Marvel’s Echo Pitch Meeting

Following its successful run on Hulu and Disney+, the latest episode of Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting is diving into Echo. Serving as a spinoff of Hawkeye, the Marvel Cinematic Universe show explored the origins of Alaqua Cox’s titular antihero and the fallout from her attempting to kill Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin, including an uncomfortable reunion with him as she went to war with his empire. Much like many recent MCU efforts, the show garnered mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and audiences alike.

Just a few weeks after its premiere, Screen Rant‘s own Pitch Meeting series has broken down Marvel’s Echo. The video, as seen at the top of this article, takes a look at some of the highs and lows of the MCU show, including the somewhat surprising return of Kingpin, despite being shot directly in the face, and Maya’s conveniently ambiguous powers. The episode also takes note of the show’s push to spotlight both Kingpin and Charlie Cox’s Daredevil return, as well as the show’s TV-MA rating.

Echo’s Marketing Was One Of Its Biggest Issues

While Kingpin’s return was pretty heavily speculated during Echo‘s development, be it through flashbacks or a survival of Maya’s initial attack, Daredevil’s appearance was one that sparked a lot of anticipation amongst fans of the character. The marketing didn’t necessarily focus on the blind vigilante to the extent that the Pitch Meeting made out, but did frequently tease a brutal fight between him and Maya. With the teases of some of the show’s bloodier violence indicating Marvel embracing R-rated content, there were a lot of eyes on how the show would perform.

Though Kingpin’s return proved to be a mix of what audiences expected and offered some effective fleshing out of his and Maya’s dynamic, and teasing of what’s to come from his MCU future, Daredevil’s appearance proved to be little more than a cameo, only showing up for the fight scene teased in trailers. Additionally, while there was plenty of fighting throughout the show’s run, the premiere episode is really where the most blood was spilled on screen, proving Marvel was still a little reluctant in this territory.

Given the show sits with a barely Fresh approval rating from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes of 61%, it does seem like many of the expectations set by Echo‘s marketing were a hindrance. That being said, the show didn’t prove entirely unsuccessful for Marvel or Disney, as it not only set a major streaming record for both Disney+ and Hulu in its unique dual-platform release, but data also shows that it led to increased viewership for Hawkeye, Daredevil and The Punisher on the former streamer. With the MCU currently in a superhero fatigue-induced slump, it will be interesting to see how Echo‘s overall performance factors into Marvel’s future planning.

Source: Pitch Meeting