Marvel"s Echo: Choctaw Creation Myth & Real World Differences Explained

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Warning: This article contains spoilers for Echo.
Summary

Marvel Studios collaborated with the Choctaw Nation and the IllumiNative organization to ensure an authentic depiction of Choctaw culture in Echo.
The opening moments of Echo episode 1, "Chafa," explored the Choctaw Nation's creation myth and stayed true to real-world mythology while adding some of the MCU's typical supernatural elements.
Maya Lopez's powers as Echo in the MCU connect her directly to her Native American ancestry, giving new meaning to her superhero moniker.

Marvel Studios' Echo detailed the events of the Choctaw Nation's real-world creation myth, though there are several differences between the ancient story and its interpretation in the MCU. Following her debut as Maya Lopez in Phase 4's Hawkeye series, Alaqua Cox reprised the role in Echo, which released in its entirety on Disney+ on January 9, 2024. Echo explored more of Maya's background and Native American heritage, and to ensure Echo's depiction of Choctaw culture, language and customs were as authentic as possible, Marvel Studios worked alongside the Choctaw Nation and the IllumiNative organization, which allowed the MCU to investigate the history of the Choctaw Nation in all its glory.
In Marvel Comics, Maya Lopez's Echo is a member of the Blackfeet Nation, which primarily resides in Montana. This was altered to place her as a part of the Choctaw Nation in the MCU, centered in the town of Tamaha, Oklahoma. This allowed Echo's diverse cast to include many Native American actors, including Tantoo Cardinal, Chaske Spencer, Graham Greene, Cody Lightning and Devery Jacobs, as well as Alaqua Cox herself, bringing a new sense of representation to the MCU. In developing the MCU's Choctaw and Maya's abilities as Echo, Marvel Studios explored the mythology of the Choctaw Nation's origins, helping Echo to further build up the world of the MCU.

Related Latest MCU Phase 5 Project Proves Right From The Start It’s Not Like Other Marvel Studios Movies & Shows Marvel's latest release is different from other MCU shows in several ways, but the most obvious difference is illuminated at the beginning. Echo Explored The Choctaw Nation’s Real Creation Myth Close The opening moments of Echo episode 1, "Chafa," detailed the creation story of the Choctaw Nation, and stayed fairly true to what the real-world mythology dictates. In Echo, a group of seemingly extradimensional beings are thrust through a portal in a cave and find themselves on Earth where they transform into humans, becoming the first members of the Choctaw Nation. Their leader, Chafa, was subsequently celebrated as the first Choctaw, and she seems to be based on Chata, one of two brothers who were said to have formed the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes by leading their people far from a land that failed to prosper, guided by a magical staff.
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Related Echo's Sign Language Inclusion Detailed By MCU Show Director: "Representation Can Have Positive Consequences" Exclusive: Sydney Freeland, director of the next Marvel series Echo, discussed how accurately representing sign language helped serve the MCU show. In the Choctaw migration story, Chata and Chicksah, the other brother, lay the bones of their ancestors in a great mound buried in the earth. This mound became known as Nanih Waiya, the mound of all creation, which led to the emergence of a more otherworldly creation myth. The story that Echo explores is this myth, which states that, from Nanih Waiya, the Creator fashioned the first people. These people crawled through a long cave, eventually emerging in daylight to become the first Choctaw. They were said to have dried themselves in the sun before building their settlement on the site, which is depicted in the opening moments of Echo.
Chafa's name in Echo could also originate from the passageway said to have been used by the first Choctaw to emerge from Nanih Waiya, Nane Chaha. This passageway was said to extend to the center of the Earth, but in the MCU, this could perhaps be a pathway to another mystical realm, similarly to Ta Lo or K'un-Lun.
How Does Maya Lopez Use Chafa’s Power In Echo?

While Marvel Studios does a good job of authentically demonstrating the Choctaw creation myth, there are evidently some creative liberties taken when bringing this ancient story into the MCU. Most notably, Chafa demonstrates abilities before departing from the cave in Nanih Waiya, depicted as swirling patterns on her palms that extend into her arms. In some Native American cultures, the spiral symbol seen on Chafa's palms represents life's journey, growth and eternity, relating to existence on Earth. The Hopi Tribe of Arizona call this the "Healing Hand," and believe the symbol to carry the powers of the tribe's Shaman, someone who has access the worlds of good and evil spirits.
Echo reveals that Maya Lopez is descended from a long line of women leading all the way back to Chafa, including Lowak in the 13th Century, Tuklo in the 1800s, and her grandmother and mother, Chula and Taloa, respectively. All these women inherited some of Chafa's powerful abilities, demonstrated in Lowak's strength and agility, Tuklo's marksmanship and bravery, Chula's creativity and visions, and Taloa's healing and empathy, all of which Maya can tap into as her ancestors "echo" through her. Maya uses her Echo powers to free herself when trapped on a train, take on Zane and his henchmen with skee-balls, and make Wilson Fisk's Kingpin relive a traumatic memory.
In Marvel Comics, Maya Lopez's powers are very different, as she has photographic reflexes, allowing her to perfectly mimic the actions of any other individual just by watching. Her abilities in the MCU connect her much more directly to her Native American ancestry, and give new meaning to her superhero moniker of Echo.
Marvel Studios’ Choctaw Creation Changes Fit The MCU Better

Marvel Spotlight's Echo brings a level of fantasism to the Choctaw creation myth, which allows the ancient story to be adapted to better fit the world of the MCU. Marvel Studios seems to have suggested that Chafa and the first Choctaw were otherworldly beings, perhaps traveling from an alternate dimension, which could be the MCU's adaptation of Marvel Comics' Giizhigong. This pocket dimension is home to the Manidoogs, beings who were worshiped as gods by Native American tribes. By altering the Choctaw creation myth slightly, Maya Lopez's abilities in Echo carry a deeper meaning, and hints at her becoming a powerful force as the MCU's first live-action Native American superhero.

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