There was a lot to talk about following this week’s episode of Hawkeye, with the internet going wild at the first concrete hint we’ve had that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is on his way to the Marvel Cinematic Universe at long last.
On top of that, we also got the weekly line of inquiry wondering why Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova hasn’t shown up yet, but the absence of one badass was handily offset by the full-blown introduction of another. Given that her own spinoff series was announced nine months ago, Marvel obviously have big plan in store for Alaqua Cox’s Echo, and now we know why.
Hawkeye marks her very first acting gig ever, and she’s already proven herself to be a dab hand when it comes to the action sequences. Speaking in the latest edition of D23 Magazine via The Direct, Cox heaped praise on co-stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld for making her feel welcome as a newcomer to both the industry and the MCU.
“It was such an honor to work with them both. I think they are spectacular actors, and I have learned a lot from watching them work behind the scenes… I remember meeting Jeremy on my first day of work on-set; I was a nervous wreck, as this was my very first acting job. He then complimented me in American Sign Language (ASL), which comforted me. Hailee also spelled out her name to me in ASL at the studio where we were doing our stunt training sessions. I thought it was sweet of them putting in efforts to learn basic ASL to communicate with me. It means a lot to me as a Deaf person.”
It would be an understatement to say that it’s a daunting task to have your first two roles occur in a blockbuster MCU streaming exclusive and then a solo show of your very own immediately afterwards, but we’ve already seen enough from Cox in Hawkeye already to get the distinct impression that Echo’s future is in supremely safe hands.
