Kingpin but unfortunately was killed by Kingpin himself.
She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has previously appeared in Brides, The Knot, Betches, Nicki Swift and Style Me Pretty. George Lopez's daughter Mayan Lopez is following in his comedic footsteps.
Poison Emission (formerly): When distressed, Maya emits a black liquid from her eyes. People near her when she manifests this symptom rapidly become ill and die, also leaking black liquid from their eyes. The blood of Maya's victims also turns black.
