After the first season of ‘Echo’ hit Disney+ on January 9, Alaqua Cox joined a new chat with Deadline. She talked about her character, Maya Lopez, and which Marvel hero she’d like to see her team up with. The show’s lead actress said:
“Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if Maya joined the Avengers. I think it would be so amazing to cross paths with other superheroes. I would love that. I think would be very fun. I think [it would] be great to work with Mark Ruffalo, the Hulk.”
She explained her admiration for Ruffalo as follows:
“I love him as an actor and a person because Mark is a huge advocate for Indigenous women. And he’s from Wisconsin, and I’m from Wisconsin. So we have that in common. But Mark is just an amazing advocate for women, and I think it’d be amazing to work with him. I think that we would have a lot of things to talk about. I can just imagine those conversations already.”
The Indigenous Actress’ Experience As Marvel’s New Anti-Hero
Cox first appeared as Maya in the 2021 series ‘Hawkeye,’ alongside Jeremy Renner and Vincent D’Onofrio. This role marked her entry into both the MCU and the acting world. During the interview, she discussed how her first acting experience went:
“It was very tough, honestly, because Maya is such a complicated and emotional person that has so many layers. I had a meeting with the director, talking about my specific emotions, and I had my acting coach. We’d [talked] about her emotions. Why is she so full of rage, and why is she so revengeful? She’s just obsessed with this revenge.”
Her words went on:
“I would look on YouTube videos of some other characters that would do these fighting scenes, trying to study them and getting motivated to do my own fighting scenes and portray it in my character. I wanted to feed off of their emotions and make my own. I’m trying to think about what Maya went through to get these emotions, and that was how I was able to become Maya.”
Working With The Other Marvel Actors Was Tough For Her
The actress, who’s deaf like her character, also mentioned how working opposite the Kingpin actor was. She revealed how they accommodated her deafness during filming:
“It was very hard, especially with Kingpin, because we always had a lot of intense scenes together. But I did have a vibration device that I would have to put in my shirt. When Kingpin and I were talking, he does not use sign language. So, I did not know when his lines were over. So when he would finish his lines, the interpreter would hit the button, and it would give me a vibration and would let me know that his line was done and it was my turn. When I felt that buzzer, it would take me out of my emotions that I was feeling for that one second. So I had to ignore it, but also, at the same time, thank God that this worked and it was able to flow much better.”
Since ‘Echo’ showed the audience more of Maya Lopez’s skills in its first season, it’s possible to see her return in future Marvel projects. Still, there are no official announcements on the matter yet.
