This recap contains spoilers.
Hawkeye episode three – ‘Echoes’ – has just landed on Disney Plus and is going to drive longtime MCU fans absolutely crazy. After last week’s tease, we finally got to meet Alaqua Cox’s Maya Lopez/Echo. The opening of the show gave us a quick recap of her life, revealing her combat skills, and that Clint killed her father while in his Ronin identity.
The first half of the episode sees Clint and Kate escaping from the clutches of the Tracksuit Mafia, which involved a truly kickass car chase through New York City. The action showcased Clint’s collection of trick arrows, which come in exploding, purple goo, gas, acid, and USB varieties (among many others). The chase ended with Clint using a super-special Pym arrow – the effects of which are likely to give the New York Transit Authority something of a headache.
The episode also builds on Clint and Kate’s relationship, showing him acknowledging her archery skills and her helping him talk to his son. We also see more of Clint dealing with his hearing loss: his hearing aid is destroyed in his fight with Echo and he spends most of the episode partially deaf. A possible hint on where things are going may come in his early scene with the completely deaf Maya, who tells him the device may be more of a crutch than he realizes.
All that’s great, but what’s going to drive discussion this week are the multiple teases that Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin is back. During the flashback to Maya’s childhood, we saw an imposing figure put his hand on her shoulder at her karate dojo and in the present day, there were stark warnings that her “uncle” won’t be happy about her going after Ronin.
In the comics, Fisk is Echo’s adoptive father, so it’s now all but certain he’ll make an appearance over the coming episodes. If so, this will be the first character to have made the leap from the canceled Netflix shows to the MCU, and honestly, it’s about time. After all, you simply can’t leave a villain as great as Kingpin on the bench.
It’s going to be a long wait until next Wednesday when Hawkeye returns on Disney Plus.
