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Alaqua Cox as Echo in the character's titular show. The image shows her sitting on some metal grating beside a sign noting a forklift's floor rating.

Echo Is Under New, Less-MCU Connected Marvel Spotlight Banner

Echo, the upcoming Disney+ series, will be presented under a new banner called Marvel Spotlight that will feature shows that take place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) but are more character-focused and don’t impact the overall storyline all that much.

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That news comes from Collider. It’s not just that the shows will be less grandiose and have less impact on the bigger MCU world but they will also be grittier and more “street level” according to Brad Winterbaum, Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming. That was shown off in the surprisingly graphic and adult trailer for Echo, which featured a ton of violence and blood and a TV-MA rating. The idea here is that people can watch at least some MCU shows without having to be fully involved with the overall plot of the MCU and to deliver more adult-oriented content without youngsters missing out on key plot details.

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“Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of Echo, focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity,” Winterbaum says. “Just like comics fans didnā€™t need to read Avengers or Fantastic Four to enjoy a Ghost Rider Spotlight comic, our audience doesnā€™t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand whatā€™s happening in Mayaā€™s story.ā€

This does seem a bit ironic given the fact that Echo is a spin-off Hawkeye featuring characters from Daredevil, including Daredevil himself. However, that connection does make some sense considering this was exactly the MO of the Netflix MCU shows, which were more adult and, while taking place in the MCU, were largely disconnected from it. In fact, executives for Marvel Television (when that was still a thing) often referred to those shows as “street level.” Basically, it appears that Marvel is taking a page from its own book after learning some hard streaming lessons.

There’s no word on what other shows might be included in Marvel Spotlight, which is named after the Spotlight comic book series that debuted Ghost Rider and a few other prominent heroes, but there’s surely more to come.


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Matthew Razak
Matthew Razak is a News Writer and film aficionado at Escapist. He has been writing for Escapist for nearly five years and has nearly 20 years of experience reviewing and talking about movies, TV shows, and video games for both print and online outlets. He has a degree in Film from Vassar College and a degree in gaming from growing up in the '80s and '90s. He runs the website Flixist.com and has written for The Washington Post, Destructoid, MTV, and more. He will gladly talk your ear off about horror, Marvel, Stallone, James Bond movies, Doctor Who, Zelda, and Star Trek.