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Echo whet our appetites for the most hotly anticipated Marvel show to come, Daredevil: Born Again. The Marvel Netflix era remains a high point of the MCU, pushing the envelope with adult-oriented crime dramas. Daredevil stands above its stablemates in the Defenders universe. Fans call for Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock in every project, but many wonder whether Disney+ can produce anything comparable. Echo should quiet some of those concerns, even in its weaker elements.
Echo Evokes a Different Time
Echo is the first show bearing the Marvel Spotlight brand, which promised independent stories with minimal connection to the MCU. It didn’t deliver that, but it did heavily advertise Daredevil. Echo partially set itself up as Daredevil season four. The show is caught unpleasantly between the Defenders universe and the modern MCU. You’ll recall the Marvel Netflix shows also set themselves mostly apart from the all-consuming canon. Aside from a few scant references, Daredevil barely acknowledged its Marvel connections. Related shows like The Punisher could have ditched the logo and become standalone projects. Any of those shows demonstrated a better version of the Spotlight premise than Echo. They cut superpowers almost entirely from the equation. Their tone and content pushed far beyond the usual MCU boundaries but maintained Marvel’s quality standard. Echo did not meet those expectations, but it could be a bridge between the two.
Marvel is worlds away from its position in 2015. Daredevil dropped a year before Captain America: Civil War kicked off Phase Three. It was gritty, sharp, and brutal. It feels hard to believe, but there was a time when Marvel delivered varied experiences for different audiences. Daredevil hit Netflix a few months before Ant-Man came to theaters. As Disney consolidated the brand onto its streaming service, its offerings leaned toward a focus-tested mass-market appeal. Echo isn’t enough to break Disney of that trend, but it’s a step closer to Daredevil‘s territory. The show’s premise will alienate some viewers. It eschews superhero tropes in favor of a tense crime drama and moving family dynamics. Though it doesn’t push as far as Daredevil, it does offer evidence of the possibility of new horizons. If Marvel can try new things, it might be able to resurrect one of its best previous attempts.
Daredevil: Born Again is a Return to Form
If you liked Echo, take it as a sign of good things to come. If you hated Echo, it doesn’t necessarily hurt Daredevil. Daredevil: Born Again will return to the old model of TV production. Marvel promised a traditional showrunner who would hold creative control, in contrast to recent shows that relied on re-edits and half-finished scripts. Marvel suffers from constant studio notes, last-minute VFX changes, and a general lack of focus. Showrunners aren’t infallible, and many make terrible creative decisions without producers’ input. However, creative vision should still be the driving force behind every Marvel project. A filmmaker or showrunner shouldn’t be pushed aside to make room for more producers making decisions to further projects ten years from now. If Echo reached the levels it did while adhering to Marvel’s messy current strategy, Daredevil: Born Again could be a triumphant success.
Moving forward, Disney might be able to resurrect the methods that made shows like Daredevil work, and Born Again might be the first example to come out. For all its Marvel Spotlight branding, Echo established the new circumstances behind Matt Murdock and Wilson Fisk in the MCU. Matt appears near the midpoint of the first episode for a prolonged fight scene. The scene has little impact on the narrative, more for fanservice than further development. Kingpin plays a more significant part, stepping into the villain role like one of his fitted suits. Without wishing to spoil, the final episode of Echo sets the stage for Daredevil: Born Again. We’ve seen these fan-favorite characters under Marvel’s modern model. It was decent enough to inspire faith in the upcoming sequel series.
Daredevil: Born Again might not live up to our expectations. It has big shoes to fill and several new audiences to please. Marvel was on top of the world when the first Daredevil dropped, but its cultural perception fell considerably. Daredevil‘s three seasons weren’t perfect, but part of the collective cry for its return is a request for Marvel to deliver variety. Echo is different in many significant ways, even if it still suffers old problems. The adventures of Maya Lopez could be the bridge between Phase Five and the new era. Take it as a step in the right direction.
