Hawkeye Already Has A Disney+ Spin-Off In Development
It's a running joke among Marvel Cinematic Universe followers that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) never received his own movie. Granted, neither did Nick Fury (Samuel Jackson) or Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), but they got to show off their moves and personalities in other heroes' movies before the Avengers film proper. Hawkeye, meanwhile, only got to stand around for three minutes watching Thor (Chris Hemsworth) beat up S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, while being told to wait in place. Not quite the bullseye one expects from such a famous archer. However, while Disney and Marvel have been busy making up for lost time by producing a dedicated Disney+ show starring Hawkeye, it looks like Clint Barton's bow will also be launching some spin-offs.
Recently, Variety broke the news that Hawkeye's titular show will be used to springboard a lesser-known, cult-favorite Marvel character known as Echo. To say this news is unexpected would be an understatement — Echo certainly doesn't have the name recognition of characters like Moon Knight and She-Hulk — but as a deaf superhero, Echo offers unique storyline possibilities, and given the high quality Disney+ has put out with its Marvel shows so far, most viewers will probably be extremely interested when Echo hits Disney+.
Echo will be coming to the MCU
After reading this news, your first questions were probably when will the show come out, who will star in it, and what is the show's plot? Well, Variety confirmed the spin-off just started development and only its writers and executive producers, Etan and Emily Cohen, are set in stone. Therefore, it's too early to announce or even guess the show's release date or cast — save Jeremy Renner probably reprising his role as Hawkeye, since it is a spin-off.
However, we can guess the upcoming show's basic premise based on its title character and context clues. In the comics, Echo, real name Maya Lopez, is a deaf Native American woman with photographic reflexes, which means she can flawlessly duplicate any move she sees, just like the Marvel villain Taskmaster.
Despite not being as popular as Hawkeye, Echo has been around. She started her fictional career working for the Kingpin and fighting Daredevil, but she eventually became a hero, and at one point adopted the identity Ronin. If that name sounds familiar, that's because Hawkeye went on a grief-fueled vigilante rampage with that name in Avengers: Endgame. Whether the Ronin connection will play into either Disney+ show is unknown at this point, but for now, it will be interesting for fans to speculate how Echo may be introduced when Hawkeye lands on Disney+.