Marvel’s Echo series: Why Disney+ is not following the weekly release pattern

A recent update from Marvel revealed that Alaqua Cox’s Echo series would be available to binge on Disney+ all at once. The update came along with the announcement of the release date of Loki season 2, which will follow the regular weekly release pattern of Disney+. However, Echo’s binge model will be a first for the streaming service.

Following this update, people were left wondering why Marvel has taken this decision for the Echo series. In fact, some fans are wondering if the studio has lost confidence in the project. Echo was supposed to release in early-mid 2023, but the show has been delayed to a late 2023 release, owing to a lot of reshoots. However, the decision to binge release the show continues to baffle fans.

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Rumor has it that Kevin Feige found the Echo series “unreleasable”

While it’s impossible to know what goes on in the Marvel President Kevin Feige’s mind, industry insider and The Hot Mic podcast co-host Jeff Sneider revealed what he heard about Feige’s reaction to the show. According to him, Feige thought that Echo was “unreleasable” before the reshoots. He said:

“I heard the show was kind of plagued by issues throughout production. I heard that it was a mess and that the show came in so bad that they basically had to reshoot the entire thing. I’m told that they originally shot 8 episodes, and [Kevin Feige] thought it was unreleasable, so they talked about cutting it down to 4 episodes, or 6 in post.”

This rumor makes a lot of sense after the new binge-release update as Marvel still might not be confident about the quality of the Echo series.

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Why is Marvel releasing all episodes of Echo at once?

It’s quite likely that Marvel is doubtful about releasing the series with a weekly episode. Each episode of Echo may not carry enough material for people to get excited about it every week.

She-Hulk was a series that would have fared better had viewers been allowed to binge it at once because every episode was just around 30 minutes long. So, fans think that Marvel isn’t willing to make the same error with the Echo series. This way, whatever good is offered by it can be felt all at once.

Another reason why fans think Marvel may want to put the show out at once is that, in case it garners mostly negative reception, people would not continue to talk about it for a long time. It would just be in talks for about a few weeks before viewers moved on.

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The cast and synopsis of Echo

Besides Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, fans will see Devery Jacobs play Julie, and Zahn McClarnon will return to play William Lopez, despite his character’s demise in Hawkeye. Another character whose fate hangs in the balance is Kingpin. However, his return in Echo was confirmed by Kevin Feige at Disney’s D23 Expo in 2023. Lastly, the show will also see the journey of Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock continue.

The Echo series is rumored to have six episodes, and as far as the narrative is concerned, here’s what the synopsis of the Hawkeye spinoff states:

“The origin story of Echo revisits Maya Lopez, whose ruthless behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown. She must face her past, reconnect with her Native American roots and embrace the meaning of family and community if she ever hopes to move forward.”

This series will give fans another face-off between Maya and Kingpin as it turns the titular character into an antihero with interesting new powers that come from her tattoos.