'Echo' - Jan 11

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about MCU’s ‘Echo’ series instead. Normally, we would talk about one episode after another, but since Disney/MCU have done something different this time, and released all of the episodes in one swoop, let us do the same thing and talk about the entire miniseries at once too.

For a start, ‘Echo’ was good. It was a miniseries about the journey of the titular heroine, first as a villain, and second as an (anti)-hero. We saw Echo build herself up, then tear herself down, (the ‘Hawkeye’ miniseries), and finally rebuild herself from the ground level once more. The acting was done perfectly, and the plot (as well as the character) development went down smoothly. So, what is there to criticize?

Nothing, but it can be pointed out that Disney/MCU is trying to do something similar to Echo’s (the character’s) journey in the miniseries; they’re trying to rebuild themselves, and they’re trying to incorporate Native Americans, among other minorities, to do that. First, there is Kahhori from the 2^nd season of ‘What if?’, so let us talk about that.

In the ‘What if?’ episode 2x06 we have something different from MCU’s regular fare: we get an alternate history universe, where the Spaniards clash with the Mohawks. Now, contrary to popular cliché, the Spaniards did not just colonize Latin America, (including Mexico), but they did come into what would become U.S. territory: they did so in the southwest, (and it was a part of Mexico rather than the U.S. for a while), as well as in the southeast, (i.e. Florida, which was also Spanish for a while), but the Mohawks weren’t a part of it. Historically, the Mohawk people lived in New England, (the New York State, to be precise), as well as in the Canadian province of Ontario. The Spaniards never came there, but the English and the French did. Pause.

Now, having the Native Americans fighting, well, Anglo-Americans, (or Franco-Americans), would be not just politically incorrect, but outright unacceptable by the modern American/Western mass media. Seriously, can you imagine Native Americans, powered by alien/magical/other artefacts, or not, taking down London, Paris, or Washington D.C. for that matter? Especially in the modern Western media where cultural integration and goodwill among people are the concepts of the day? No, you can’t, and not even U.S.’ political enemies cannot. (Though North Korea is somewhat dicey, admittedly). Hence, we had the Spaniards instead, and the Native Americans overwhelming its’ capital of Madrid. Hey, Alternate History rocks, baby, you want some good AH – read the late, great Eric Flint’s ‘1630s’ book series, otherwise you’re stuck with Disney and MCU!..

Now, Kahhori does appear in ‘What if?’ S2 finale, but the fact that she is Native American does not play a big role in that, so let us switch onto ‘Echo’, where her voice actress plays the role of Bonnie, who is a friend of Echo/Maya. Disney/MCU went out to make it clear that the two roles/characters are separate, and so Kahhori will not appear in MCU, at least not in the short term, so there is that. Without Kahhori and her superpowers, what is the Native Americans’ role in MCU?

Why, the same as it is for the other racial/social/other minorities – their ‘uniqueness’ is just ‘window dressing’. I.e., a character’s, well, characteristics have to play a role, preferably an important role, in the show/movie/novel, etc., because otherwise, they will be forgotten by the audience instead. Ms. Cox’s, and by extension, Maya Lopez’s prosthetic leg plays a notable part in ‘Echo’, and so it has become one of the defining traits of the titular heroine. However, it has nothing to do with her Native American origins – Maya got it in a car accident, the same one that would cost her her mom. Since Echo is an ‘artificial’ character, who was invented for a while now, she rose with the occasion, rather than fell with it. Wilson Fisk helped.

Now, Wilson Fisk first appeared in MCU’s Netflix series, especially ones connected to Daredevil and the Punisher. They were not unofficial apocrypha, unlike AoS, but they were ignored by MCU and vice versa. There were several shows about ‘the Defenders of New York’, but they were eventually all subsumed back into Disney/MCU, without a trace. ‘Echo’ attempts to fill in the niche, with the help of ‘Hawkeye’, (the show). ‘Hawkeye’ itself was a different show from ‘Echo’, but it did reintroduce Wilson Fisk/Kingpin to the MCU. However!

In the Netflix series’, Wilson Fisk was depicted… actually very much like the cartoon version from the 1990s ‘Spider-Man’ cartoon series: a baseline human, who, however, was Spider-Man’s biggest opponent through both brains and brawn. In one story arc, Wilson Fisk and his son, (yes, he had a wife and a son, it is canon), actually framed both Peter Parker and Spider-Man, cough, so Spider-Man had to team-up with Matt Murdoch and Daredevil to fix this. (Fisk’s son went to jail as a bottom line). In MCU, Fisk did not clash with Spider-Man, though Daredevil did do a cameo in the ‘No Way Home’ movie, but since Spider-Man’s own status in MCU is somewhat vague, we might as well skip and go straight to the ‘She-Hulk’.

Only not, as ‘She-Hulk’ was more of a failure than a success, and right now, it is being ignored by MCU, as is the ‘Ms. Marvel’ miniseries. Even if it was not a failure, it is still very different from ‘Echo’, and so the two shows probably will not connect anytime soon, especially since Daredevil’s role in ‘Echo’ is mostly of a cameo – for now. Since Wilson Fisk survived his latest encounter with his stepdaughter/protégé, this can change. Will Fisk change, however? MCU, in fact, is not big on redemption for villains, let alone corruption for heroes, so it is unlikely. Stranger things have happened, however, and right now Disney/MCU itself is trying to change into something different from what it was, so we will have to wait and see instead.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon!

SI & Eric Flint

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and SI is no escape.

First, about real life: Eric Flint is dead. The man – the author – died in 2022, last year, and the world has become a poorer place without him. His 1630s series was a fun AH series of books, novels and story anthologies, even if they weren’t the most politically correct – i.e., in the last few novels, the new USE – United States of Europe – and their Swedish allies are fighting the ‘upgraded’ version of the Ottoman Empire. This could have been quite appropriate in the 1990s and especially early 2000s, when the U.S. has invaded, (for a lack of better word), Afghanistan and Middle East, but now, when U.S. has lost all of its’ earlier gains, (especially Afghanistan), not so much. What next?

SI offers little succor, save that it is over, and as people have noticed, the series’ finale redeeming feature is the abrupt change of tone in this particular episode. This is not neither new nor surprising: this has happened already in AoS, ‘Ms. Marvel’, and ‘She-Hulk’, as we have discussed previously, and indicates that regardless of whatever these shows have shown previously, in the future, this information will not be utilized, but be discarded instead, and moreover, MCU is starting anew with them.

…Aye, AoS was rather discarded completely as an alternative, and so far there’s no sign of ‘She-Hulk’, but MM the character is going to be important in the upcoming ‘Marvels’ movie – and so SI concluding shots are tied into it; the rest are just a rip-off of the Sokovian accords, which are done and gone and forgotten by MCU. Anything else?

About SI – not really: it was full of forgettable, surrogate characters, just as MM had been, and just as MM has, it is going to vanish into nowhere. About Eric Flint – I do not know, maybe his novel series will continue, maybe not. Real life sucks, eh?

This is it, then. Talk to you all later.