My name is Maya Lopez. I'm not sure If I'm still that person. The Newspapers call me Echo. That's what I feel like...an Echo. This is my story. 
- —Echo
History
Early Life
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Maya with bloody handprint
A Native American, Maya Lopez was born deaf. She was initially placed in special education, but after using her skill to duplicate a song from a recital, she was placed in the gifted section. She particularly enjoyed art and dance.[citation needed]
Maya's father was secretly a mob enforcer working for the Kingpin. One day he was murdered under the Kingpin's orders. He reached out to Maya, leaving a bloody hand print on her face. She was taken in by Fisk, who was impressed with her talents and had sent her to the best schools money could buy. As a result, she became very talented in many artistic fields.[citation needed]
Echo
Fisk used her in one of his plots to destroy Daredevil. First, he arranged for Matt to meet her, knowing Matt was lonely after the recent death of Karen Page. Then he tricked Maya, by convincing her that Daredevil killed her father. Having watched videos of Bullseye and Daredevil fighting, she proves more than a match for Daredevil. Maya created the identity of Echo (based on her ability to copy motion she sees) and fought Daredevil. He did not know why she was suddenly attacking him, and she was shocked to learn it was Matt she was targeting. Matt was able to explain himself. Angry at the deliberate deception, Maya then brutally attacked the Kingpin, blinding him temporarily.[citation needed]
She then left New York to her father's reservation. While there she met Wolverine, who assisted her on her "vision quest". She then returned to New York to reconcile with Matt, only to find he was already with another woman.[citation needed]
Maya as Ronin.
Ronin and the New Avengers
Maya assisted the New Avengers after being recommended and referred by Daredevil to Captain America, now taking the identity of a ninja named Ronin. Murdock provided her with the necessary information on the Hand, Yakuza, and Silver Samurai before meeting with Captain America in a cafe to receive further instructions. It was there in Japan that she infiltrated the Yashida Fortress, only to learn that the Hand and Hydra were now in a partnership, and were trying to influence Harada to join and lead them. Maya, however, was unsuccessful in trying to leave the fortress undetected, and was pursued by many of the Hand's ninjas. She respected Captain America's wishes in attempting not to kill many of them, but in the end was left with little choice. Upon returning to the Avengers penthouse in Japan, where she had met earlier with Captain America, she quickly explained to him and the New Avengers what she had learned. The Hand, however, had followed her and once they had finally caught up, attacked her and her teammates. She fought alongside the New Avengers against them and arrested Madame Hydra. Maya then arranged with Captain America for her to stay in Japan and watch the Hand's activities, hoping to resolve the conflict between them and the Yakuza, and because she had discovered rumors that Elektra might currently be in power as the leader of the Hand.[citation needed]
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Ronin unmasked, from New Avengers #13.
Maya was not heard of again until after the the passage of the Superhuman Registration Act and the consequent Civil War, and was listed as a potential recruit for the Initiative.[2] Though it was not discovered until later, she had been murdered in a fight with Elektra who was, indeed, leading the Hand. A package which had been prepared to be delivered was then sent from Japan to the U.S. [citation needed]
Though it was meant for for Matt Murdock, he had Dakota North deliver the package to Daniel Rand (Iron Fist), explaining that he was too far away to be able to do anything about it. It contained a letter summarizing Maya's past activities stating that she was likely dead along with a duplicate of her Ronin armor and weapons; she wanted Matt to avenge her. [citation needed]
Maya got killed by Skrull Elektra.
She was then revived by Elektra and the Hand with their dark magic, to undergo a drug treatment which would influence her join their cause. It was interrupted, however, by Luke Cage and his New Avengers, which included a new stranger wearing the Ronin armor, who fought off the Hand and Elektra and rescued Maya from their grasp. Although she had been rescued, she had inhaled enough of the drug for it to continue to greatly affect her. The New Avengers took her to the Harada Fortress to regroup, much to the Silver Samurai's disgust, but the Hand managed to track them down and confronted them, along with the Silver Samurai, in the Harada Fortress. Once the drug had completed it course, Maya turned against her teammates and assisted the Hand against them. Iron Fist and Doctor Strange managed to eliminate the drug from her system, and in retaliation against the Hand, killed their leader, Elektra. She was revealed to be a female Skrull in disguise, who reverted back to her original form, and the Hand immediately fled from the scene. [citation needed]
Echo has remained with the New Avengers ever since this incident. With nowhere else to go, she resided in Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum along with Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, their baby girl, and Clint Barton (Hawkeye), who was revealed to be the new Ronin. He returned the armor to Maya, but she gave it to him as a gift for coming to her rescue along with the others. [citation needed]
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New Avengers come to Japan to rescue Maya.
World War Hulk
During the World War Hulk events, Maya attempted to defend Rick Jones from Hirorim and Elloe of the Hulk's Warbound, when they invade the Sanctum Sanctorum to capture Dr. Strange. But she, along with Ronin and Iron Fist, were defeated and imprisoned along with various other defeated heroes. She and the other heroes were released by the the Hulk's Warbound Crew however, after the Hulk and Sentry's final battle.
After these events, she continued to prove herself a valuable ally as she accompanied the New Avengers on many missions. This including attempting to aid the Mighty Avengers against a symbiote-transformed population in New York (although she and many of her teammates were transformed as well). She helped her teammates in organizing the streets afterward, calming many of post symbiote mutated human population after they had been transformed back to normal. She also helped in fighting against the Hood and his criminal empire, once in the streets and a second time at the Sanctum. Although she had been with the New Avengers for a while, Maya was somewhat of a stranger to everybody with the exception of Wolverine, and was still curious to why Daredevil sent Captain America to her in the first place.[citation needed]
During Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion: The Infiltration
After the final battle against the Hood's criminal empire, Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum was destroyed and leveled, forcing the remaining New Avengers to relocate to one of Iron Fist's leased apartments, and continue operating without Doctor Strange. Despite her teammates' suspicions and paranoia, Maya did not believe the idea that a potential invasion had already been set in motion by the Skrulls. She simply viewed it as a conspiracy and an excuse to why their lives were so miserable, due to their fugitive status at the time. This changed, however, when she was attacked by a Skrull disguised as Daredevil. With the help of Wolverine, who had followed her without her knowledge, she was able to fend off the Skrulls.[citation needed]
The next morning she was approached by Clint Barton, who comforted her after hearing about her attack. He recalled his own experience when first joining the Avengers, and assured her that although she felt out of place on the team at the time, it would all work out one day. Maya began a relationship with Barton.[citation needed]
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Maya fights the Skrull Queen in Savage Land.
Secret Invasion
During the Skrull Invasion, Maya and her teammates went to the Savage Land to investigate a Skrull ship which had crash landed there. They and the Mighty Avengers were then attacked by 70s versions of themselves which emerged from the ship, and were under the impression that they were the Skrulls. Maya was the first person to discover that Spider Woman was a Skrull and helping with the invasion. She was attacked and rendered unconscious by Veranke. Upon recovering, she reunited with the rest of her teammates to travel back to New York and fight the invasion.[citation needed]
Moon Knight
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Echo breaks her cover to save Moon Knight.
Sometime after the Skrull Invasion, Maya made her way to Los Angeles, where she went undercover as a stripper. Moon Knight attacked a meeting she was in, forcing her to break her cover to rescue him.[3] Echo accepted the offer to help Marc find out who was the Kingpin of L.A. and started a relationship. While Moon Knight was fighting the revealed Kingpin, Count Nefaria, Echo recorded it on a videocamera to bring it to the police. Days later, she and Moon Knight were cleaning up some criminal hideouts until Nefaria confronted them. During the fight, although fighting very well, Echo was seemingly killed by Nefaria's optic blast; submitting to his Wolverine personality, Moon Knight then brutally attacked Nefaria in revenge.[4]
Return
Maya resurfaced years later alive and well. She witnessed the beginning of an attempt of Klaw to take over New York City, turning its citizens into sound constructs, and alerted Daredevil about it. Together, they stopped the villain and reverted the effects of his infection.[5]Attributes
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Powers
Abilities
Concert Level Pianist: Due to viewing many talented pianists perform, she is an extraordinary pianist.[citation needed]
Graceful Dancer: Due to watching many dances and ballets, Echo is an excellent dancer.[citation needed]
Master Martial Artist: Echo is an expert in various forms of martial arts, including those practiced by Daredevil, Bullseye, and the Hand. She learned various different techniques and methods from studying different martial artists in action/martial arts movies such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and Jet Li.[citation needed]
Master Acrobat: Due to watching tapes of Daredevil's performance, Maya is proficient in the field gymnastics and acrobatics.[citation needed]
Expert Marksman: Due to watching tapes of Bullseye's performances, She is an expert marksman capable of throwing objects of almost any sort with phenomenal accuracy and sharpshooting.
Multilingual: Maya is able to read, write, and speak foreign languages after seeing them written or spoken one time. As a result, she is fluent in multiple languages. Although she is deaf, she can understand people by reading their lips and learned to speak by watching their tongues.[citation needed]
Weapons Proficiency: Due to fighting and watching tapes of various different martial artists such as Daredevil, she is skilled with both single, and double billy clubs used in an Eskrima-like fashion, an excellent swordsman with both single and double katana, and is a master at using both single and double nunchaku, and possibly other weapons.[citation needed]Weaknesses
Handicapped: Maya Lopez is deaf. Because she has to solely rely on her eyesight, Maya is helpless when she has to fight in a dark area where she cannot see anything else.[citation needed]
Human Limitations: Echo still has all of the natural limitations and vulnerabilities of an ordinary human. While she can perform great physical and intellectual feats, she is incapable of duplicating an ability or skill that requires superhuman effort or capacity.[citation needed]Paraphernalia
Equipment
Weapons
Fighting staff containing a Vibranium sliver.
As Echo: Billy clubs similar to those Daredevil carries, handguns, poisoned darts, shuriken, katanas and other bladed weapons of Japanese design
As Ronin: She has two nunchaku and a katana.Notes
- The term "ronin" refers to a masterless samurai.
- The "Ronin" alias has been used by several others, including Clint Barton, Alexi Shostakov, and Eric Brooks.
Trivia
- The outfit of Ronin was originally conceived by Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada as a redesign for his co-creation, the Valiant Comics character Ninjak, at Valiant's request in preparation for a relaunch. After Valiant declined to use that design, Quesada repurposed it for Ronin.[6]
See Also
- 139 appearance(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 11 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 8 minor appearance(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 9 mention(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 5 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 232 image(s) of Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 14 quotation(s) by or about Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
- 4 victim(s) killed by Maya Lopez (Earth-616)
Links and References
References
- ↑ New Avengers #11
- ↑ Civil War Battle Damage Report #1
- ↑ Moon Knight (Vol. 6) #2
- ↑ Moon Knight (Vol. 6) #9
- ↑ Daredevil Annual (Vol. 4) #1
- ↑ Jennings, Collier (23 April 2020) Marvel's Ronin Is Based on a Never-Used Ninjak Design by Joe Quesada CBR.com. Retrieved on 24 April 2020.
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #3
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 3