Alaqua Cox is the actor who plays Maya Lopez, the character known as Echo, in Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye (2021) and the five-episode series Echo (2024). Her role in Hawkeye was her first acting work. She is deaf, she is an amputee who uses a prosthetic leg, and she is a member of the Menominee and Mohican nations. Those facts describe Cox herself. Maya’s story is set in a different community, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and the two should not be merged.
Six facts about Alaqua Cox
1. Hawkeye was her acting debut
The Television Academy reported that Cox landed the role with no prior acting experience, and D23 likewise says she had never acted before Hawkeye. Her career in front of the camera therefore begins with a Marvel Studios Disney+ series rather than with smaller parts that were later followed by a lead.
2. She plays Maya Lopez, known as Echo
Maya Lopez is introduced in Hawkeye (2021) and becomes the lead of Echo, a five-episode series released in 2024. Cox is the performer; Echo is the name of the character’s superhero identity. In the credits and in most coverage, the two appear together, but they are distinct things.
3. She is Menominee and Mohican
The Television Academy’s December 13, 2021 profile says Cox is a member of both the Menominee and Mohican nations and grew up on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Wisconsin. D23 identifies her as Menominee. Reporting on her background therefore rests on her own community affiliations, not on the character’s storyline.
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4. She is deaf and an amputee who uses a prosthetic leg
These are facts about Cox. Her disability is also reflected in how Maya is portrayed on screen, which is why the character and the performer are often discussed together in disability representation coverage. Her deafness and her prosthetic leg are not presented in the sources as something the character is hiding or overcoming in a way that differs from the actor’s own experience.
5. She has said she wanted the prosthetic leg visible
In a January 2024 D23 interview, Cox said: “Although I am deaf and an amputee, I was able to do a lot of my fighting and stunts—and it was important to me to show my prosthetic leg and not try to hide it under clothes.” The same interview reports her training schedule before Echo filming: five days a week for around two hours each day. That figure is her own reported schedule, not a general statement about actors or disabled performers.
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6. Echo’s production emphasized sign language and Indigenous participation
D23 reports that the crew took sign-language classes and that the series had a mostly Indigenous cast and crew. It places Maya’s story in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, which is a separate community from Cox’s Menominee and Mohican background. Director Sydney Freeland, quoted in D23’s January 5, 2024 character guide, described the importance of the performance this way: “The hands are the text, and the face is the subtext, and you need those two things together to get an idea of what a person’s feeling.”
Actor and character: keeping the identities apart
Most confusion about Cox comes from treating the performer and the character as one person. The table below separates them using the points the sources support.
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| Question | Alaqua Cox (actor) | Maya Lopez / Echo (character) |
|---|---|---|
| Where the role first appears | Acting debut in Hawkeye (2021), per the Television Academy and D23 | Introduced in Hawkeye (2021) |
| Leading series | Leads Echo (2024) as the performer | Five-episode series Echo (2024) |
| Community background | Menominee and Mohican, per the Television Academy (Menominee also per D23) | Story rooted in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, per D23 |
| Disability | Deaf; amputee using a prosthetic leg | Portrayed with a prosthetic leg and deafness reflected in the performance |
| Age or birth date | Not stated in the Television Academy, D23, or Marvel Studios material reviewed | Not applicable |
What is not established
Public reporting reviewed for this article does not establish Cox’s age or birth date, so neither appears here. The sources also do not address future Marvel casting, and nothing in this article should be read as a statement about it.
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