It seems like Marvel is making a fair few enemies out of its former and potential employees of late, but there’s at least one MCU creative who couldn’t be more on the Marvel Studios bandwagon, despite how their upcoming project, Disney Plus’ Echo, has been treated.
While the studios’ much-abused VFX artists have laid the blame for their troubles on Kevin Feige’s doorstep and a potential Blade director admitting he dipped out because he “smelled” something foul in the air, Echo EP Sydney Freeland tells a different story. According to the writer and producer of the Hawkeye spinoff — starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez, Marvel’s first hero with disabilities to lead their own vehicle — they felt “absolutely” supported by the currently controversial company.
“They protect the sh*t out of their creatives,” Freeland told Variety via a press event in October. “I felt absolutely protected and empowered.”
Although it’s encouraging to hear that Freeland’s experience is so different from many Marvel creatives who have spoken up of late, it’s surprising that she’s so passionately supportive of the studio given how they’ve treated Echo in the lead-up to its release. First, Marvel slashed its length from six episodes to five and then it’s enduring the indignity of being the first Marvel Disney Plus to be dumped all in one go. A perfectly normal release plan for Netflix, maybe, but it certainly indicates a lack of faith in Echo‘s ability to pull in audiences week after week.
But then maybe the blame for that can be rested on Disney Plus itself and not the Marvel execs that Freeland clearly had a wonderful time working with. The original showrunners of Echo‘s sister show, Daredevil: Born Again, who were recently fired and replaced, probably don’t share her enthusiasm, however.
Echo is finally coming to streaming — released on both Disney Plus and Hulu — on Jan. 10.