Is Echo 2024 safe for kids? Is Echo 2024 OK for kids? Read the Marvel Echo 2024 Review | Safe for Kids?, an honest parents guide and mom review of Marvel’s all-new television mini series under the new Marvel Spotlight banner streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez. No spoilers! #Echo May contain commissioned links.
Marvel Echo 2024 Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide to Marvel’s Miniseries
New year, apparently new Marvel.
*Insert side eye.*
It’s 2024, and I’m not the only one looking to change a few things moving forward into the new year. In a first for Marvel and Disney+ miniseries history, Marvel’s Echo television show is the first title to appear under the new Marvel Spotlight banner, the first Marvel series to release all of the season’s episodes at once, and the first Marvel series to have a TV-MA age rating. Focusing on character-driven stories and less on MCU timeline continuity, viewers can watch these Marvel inspired episodes freely without worrying about connecting the dots.
But is the new Marvel subheading a risky move or worth the viewership reward?
In this Marvel Echo 2024 Review | Safe for Kids?, I’m breaking down the visuals, the story, a full TV-MA age rating explanation for violence, adult themes and language, and what kids’ age recommendation is suggested to watch in this new 2024 Echo TV series parents guide to the new Marvel Spotlight TV show on Disney+. A no-spoiler parent review of Marvel’s Echo, does this new stand alone Marvel series “echo” what this new brand is trying to portray?
Or is this the wrong Marvel Spotlight?
The Visuals
Visually, Marvel’s Echo does need a bit more audience concentration. Since this series offers a deaf, American Sign Language (ASL)-using main character along with subtitles that will need to be closely followed on top of the usual dose of Marvel action, suspense and thriller-type camera movements – there’s a lot to take in for this new miniseries.
I appreciate the creativity and the focus on 5 senses – truly immersing fans into her world as a unique Marvel assassin. Sound enhancement and lighting visuals play a big role in this series, amplifying the focus on Maya Lopez’s hearing disability as well as her physical disability – but not at all in a demeaning way.
Photosensitivity Warning. For viewers prone to epilepsy and photosensitivity, Episode 3 of Echo is the most concerning, with the culmination of bright flashing lights, spinning lights, and scenes in darkness that may be triggering for some viewers. Proceed with caution.
The Story
The new Marvel Spotlight series is directed by Sydney Freeland (“Drunktown’s Finest“) and Catriona McKenzie (“Satellite Boy“). Marvel’s Echo origin story stars Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Men in Black“) as Wilson Fisk, along with Chaske Spencer (“The English”), Graham Greene (“Dances with Wolves”), Tantoo Cardinal (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), K. Devery Jacobs (“Rhymes for Young Ghouls”), Zahn McClarnon (FX’s “Reservation Dogs”), Cody Lightning (“Four Sheets to the Wind”) and Vincent D’Onofrio (“Hawkeye“).
Based on the character first seen in the 2021 Hawkeye, this Marvel origin story revisits assassin Maya Lopez, whose ruthless villain behavior in New York City catches up with her in her hometown as she is pursued by former boss Kingpin’s criminal empire. Reconnecting with her Native American roots, her family, and her past, Maya Lopez must navigate through this new normal in order to survive.
Taking place after the Hawkeye series, there are a few flashbacks to help connect the dots for those who have not seen the Hawkeye series. We also get flashbacks of Maya’s early life as well. While I appreciate the connection to Native American history and culture, a focus on life of a deaf main character as well as a woman amputee, Echo resonates to me as only diversity and inclusion checkbox for Marvel.
Focusing less on the story and character building, Maya’s motivations are muddled and weak. The dialogue is cringe as non-ASL speaking characters fragment lines to keep up. And while the action and fight scenes are intense and very much the “Marvel style,” I miss the relatability, the humor, and the passion of the “old Avengers” days.
Marvel Echo 2024 TV-MA Rating Explained
Is Marvel Echo safe for kids? Another Disney+ Marvel series that’s rated TV-14? Should parents be concerned? It’s no secret that I am highly skeptical of all MPAA ratings (um hello, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker not disclosing any language??). And as we know, not all movie and TV age ratings are the same. As a parent, it’s been rather heartbreaking to witness how ratings have shifted over the years with a G-rating no longer an option.
PG ratings now oscillating between Turning Red intense to Christopher Robin calm, and even PG-13/TV-14 age ratings teetering on the edge of R or MA ratings (Moon Knight and Werewolf by Night, I see you!), there’s a wide range between the age of 0-14 years old for parents to consider. Having fully disclosed parent guidelines can help determine if a movie or show is kid friendly – and safe for the whole family to watch together.
Why is Marvel Echo rated TV-MA? In this Marvel Echo 2024 Review | Safe for Kids?, this 5-episode Marvel Spotlight miniseries streaming show on Disney+ and Hulu is rated TV-MA for “graphic violence, coarse or crude language.” With film and TV ratings also unpredictable these days, having fully disclosed parent guidelines can help determine if a movie or television show like Echo 2024 is kid friendly.
Is Marvel Echo 2024 too graphic for kids? Is Marvel Echo 2024 too scary for kids? Let’s breakdown that TV-MA age rating in this Marvel Echo 2024 parents guide.
*Please note that this Marvel Echo series review and TV-MA age rating breakdown are for episodes 1, 2, and 3 only. I will update this post with reviews of episodes 4 and 5 as they are released.
Violence/Suspense. So far, Marvel’s Echo series seems to be on par with Marvel’s Secret Invasion as far as violence and suspense for the first 3 episodes. Some mild to moderate jump scares, thriller action scenes, and heavy gun, blood, and hand-to-hand fighting sequences seen throughout the episodes. Expect close up kill shots, blood spurts, gore, bone crunching noises, bruising, and open flesh wounds that may make you wince.
Episode 3 is the most violent and bloodiest so far of the Echo episodes. Kidnapping, binding and gagging of characters present, along with a pretty harrowing and bloody kill shot scene (with extended camera focus).
After watching all 5 episodes, episode 4 is the most bloody violent – intense fist fighting to the face, blood spurts and uncomfortable crunching sounds.
Adult Themes. One mild gambling “Powerball” reference. Episode one does feature drinking beer.
Grief, death, and loss are common themes. There are scenes occurring in a hospital setting as well that ay be triggering for some. Some mild fantasy/magic/supernatural powers and effects featured as well.
As far as Marvel Echo sexual innuendo, Episode one has one scene of a man grabbing a woman’s bottom. Episode two features scenes of Native Americans dressed in traditional “sports” clothing (aka loin cloth type coverings with bare chested men). There is also one scene of a man appearing from the shower in only a towel. Episode three features one line referring to “leg-humped.” Overall, very mild for Marvel.
Language. Marvel’s Echo series features an average of 4-6 swear words and foul language phrases per episode so far. It’s overall a moderate amount of language, since some of these words and even signed in American Sign Language (ASL) while closed captioned, along with spoken bad language uses including “bullsh!t,” “sh!t,” “@ss,” “bare @ssed,” “b@stard,” “d@mn,” “d@mn it,” “H-E-double-hockey-sticks,” “crap,” and “sucks.”
Milder bad language phrases and insults in the new Echo 2024 miniseries include words such as “dang,” “screwed,” “shut up,” “heck,” “gimpy,” “jeez,” “g-d,” “oh my g-d,” and “J-sus Christ.”
Marvel Echo 2024 Age Rating for Kids
At a runtime average of 39 to 49 minutes per episode, Marvel’s Echo series is running about the same length as the other Marvel streaming television miniseries. However, graphic and bloody violence along with suspenseful action scenes and thrills may be too intense of younger kids to handle.
Since Maya Lopez is also deaf in this series, following closed captioned subtitles and heavy dialogue play important roles in understanding the story and character development. This could also be fast-paced and confusing for kids to keep up. (Thankfully, streaming does offer a pause button!)
This Marvel 2024 miniseries is closely compared to the Netflix Marvel series spinoffs including Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and The Defenders and most recently the Disney+ series Secret Invasion.
Marvel’s Echo television miniseries has 5-episodes for season 1. This is the first Marvel series ever to release all of the episodes at once for a single season at the same time.
Yes, Echo is the first Marvel Studios miniseries to have a TV-MA age rating for “graphic violence, coarse or crude language” by the MPAA 2024.
Yes, there is one end credit scene in Marvel’s Echo 2024 miniseries for Episode 5. Note that episode one does show a mini preview montage at the end of the episode if you want to avoid spoilers.
Based on my Marvel Echo parents guide and mom review above, this parent TV reviewer would not recommend this new miniseries to children younger than the age of 13-14 years old.
Considering the full TV-MA rating breakdown above, this parent television reviewer would not recommend Marvel’s Echo TV series to kids younger than the age of 13-14 years old. This Echo Marvel TV-MA rating is pretty spot on and easily comparable to Marvel’s Moon Knight, Daredevil and Secret Invasion miniseries ratings so far for episodes 1-3.
With graphic, intense, and bloody violence, peril and suspense, I think the TV-MA rating is borderline harsh versus a TV-14 rating. Episode 4 would be the most intense for bloody violence. But the other 4 episodes are relatively on par with what we have seen in TV-14 rated shows.
The Overall
Full disclosure, after previewing the first 3 episodes, I was ready to give this show a rotten score. With zero stakes in the overall MCU timeline, I found this character driven miniseries just a checkbox for the diversity and inclusion quota fulfillment for 2024 Marvel. I love the enhanced visuals. I love the weaving of Choctaw Native American history and culture. The fighting is dark and gritty.
But with slow character build, choppy story, and low investment stakes, Echo takes more than 3 episodes to finally build into a “Marvel-worthy” series. The painfully slow build, poor character development, what was taking Marvel so long? And then the last 2 episodes hit me. Better, but not Marvel’s best.
And this is coming from a diverse woman who desperately is cheering for a deaf, Native American, superhero, amputee woman. But even with all of Marvel’s “good” attempts at highlighting marginalized communities, this series is falling short of being what Marvel is truly good at – relatability to the audience. I had hoped that 2024 would be a redemption year for Marvel Studios – but instead I’m continuing my mantra into the new year of just being “super tired” of Marvel’s lack of entertainment in the “no-idea-what-number-but-it’s-NOT-Avengers” Phase.
Follow Marvel’s Echo on social media:
- Website: https://www.marvel.com/tv-shows/echo/1
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarvelStudios
- Twitter (“X”): https://twitter.com/MarvelStudios
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MarvelStudios
- #Echo
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Marvel’s Echo, the all-new season 1 TV miniseries premiere with all 5-episodes streaming exclusively on Disney+ starts on Tuesday January 9, 2024 at 9 p ET, and on Hulu starting April 9, 2024. Will your family be watching?
I was invited to screen the episodes 1-3 of the new 2024 Echo mini series in exchange for this Marvel Echo 2024 Review | Safe for Kids? Parents Guide. All photos courtesy of Disney/Marvel. Be sure to follow Raising Whasians for more movie updates, celebrity interviews, entertainment and behind-the-scenes info!
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