Echo’s Alaqua Cox is breaking new ground as Marvel’s first deaf and Native American headliner

Alaqua Cox reveals how she was “overwhelmed” to star in a Marvel TV show in her second acting gig – and proud to represent her deaf and Native American communities.

Rising star Alaqua Cox says she was “overwhelmed’ when she found out she was going to headline a show in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Not only does she play the first Native American character to be afforded the honour as the title character in Echo, she’s also the first representative of the deaf community to get top billing.

Cox was in the middle of filming Hawkeye – in which the played the henchwoman of gangster Wilson Fisk and foe of Jeremy Renner’s Avenger character and his young protégé Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) – when she got the shocking news that she would be getting her own spin-off.

She’d only left her home on the Menominee Indian Reservation in the US state of Wisconsin a few years earlier, and here she was, as the lead character in the biggest franchise in the world in just her second acting gig.

“So many things were running through my mind,” she says over Zoom, accompanied by a sign-language translator. “This is a big thing. This is a lead role in a Marvel show, and so I was just overwhelmed with so many things.”

In Echo, the first of the so-called Marvel Spotlight shows, which will focus on grittier, more violent stories and “street level” superheroes, Cox’s character is flipped from villain to protagonist, as she flees her former employer and reconnects with her Native American Choctaw roots.

Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez in Marvel Studios' Echo.

Having the chance to explore her own culture – and share it with the broader world to “inspire and empower a future generation of people” – was a huge drawcard for Cox. And with First Nation filmmakers and producers on board – including Indigenous Australian Catriona McKenzie as a director – she knew that Native American culture and humour would be represented accurately.

“I remember when I was reading the script, I would say ‘oh my gosh there’s so many Indigenous and Choctaw nation things that we are including in this show and I get to portray this’,” Cox says. “Me being Indigenous myself and seeing this written in a script authentically – most importantly authentically – it’s like ‘I can’t believe this is happening’.”

Cox, who was born deaf and attended a deaf school, says she saw very little sign language on screen growing up and she’s proud to be part of a group of deaf actors and activists including America’s Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco, who publicly lauded her casting, Lauren Ridloff (The Walking Dead), and Oscar-winner Marlee Matlin.

Vincent D'Onofrio, Graham Greene, Chaske Spencer, Cody Lightning, Devery Jacobs, Alaqua Cox and Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios and chief creative officer of Marvel, speak onstage during D23 Expo 2022 at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, on September 10, 2022. Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney

“I did not see a lot of signing on the screen at all – literally, like, never,” she says. “So, I’m seeing more and more of it now, but it feels very nice to have this platform and educate people more and show people about the deaf culture and the deaf community. It’s not only me but it I’m so happy to be able to be a part of them now and represent my culture.”

While the five-part Echo concentrates on a very small part of the vast and ever-growing MCU, technically it puts Echo/Maya in the frame to appear with any of the other roster of superheroes such as Thor, Captain Marvel or Captain America – and Cox is more than up for the challenge.

“Any of them would be so great,” she says, enthusiastically. “You know, having the opportunity to become an Avenger or even meet any of The Avengers or work with them would be great.”

And top of the bucket list for an all-star superhero collaboration?

“Easy answer – Spider-Man,” she smiles. “Probably the most common answer anybody would say but it’s true.”

Echo streams on Disney+ from January 10

Originally published as Echo’s Alaqua Cox is breaking new ground as Marvel’s first deaf and Native American headliner