2023 has not been a great year for Marvel Studios. That’s a bit wild to say considering the studio has released at least one film, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” that earned nearly $850 million, and “Loki” Season 2 seems to be another streaming hit. But the truth is, the quality of Marvel Studios projects has seemingly gone down significantly, with critics and fans both noticing a decline. And that means, the sharks are swarming, as we see article after article talking about the death of Marvel Studios. But the truth is, Marvel Studios is stumbling, but it would be premature to say it’s fallen from grace. And apparently, there are changes afoot, as one upcoming Marvel Studios TV series, “Echo,” is debuting a new “line” of projects, dubbed Marvel Spotlight, that would take the focus off the convoluted continuity, and seemingly, focus on telling stories that are character-focused.
In a recent article posted on Marvel.com, there is news about “Echo” and a special screening of the series for Choctaw Nation’s annual Powwow. (The title character is a Native American.) But buried at the end of the piece is news about Marvel Spotlight, a sub- brand of Marvel Studios that apparently aims to tell stories with smaller scale and with no overt connections to the larger MCU continuity. Basically, it really sounds as if Marvel Studios is taking the Netflix “Defenders” model and actually making it part of the MCU.
“Marvel Spotlight gives us a platform to bring more grounded, character-driven stories to the screen, and in the case of ‘Echo,’ focusing on street-level stakes over larger MCU continuity,” explained Marvel Studios’ Head of Streaming Brad Winderbaum. “Just like comics fans didn’t need to read ‘Avengers’ or ‘Fantastic Four’ to enjoy a ‘Ghost Rider’ Spotlight comic, our audience doesn’t need to have seen other Marvel series to understand what’s happening in Maya’s story.”
For those bemoaning how Marvel Studios has been “forcing” fans to watch hours and hours of content just to understand the latest series or film, Marvel Spotlight should be welcome news. From what the studio is saying, “Echo” seems to be standalone and can be enjoyed by folks who aren’t up to date on who Kang the Conqueror is or what happened to the multiverse in the latest “Doctor Strange” film. Obviously, it would probably help if you watched “Hawkeye,” where Alaqua Cox debuted as Echo, but that doesn’t appear to be a necessity either.
Again, this mirrors the idea that Netflix was attempting to do with its various “Defenders”-universe series years ago. Produced by Marvel TV (not Marvel Studios), “Daredevil,” “The Punisher,” “Jessica Jones,” and the rest of the series seemingly existed in a world where the Avengers exist and people might have heard about the events of the films, but there were no overt crossovers with the larger MCU. The series crossed over between themselves, but they were all in their own separate pocket of the universe. It’s unclear if “Echo” will be truly standalone, or if it might lead into the upcoming “Daredevil: Born Again,” but as of now, it appears the show is perfect for those who want a bit of Marvel goodness but don’t really care about the larger shenanigans at play.
“Echo” is debuting all five episodes on January 10, 2024.