Echo (comics)
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Echo, also known as Ronin, is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine and a supporting character of Daredevil. She debuted in Daredevil Vol. 2, #9 (Dec. 1999), and was created by David Mack and Joe Quesada. She is a Hispanic Native American and one of the very few deaf comic characters.
When she dons her "Echo" guise, she is easily recognizable by a white hand stain which covers most of her face.
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[edit] Character history
When she was a small girl, Maya Lopez's father was killed by the Kingpin. As he died, he left a bloody handprint on Maya's face.
The last wish of Maya's father before dying was that Fisk raise the child well: a wish the Kingpin honored, caring for her as if she was his own.
Believed to be mentally-disabled, Maya was sent to an expensive school for people with learning disabilities. There, she managed to completely replicate a song on the piano. After that, she was sent to another expensive school--for prodigies. She would soon become a gifted woman.
One day, upon visiting her father's grave with Fisk, she asked how he died. Fisk told her that Daredevil had killed him.
[edit] Echo
Maya was sent by the Kingpin to Matt Murdock to prove Matt's weakness. He told her that Matt believed he was a bad person, and that she was the only way to prove him wrong. (As Maya believed him, it would not appear to be a lie when she told Matt.)
Matt Murdock and Maya soon fell in love. She later took on the guise of Echo, hunting Daredevil down. On her face she painted a white handprint, similar to how her father left his dying handprint on her when she was young. Having watched videos of Bullseye and Daredevil fighting, she proved more than a match for Daredevil. She took him down and nearly killed him, refusing only when she found out Matt and Daredevil were one and the same. Matt managed to correct the Kingpin's lies. In revenge, Maya confronted Fisk and shot him in the face, blinding him and starting the chain of events that would lead to his eventual downfall. (Kingpin would later partially recover his eyesight through reconstructive eye surgery.)
After realizing the horror of her actions and the lies she has grown up with, Maya fled the United States to do some soul-searching. When she came back, she tried reuniting with Matt Murdock, only to find out he was now with a blind woman named Milla Donovan, and that the Kingpin was still alive (despite Maya's attempts to kill him). Leaving Matt, Maya visited the Kingpin in prison, who told her that he didn't blame her for what she did, and that despite all that had happened, he still loved her like a daughter.
Unsatisfied and still needing peace, Maya turned to the Chief, her father's old friend, noted for his wisdom. The Chief sent Maya on a Vision Quest to calm her soul. On her quest, she met and befriended Wolverine who helped her recover and may be attributed to her picking up Japanese values and knowledge of the Japanese underworld. Soon enough, Echo made peace with her past and was back doing performance art.
[edit] Ronin
Recently, after being unable to join the Avengers for personal reasons, Daredevil recommended Maya to Captain America to aid the Avengers in seizing the Silver Samurai in Japan. She donned a suit that conceals her identity as well as her gender and rechristened herself as Ronin. The word is Japanese for 'Masterless Samurai'; this fitted her perfectly, given her powers she did not require a Master to teach her Martial Arts.
After joining the Avengers, Maya returned to Japan to keep an eye on Elektra Natchios, a dangerous assassin rumoured to be leading the Hand, check on the Silver Samurai from time to time, and hopefully solve the conflict between The Hand and Clan Yashida. As Ronin, Maya fought Elektra and was killed, but was soon resurected by the Hand using the same process they raised Elektra with. They took Maya captive with the intent of turning her into an assassin for The Hand. Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Spider-Woman, Iron Fist, and the new Ronin rescue her and escape, leaving a furious Elektra to send the Hand after them.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Maya Lopez is an olympic-level athlete possessing photographic reflexes or the uncanny ability to perfectly copy other people's movements, similar to the Taskmaster's and Sportsmasters 1-3 in DC. Just by watching other people, she has become a concert-level pianist, a dangerous boxer, and a gifted ballerina (and on one occasion even piloted a Quinjet for a few minutes). Aside from those, she has also gained Bullseye's uncanny aim and Daredevil's acrobatic abilities after watching tapes of their fights.
Although with great potentials, deafness gives Maya Lopez great drawbacks: her absolute reliance on visual cues renders her helpless in the dark, and her ability to communicate by reading lips prevents her from taking oral commands and communicating with people who are wearing masks or are not in direct visual contact.
[edit] Trivia
- The character of Echo as presented in Parts of a Hole is very similar to that of Elektra from the movie, particularly in the belief that Matt Murdock killed their fathers. Some fans believe that she may have been an inspiration but the film's writers have not officially commented.
- The identity of Ronin was an attempt by New Avengers writer Brian Michael Bendis to create a mystery after the apparently-male character was depicted on several comicbook covers, including issues of New Avengers, and one Pulse issue. Fan speculation was high, with the most common guess that Ronin was Daredevil (despite Bendis denying that this was the case). However, Avengers: The Ultimate Guide, a DK Press book, revealed Ronin to be Echo weeks before New Avengers #13 -- where Ronin's true identity was belatedly revealed -- was released. This is most likely due to a mixup in publishing schedules, with the New Avengers issue being released weeks later than originally announced.
