Meet Alaqua Cox, the main character of ‘Echo’, the new Marvel Studios series

With the five episodes premiering on Tuesday, January 9, the actress Alaqua Cox, 26, wait until target groups with disabilities who watch the series Threw out from Marvel Studios I can say wow, I see myself as a superhero too.

Cox She was born deaf and is a Native American belonging to the Menomini and Mohican ethnic groups.uses a prosthesis on one leg and beyond 2021 became Maya Lópeza super-powered villain Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

“I feel like one I have a great responsibility to represent three different cultures that are greatly underrepresented (…): the indigenous, deaf and amputee community“, he said in an interview with EFE. ”I’m so grateful to be able to have this platform and educate people about these communities and hopefully spread more awareness around the world.”.

Maya’s success in the series starring Jeremy Renner gave him the opportunity to lead Threw outa five-part series that follows the villain as she flees Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), played by Vincent D’onofrio, one of the Marvel’s most feared and dangerous crime lordswho trusted Maya as her supposed protector.

“In Hawkeye (Maya) sought revenge for her father’s death and was full of anger. In Threw out This is different because it’s more about his relationship with Kingpin, why she is so full of anger and all these emotions that she feels,” says Cox.

In Threw out, Maya will also have to confront her past and her origins when she returns home and reunites with her grandmother and her relatives. with whom he has not had contact for years and who reject the criminal path he has followed in his life.

“She’ll be leaving New York return to Oklahoma and there he will begin to open up to his humanity. This is the moment when he will reconnect with his roots,” he explains.

Special superpowers

For Cox, Maya is a very special character on several levels. Firstly because He believes her powers are unique in the entire Marvel Universe, due to her bad girl style and attitude.and because of the similarities he shares with her outside of fiction.

“I think what makes her special are her superpowers. We all know the usual, the cobwebs, the power to fly around, but… yours is very different because it is cultural, It is a link to his origins.”

In addition to her talent as a warrior and ability must imitate and identically reproduce the movements of everyone nearby – hence the nickname Threw out– Maya manifests powers inherited from her ‘Choctaw’ heritage when threatened.

“I like that too Maya can use her prosthetic leg as one of her superpowers. “I like that I can show people that they can be badass too with all these cool things, you know, a prosthetic leg and the design with ‘Choctaw’ symbolism, it’s so cool,” she confesses.

Finally, Cox believes that The opportunity to further develop her character made her empathize with her, as she found a common point in that they both had traumatic childhoods.. “I can’t think of anyone with a personality similar to Maya’s. But when I think of her, maybe I think of me because we both had traumatic childhoods, although mine is obviously not as fatal as hers, which is literally horrible,” she explains.

Cox believes that Maya losing her parents as a child and having the Kingpin take care of her doesn’t compare to her childhood experience, which was filled with hospital visits.My childhood trauma was different. I had many operations when I was three and spent a lot of time in the hospital. No child should deserve to undergo so many surgeries in their lifetime. But I had a great family and great support,” he says.

The series received an adult rating, something unusual for Marvel productions. All episodes are now available on Disney Plus.