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On Tuesday, January 9, on the Disney+ service, all five episodes of the tenth series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe “Luna” were rolled out at once. This is a spin-off of “Hawkeye” – a solo show about one of the Avengers Clint Barton, which was released in 2021. At the same time, the audience first saw Maya Lopez – the character of Alaqua Cox, who tried to avenge the death of her father. In the review below, we tell you how the project differs from other Marvel series and why it does not save the situation.

Pros:

rejection of frivolous superheroism; darker tone of the story; good acting from Alaqua Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio; cool staging of battle scenes; nice cameo

Cons:

in isolation from the criminal side of the main character’s life, local history cannot be captured; there is very little action for five episodes; the main character does not look interesting; generally not a mandatory project within the KVM

5.5/10

Estimated by ITC.ua

“Echo” / Echo

Genre crime drama, superheroes
Directors Sydney Freeland, Catriona McKenzie
In roles Alakwa Cox, Vincent D’Onofrio, Cheskey Spencer, Tantu Cardinal, Graham Greene, Zan McClarnon
Premiere Disney+
Graduation year 2024
Site IMDb

Five months after the events of “Hawkeye,” namely the point-blank shooting of Wilson Fisk’s bald head, Maya Lopez returns to her hometown of Tamaha, Oklahoma. However, there the girl is not planning a triumphant reunion with her family, but the capture of the Kingpin’s empire under her control. But these ambitious plans were not destined to come true, because even after the villain was shot, he, like the well-known mustachioed chatterbox, did not give up either.

Luna was the first Marvel series released under the newly created Marvel Spotlight brand. According to Brad Winderbaum, one of the heads of television at Marvel Studios, this platform is designed to create projects that focus primarily on the characters and their stories. “Just like comic book fans don’t need to read The Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy Ghost Rider in the Spotlight comic book line, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s going on in Maya’s story Winderbaum noted.

Well, the initiative is indeed noble, because such potentially more serious and down-to-earth projects with an adult rating, not directly related to the main battles in the flowery film universe, can diversify it quite a bit. Also, the appropriate bleakness can bring them closer to the best examples of content from Marvel Television for Netflix, such as “Gallows” (2015-2018) or “The Punisher” (2017-2019). But in the case of “Echo” one can only dream about this so far, since the first pancake turned out to be a lump.

The series begins cheerfully: after a short background about the tragic childhood of the main character, the events are transferred to the time when Maya Lopez, adopted niece of the Kingpin, began working for the latter. This is because Fisk is an evil genius and a great motivator. The creators immediately came from trump cards and showed us the villain in his unattractive ugliness, gave a cool battle scene and added one extremely pleasant cameo, although it is unlikely that it will be a secret for anyone that the famous character excelled here.

Both the adult rating and seriousness look appropriate. In Marvel, ordinary people finally bleed out after receiving serious injuries, and the number of jokes is reduced to an absolute minimum.

Unfortunately, after the debut episode, the viewing experience begins to deteriorate quickly. This happens because the main character does not evoke any emotions, and the plot itself gradually descends into absurdity, which is difficult to swallow.

When the character of the incomparable Vincent D’Onofrio fully enters the game, it fixes the situation a little, but it is not enough. The history of the relationship between the New York crime boss and his adopted niece, almost a daughter, seems to have been sucked out of a finger, and it is better not to mention the connection of Echo with real relatives at all.

Soon there is not a trace left of the initial mood, because the fighting scenes become less and less, and the plot about criminal showdowns abruptly turns into a not very exciting story about the importance of family and the connection of generations. Abandoning the frivolous superheroism that everyone is tired of is great, but unfortunately, the alternative approach presented here to the movie comic does not work yet.

There are no complaints about the performer of the title role, Alakwe Cox, a Native American born deaf with a prosthetic leg. Despite her modest acting experience, the girl feels very confident both in scenes of interaction with other actors and in action episodes. Vincent D’Onofrio once again revealed the ugly inside of the character, which did not prevent him from becoming the decoration of the show. There is nothing to say about the others, because their involvement is extremely secondary.

The dubious climax does not add reasons for joy, and in general the show turned out to be quite mediocre. If Brad Winderbaum emphasized that you don’t need to be a great connoisseur of the Marvel universe to watch this series, it’s worth saying that avid fans of the monumental film franchise don’t necessarily need to pay attention to Luna. What can we say about all the others.

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Conclusion:

Thanks to “Echo”, Marvel seems to feel the right direction for its future serial projects. But these attempts to somehow change the situation are still not getting any easier.