Let’s Talk About Echo’s End Credits Scene

Marvel Studios’ latest show, Echo, is unique in that the bulk of its story is isolated. After quickly explaining its place in the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe, the show focuses on Maya Lopez, her family, her heritage, and, eventually, her “uncle” Wilson Fisk, aka Kingpin.

This is Marvel though. And after being more isolated from the larger MCU than not, Echo’s end credits scene dropped a massive tease of what’s next, not just for all the characters in this world, but the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole. Let’s discuss.

During the credits of Echo’s fifth and final episode (all five episodes were released simultaneously) we see Kingpin on his private jet. He flew to Oklahoma from New York to try and convince Maya to come back to New York with him, but he failed. Defeated and returning home without that pseudo-daughter he loves (but was almost certainly going to kill because she’s a threat to him), he notices something on the TV. New York news is talking about an upcoming mayoral election and how the current candidates are not impressing voters. The pundit suggests that a “bare-knuckle brawler would do well in the race.”

“An outsider,” he continues. “Somebody who is not afraid to take on the establishment.” The news team acknowledges that while it seems late for a person like that to miraculously appear, there is a window of opportunity for it to happen. Kingpin watches this attentively and, in the end, leans in curiously.

It doesn’t take a genius to piece together what Marvel is throwing down here. The evil, unmerciful, and very angry Wilson Fisk is going to run for mayor of New York City. When might we see that? Well, it just so happens that a show called Daredevil: Born Again is on the horizon, set in New York City, starring Vincent D’Onofio’s Kingpin as well as Charlie Cox’s Daredevil. And it seems very, very obvious that Kingpin’s mayoral election is going to play a central role in the show.

Kingpin as Mayor is from a 2017 run of Marvel Comics (starting with the above Daredevil #595) written by Charles Soule, where Daredevil vows to stop the supervillain from becoming Mayor and even infiltrates his inner circle as his secret identity of Matt Murdock. Is that the plot of Born Again? We don’t know, but we’d be willing to bet it’s a big part of it.

And once you put a supervillain in a position of power like that, who is to say what happens next? In the comics, Kingpin used that power to attempt to wrangle and arrest superheroes. Spider-Man is swinging around New York right about now, isn’t he? Doctor Strange calls the city home. There’s a big, huge tower with an “A” on that that hasn’t been claimed by anyone at the moment. And don’t the Avengers have (or at least “had”) their base a little bit north of there? The possibilities of Kingpin as a power figure could be felt across seemingly all the franchises. And while it would be more logical on a ground level, don’t forget comics and movies have shown Kingpin become interested in multiverses too and how he might use those to his benefit.

All of which is to say, the end credits scene of Echo may just be a new version of the one in The Avengers, where we first got a glimpse of Thanos. Kingpin won’t be wiping out trillions with a snap of his fingers, but he could be a valuable ally for someone who could. And either way, it’s a huge revelation and a massive tease for the future.

See this scene and more in Echo, which is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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