Latest Marvel Release Helps The MCU Set New Franchise Record

Marvel Studios’ Echo set new heights for a long-running MCU record, thanks to the debuts of two new characters during its January 2024 release. The five-part Echo released in its entirety on Disney+ on January 9, 2024, reintroducing Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez to the MCU following her debut as a minor antagonist in 2021’s Hawkeye. Under the shadow of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. Kingpin, Echo saw Maya Lopez return to her hometown of Tamaha, Oklahoma, rediscovering her roots and learning to embrace her family like never before. While several members of Echo’s brilliant cast returned from previous MCU projects, Marvel Studios also introduced many new supporting characters for Echo.

Echo marked the returns of Alaqua Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio from Hawkeye, portraying Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk, while Charlie Cox’s Matt Murdock, a.k.a. Daredevil, also makes a brief cameo appearance, further solidifying his place in the MCU. Zahn McClarnon also returned as William Lopez, Maya’s deceased father, but his backstory and Maya Lopez’s origins were explored in more detail. The world of Tamaha, Oklahoma, was fleshed out with new faces, however, and more of WIlson Fisk’s criminal empire was investigated, which included introducing Andrew Howard as one of Kingpin’s henchmen, Zane, who set his sights on capturing Maya Lopez after her fateful shooting of Fisk in Hawkeye’s series finale.

Related

10 Biggest Changes Echo Makes From The Marvel Comics

Marvel Studios released Echo in its entirety on January 9, 2024, but made several changes to the hero and her backstory when adapting her for the MCU.

Echo’s Zane Actor Also Appears In Agents Of SHIELD

Andrew Holland portrayed Zane in Marvel Studios’ Echo, who posed a minor threat to Maya Lopez throughout the series as he fought to capture and kill Maya Lopez for his boss, Wilson Fisk’s Kingpin. This isn’t the first time Andrew Holland has been seen in a Marvel role, however, as the Echo actor previously appeared as Luther Banks, an operative of the Advanced Threat Containment Unit in Agents of SHIELD season 3. While Echo marks Holland’s second MCU-related role, despite Agents of SHIELD’s canon status in the wider MCU still being disputed, his appearance in Phase 5 adds another name to the list of actors who’ve portrayed multiple MCU roles.

Other Notable Actors With Multiple MCU Roles

Andrew Holland isn’t the only Echo star to have previously portrayed another Marvel role, as Devery Jacobs, who portrays Maya Lopez’s cousin Bonnie in Echo, more recently voiced the MCU original superhero Kahhori in What If…? season 2. Many other actors have also portrayed multiple MCU roles over the years. These include high-profile stars such as Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Doctor Strange while also voicing Dormammu, Gemma Chan, who starred as Sersi in Eternals after her debut as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel, and Michelle Yeoh, who briefly appeared as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’s Aleta Ogord before playing Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Much like Andrew Holland, this trend has also seen actors cross the borders of Marvel Studios’ projects and those developed by Marvel Television. Alfre Woodard played Mariah Dillard in Luke Cage and Miriam Sharpe in Captain America: Civil War, Matt Gerald played Melvin Potter in Daredevil and a Seagate inmate in the All Hail the King One-Shot, and Patrick Brennan played a bartender in Captain Marvel after appearing as villain Marcus Daniels in Agents of SHIELD. Following his portrayal of Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in Luke Cage, Mahershala Ali was gifted the lead role in Marvel Studios’ Blade, so Echo won’t be the last project to reuse previous MCU actors.