SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for the new episode of Hawkeye. If you have not yet watched, continue at your own risk!
In recent months, chatter surrounding the forthcoming release of Spider-Man: No Way Home has generated all kinds of speculation about special characters who may or may not make surprise appearances in the blockbuster. Most of the talk has been in regards to the possibility of seeing both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield once again play their respective versions of Peter Parker, but there’s also plenty of gossip spread around involving characters from the popular Netflix Marvel shows – with the focus mainly being on Charlie Cox’s Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin.
We won’t actually know if any of these rumors are true until the Marvel movie arrives in theaters later this month… but based on the third episode of Hawkeye, titled “Echoes,” it seems that there is a very real possibility that the Disney+ show is being set up to potentially beat Spider-Man: No Way Home to the punch and bring Wilson Fisk into the proper Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Watching the latest chapter of Hawkeye, alert viewers may have noticed that there are a handful of clues pointing to the fan-favorite villain operating as a major player in the background of the plot, and only making the speculation feel more solid is that certain details are supported by history in the canon of Marvel Comics. To put it bluntly, there is a mysterious character referred to only as “Uncle” in the episode, and there seems to be a strong suggestion that he is New York’s infamous Kingpin of Crime.
Who is Maya Lopez’s Uncle?
A significant amount of the runtime in “Echoes” is appropriately dedicated to introducing audiences to Maya Lopez (played as an adult by Alaqua Cox). We learn that she has been deaf her entire life, and she was raised by a loving father, William (Zahn McClarnon), who did everything in his power to help her when she was growing up – despite not having the resources to be able to send her to a school with other deaf students. The reason why she captures Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) and Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) in the second episode is because Ronin murdered William amid his murderous mid-Blip rampage, and she wants revenge for the crime.
Maya isn’t totally alone following her dad’s death, however, as she has her aforementioned “uncle” – who is only briefly shown on screen without revealing his face (he’s clearly a Caucasian man with a large figure). He is established to have known Maya for a long time, as he gives her a ride home after karate class as a kid, and dialogue later in the episode suggests that he has become an even more prominent presence in her life (though it doesn’t seem that he is in the loop about her whole revenge plot).
These details alone don’t immediately scream “The Kingpin is in Hawkeye,” but there are other details to consider as well. While William Lopez seems like a good guy in the flashbacks we see, he is also clearly mixed up with some very bad people – hence why Ronin winds up coming a’knockin. Furthermore, Maya’s relationship with members of the Tracksuit Mafia suggests that she is connected with individuals in the criminal underworld following her father’s death, and that would obviously be facilitated in a major way if she had close ties with Wilson Fisk.
This is a much more minor thing, but it’s also hard not to notice the name of the business where William is working when he is killed: Fat Man Auto Repair. Perhaps a funny reference to Kingpin’s substantial frame?
Maya Lopez A.K.A. Echo And Kingpin Have A Close Connection In Marvel Comics
If we were only considering what’s depicted, the information dropped in Hawkeye Episode 3 would only be viewed as loose speculation regarding the possible return of Wilson Fisk to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but what makes the idea more solid than anything is the fact that there is extreme comic book precedent. As of right now, it appears as though the Disney+ show is basically adapting Maya Lopez’s origin story straight from the one originally created by David Mack and Joe Quesada – albeit with some very important details changed.
In the comics, Echo is adopted by Wilson Fisk following the death of her father, but what she doesn’t know is that it was Fisk himself who ordered William Lopez’s execution. To both protect himself and try and utilize the gifted young girl as a weapon, he tells her that Daredevil is the man responsible for murder – though she eventually discovers the truth and successfully turns the tables on him.
Clearly we’re not getting a direct adaptation of that comic book arc, as it’s made pretty damn clear in Hawkeye that Ronin is responsible for William Lopez’s murder… but we also can’t rule out the possibility that Kingpin somehow purposefully set up Ronin to take out the crew at Fat Man Auto Repair. Knowing the way he operates, it’s easy to imagine him orchestrating a sequence of events that would allow him to kill two birds with one stone, with the vigilante unknowingly performing some of the criminal’s dirty work and also steering attention away from himself. This would explain why he would be unhappy about Maya trying to get revenge, as it would possibly mean her getting closer to the truth.
Sadly, all we can do right now is guess about what may happen from this point forward in Hawkeye – though fans won’t have to wait long for a conclusion either way. The miniseries is only six episodes long after all, and that means that we are now halfway through. Could we see Kingpin pop up in next week’s episode? It’s possible… but it also feels more likely that the character’s big reveal will be saved for the finale, which will be available to stream the Wednesday after Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives in theaters.
It should go without saying that we are spectacularly excited about the potential that exists for seeing Kingpin on Hawkeye – and it’s something that we’ll surely return to discussing next week when Episode 4 arrives on Disney+ on December 8 at midnight PST/3am EST.
