Disabled People You Should Know
The Groundbreaking Casting of Alaqua Cox in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Why Maya Lopez is such a significant character for the disability community.
This is the second entry in my series Disabled People You Should Know, which tells the stories of disabled people who often don’t get the recognition they deserve. This entry will cover martial artist-turned-actress Alaqua Cox, who plays the character Maya Lopez/Echo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
As Marvel begins to release more information about the upcoming Disney+ show Echo, fans are more hyped than ever to see Kingpin and Daredevil on screen together for the first time since the end of Daredevil on Netflix. For the disabled community, however, the opportunity to see a disabled woman as the title character in an MCU show is not only exciting, but also refreshing.
Making her acting debut in Hawkeye on Disney+, Cox stole the show with her intense, emotional portrayal of Maya Lopez/Echo, the leader of a gang called the Tracksuit Mafia. As we wait to see her take the screen once again, it’s important to recognize why Marvel’s casting of Cox and her portrayal of Maya was so groundbreaking in terms of disability representation.
