Marvel Unveils Violent Trailer for ‘Echo,’ Its First TV-MA Rated Show

Marvel Studios is venturing into more mature territory with Echo, which unveiled a moody, violent trailer Friday (complete with a John Wick-esque headshot). The series will be Marvel Studios’ first to get the TV-MA rating, and its first to debut simultaneously on sister streaming service Hulu, in addition to Disney+.

In some ways, it looks like a successor to Daredevil, the violent and beloved series that streamed on Netflix from 2015-2019 and was made by Marvel TV (not Marvel Studios). Both Charlie Cox (Daredevil) and Vincent D’ONofrio (Wilson Fisk/Kingpin) appear in the show, which stars Alaqua Cox, reprising her Hawkeye role as Maya Lopez/Echo.

Last week, The Hollywood Reporter was among a group of press who previewed several scenes from the show on the Disney lot.

“It’s a little on the grittier side for Marvel, and shows the breadth of what Marvel is capable of,” said Brad Winderbaum, the studio’s head of streaming, television and animation. “It is sort of a new direction for the brand, especially for Disney+.”

Director Sydney Freeland said the different tone of the show evolved from the fact that it follows a villain.

“People on our show — they bleed. They die. They get killed and there are real world consequences,” said Freeland.

Echo comes as Marvel overhauls its TV business, including with Daredevil: Born Again, the upcoming series that will once again star Echo‘s Charlie Cox and D’Nofrio. The studio has hired The Punisher alum Dario Scardapane as showrunner and Loki directors Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead as part of a creative reset on the series, which shot multiple episodes under a different team.

Tonally, the footage screened for press had hints of Daredevil, Breaking Bad and John Wick and in some ways like Marvel’s version of a cable drama rather than an MCU streaming series.

The show is different from Marvel Studios in other ways as well, centering on an indigenous character who is deaf and communicates with ASL. Representation of both was important to Freeland and her team. Freeland, grew up on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico, took her department heads to the annual the annual Choctaw Pow Wow in Oklahoma for inspiration. Her team also took ASL lessons.

Said Freeland: “I needed to have some basic language where I could talk to [Cox] and look her in the eye and say ‘that was nice! Again! More emotional.’ Just some basic words for her.”