Fight scenes have become a joy for Marvel fans, especially with street-level heroes. Characters like Daredevil are known for their fighting style, and it is what makes a show like Echo so fascinating to watch. Getting to see Alaqua Cox take on those hunting her as Maya Lopez? Absolute perfection.
All of her fight sequences and her badass moments lead to one of the best concluding fights, and it is all because the show understands the importance of Maya as a fighter and what they’ve been building towards. As Maya is facing off against Kingpin/Wilson Fisk (Vincent D’Onofrio) after he offered her the position of Queenpin (which she turned down), she is faced with either losing her family or killing someone she considers her uncle.
Throughout the show, we’ve gotten to see as Maya and her grandmother, Chula (Tantoo Cardinal) have visions and connect with their ancestors, and Maya shows the powers that were gifted to her from her ancestor Chafa (Julia Jones). One of the most beautiful moments in the show comes when Maya has to find power to push back against the hold that Kingpin has on her, and she channels the strength of her ancestors to help save her grandmother and Bonnie (Devery Jacobs) from Fisk’s men.
Maya stands with her family surrounding her, their power flowing through her so that she can share in their strength and give that power to Bonnie and Chula. It is then that the three women can fight back against the men trying to threaten their family, and it really is beautiful to see play out. But Maya also uses her power to show Fisk that reconnecting with her family doesn’t exclude him, either.
The power that Maya Lopez has within her
These are new powers for Maya Lopez, who, in the comics, can expertly learn and copy skills quickly. Having these powers rooted in her ancestry and making it clear that Maya (and the name Echo) comes from her connection to her family and her past is beautiful! The scene itself, while a great fight sequence and one that will go down as one of the best in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also showed Maya’s strength in her relationships.
Her dynamic with Fisk is complicated. He is still a villain, the boss who forced the darker parts of Maya to the surface for his benefit. But what we see as she connects with the strength of Chafa and the Choctaw women of her family is growth in Maya and her own anger. She has to forgive the past, and it is a message that her mother comes to her in a vision to tell her. Letting her anger heal, she can move on and grow in her own strength.
She passes this same thought to Fisk, telling him that he has to let go of his anger towards his father and what he did to his dad to be free. It makes for one of the best final fight sequences and a beautiful moment for Maya with Bonnie and Chula.
(featured image: Chuck Zlotnick/Disney+)
