BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
In time, Maya was surprisingly approached by Captain America of the Avengers. After disbanding for a time, the team had recently reformed to thwart a breakout at the Raft, the super-villain containment facility. Everyone present that night had accepted Cap’s offer to join the new Avengers except for Matt Murdock, who thought he would be a trouble magnet for the team due to his secret identity being made public in the tabloids. One of the Raft escapees, the Silver Samurai, had returned home to Tokyo and was rumored to be making connections with the Hand and the Japanese underworld. Captain America wanted Daredevil’s experience in this area for the team, but Matt instead recommended Maya to aid the Avengers in his stead.
Honored by the trust Daredevil and Captain America were showing her, Maya agreed to be Cap’s informant and operative in Japan. She had some contacts of her own overseas from her history 
with Wilson Fisk and set up an information-gathering cover as a socialite. By night, however, Maya took to the streets in a new identity as Ronin. The padded costume disguised her profile and special night vision lenses helped compensate for her deafness in the dark. The Ronin soon became a respected figure in the underworld as Maya worked her sources to find out what was happening with the Hand.
Eventually, Ronin believed she had the information she needed and alerted Captain America to meet her with the Avengers in Japan. She traced the Hand to a meeting at one of the Clan Yashida’s ancestral estates. Not only was the Silver Samurai present but so was Viper, the former Madame Hydra. Ronin was noticed by the Hand before she could report news of this alliance to Cap and she ended up leading a full fist of the Hand to the Avengers’ hotel room. Ronin and the Avengers drove off the Hand and returned to the Yashida estate. Fortunately, the Silver Samurai was not interested in the alliance proposed to him and the Avengers captured the Viper. Maya revealed her identity to the rest of the Avengers and promised to continue her investigations in Japan to find out more about the Hand and Hydra alliance they were witnessing. [New Avengers (1st series) #11-13]
[Note: Ronin was, in fact, originally meant to be Daredevil. The story would have been, because of his publicity issues, Matt Murdock would assume a second identity (Ronin) 
while with the Avengers. This “unidentified new member” appeared on several covers and preview images before being inadvertently spoiled as Daredevil in a USA Today interview with Bendis. Apparently as a result of that spoiler, the story was re-written to preserve the surprise, with Echo taking Daredevil’s place.
In-universe, Maya Lopez supposedly crafted the Ronin identity when she went undercover in Japan. However, subsequence stories after she abandoned the identity showed the true original Ronin was leader of the Dark Ocean Society, who was killed by Dominic Fortune back in the World War II era. How Maya came across the Ronin identity considering this retcon has not been revisited.]
With Captain America’s approval and Iron Man’s financial support, Maya continued her infiltration of the Japanese underworld. She uncovered information indicating that Elektra Natchios’s 
takeover of the Hand was the first step towards a larger goal. However, her mission fell apart once the Superhuman Registration Act led to a civil war between the Avengers back home. With Captain America dead and Iron Man hunting many of her former allies as unregistered vigilantes, Ronin didn’t know who to trust. She sent word to Matt Murdock along with a copy of her Ronin gear before confronting the Hand, warning him in case she didn’t make it back. She didn’t. Ronin fought the hordes of the Hand in Tokyo and was killed in a duel with Elektra.
The Hand were not done with her, however. Elektra had the ninja mystics bring Maya back to life as they prepared a treatment of chemical, magical and psychological brainwashing to make her into the Hand’s puppet. But Murdock passed on Ronin’s message to Luke Cage, Wolverine and the other Avengers who remained unregistered. Their new recruit, Clint “Hawkeye” Barton, adopted the Ronin identity to sow confusion in the Hand. With Doctor Strange’s help, the Avengers teleported into the Hand’s abode and rescued Maya. They were still in Tokyo, however, and failed to find safe haven with the Clan Yashida. As Maya was detoxing from the Hand’s drugs, 
Elektra found them and exerted enough influence on Echo to make her stab Strange. In his astral form, Doctor Strange purged Maya of the Hand’s dark magic and she turned her rage on Elektra. Echo fatally stabbed Elektra, sending the Hand into retreat. The corpse she left behind was a shock to everyone, though, as Elektra was revealed in death as an alien, shape-changing Skrull. [New Avengers (1st series) #27-31]
The ramifications of the Elektra-Skrull sunk in among Maya and the Avengers as they returned to the United States. Many of the threads the team had been chasing since the Raft breakout indicated this was part of a large-scale infiltration of the planet Earth, from S.H.I.E.L.D. to Hydra and possibly even the Avengers. The Avengers started to break even as Maya officially joined them. Spider-Woman took the Skrull’s corpse and defected to Iron Man’s registered Avengers, claiming Stark would be better positioned to investigate the infiltration than the renegade team. Back at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange cast a spell he claimed would reveal the true nature and intentions of all present. It calmed the paranoia among the Avengers temporarily, but doubts still lingered. Maya chose to gift the Ronin identity to Clint Barton full time and returned to her original costume as Echo. [New Avengers (1st series) #32-34]
Echo and the Avengers struggled to keep fighting the good fight while dealing with the looming threat of the Skrull invasion they feared was coming. They battled the Hood and his growing syndicate of super-criminals, as well as another invasion by the exiled Hulk and his Warbound allies of Sakaar. The Skrull infiltration remained an imminent threat as a Skrull disguised as 
Daredevil attempted to kill and replace Echo. As the newest member of the team with whom the other member were least familiar, she would have been an ideal replacement. Maya connected with Clint Barton and began an affair with him, but their time together would be short. [New Avengers (1st series) #35-39] The invasion began as the Skrulls lured both teams of Avengers to the Savage Land before attacking the world. Spider-Woman revealed herself as the Skrull queen Veranke when she turned on Echo. Nevertheless, the Avengers persevered and rooted out the imposters in their ranks. The Skrulls were defeated in Central Park during a massive battle of heroes and villains alike. Shockingly, many of the people abducted by the Skrulls were revealed to be alive, including Spider-Woman and Mockingbird, Clint Barton’s wife who had long been believed dead. [Secret Invasion #1-8]
In the aftermath of the Skrull invasion, the unregistered Avengers were joined by the new Captain America (Bucky Barnes) and regrouped at his private building. However, Maya was not among the members who made it to the rally point. [New Avengers (1st series) #48] Iron Fist later mentioned he called her, but she never responded. Perhaps she was suspicious towards the real 
Jessica Drew after the Skrulls’ Spider-Woman betrayed them. Perhaps she was uncomfortable around Mockingbird after her time with Clint. Perhaps Iron Fist forgot to use text-to-speech. [New Avengers (1st series) #50] In any case, Echo stopped associating with the Avengers and vanished into the night. Even months later, after the Superhuman Registration Act was rescinded, she only briefly touched base with her former teammates. [New Avengers (2nd series) #7]
Maya found her way out west and began a private investigation into organized crime in California. Rumors had been swirling about a possible “Kingpin of Los Angeles” setting up shop and so Maya found a night club known to be associated with this mysterious figure. She took a job as a stripper under the direction of Sheoke Sanada, Snapdragon, the crimeboss’s chief enforcer. After Maya 
had been on the job for three weeks, however, the super-hero Moon Knight brazenly entered the club (posing as Spider-Man, no less) looking to shake down some information for his own investigation. When Snapdragon and her people got the drop on him, Echo broke her cover in order to get Moon Knight to safety. [Moon Knight (6th series) #2]
Echo was irritated with Moon Knight for having to save him, but he still reached out to her as Marc Spector afterwards about pooling their efforts to locate the new kingpin. He made no attempt to hide his mental problems, but also insisted he was trying new strategies as a hero out in L.A. Maya found Marc charming (to a degree), but worried about how crazy he really was. She called Avengers Mansion to check up on Moon Knight’s Avenger status. The reviews were mixed but ultimately Steve Rogers trusted Moon Knight on his covert ops roster and that had to be enough. Maya and Marc met for dinner only to be attacked by the Night Shift, mercenaries hired by Snapdragon to eliminate them. [Moon Knight (6th series) #3-4]
The Night Shift was rather easily dispatched but the LAPD arrived and (not as familiar with super-
heroes as the NYPD) tried to arrest the two heroes as well. Maya and Marc ended up absconding with a police car and hiding in an alleyway. In the middle of some light-hearted, flirty banter, Moon Knight made a pass at Echo and kissed her. She punched his lights out for that and made her own way home that night. Maya still met up with Marc the next day, though. She apologized for hitting him (repeatedly) and admitted to finding him attractive, but warned him about being so presumptuous again. They renewed their partnership as Captain America and the Avengers arrived to check in on Moon Knight’s investigations. Marc had stolen the head of an Ultron which the kingpin was trying to acquire and the Avengers agreed to trust Moon Knight and Echo in using it as bait to smoke out the crimeboss. [Moon Knight (6th series) #5-6]
Working with Moon Knight, Echo became acquainted with his tech guy, an ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent named Buck Lime. Buck improved upon Maya’s favored fighting staff by adding a sliver of Vibranium to its core. Together, they arranged for Buck to “sell out” Marc, setting up a sale of the Ultron head to Snapdragon. This drew out the true Kingpin of Los Angeles, the former Maggia boss Count Luchino Nefaria. A fake Ultron head used in the exchange sprayed Nefaria with chemicals to inhibit his considerable ionic powers and he was forced to flee Moon Knight and Echo to avoid being captured. Snapdragon was picked up by the police and Nefaria was exposed 
to the authorities for his efforts at consolidating power. With the leaders incapacitated, Echo and Moon Knight had free reign to begin dismantling the criminal empire using intelligence gathered by Maya during her undercover work. Maya found she truly enjoyed working with Marc. She had been out of her depth when she first started this investigation, but felt like she couldn’t ask the Avengers for help. This time, it was Maya who impulsively kissed Marc as they prepared the next in a series of raids on Nefaria’s holdings. [Moon Knight (6th series) #7-8]
However, their good fortune didn’t hold out. Count Nefaria cleansed himself of Moon Knight’s inhibitor chemical and came looking for them with a vengeance. More than just angry, Nefaria felt his future standing in the California criminal underworld was in jeopardy after being caught on camera being beaten by two essentially non-powered heroes. He was not only planning to kill Echo and Moon Knight; he was going to make it last and make it hurt. Marc and Maya were not ready to face a Thor-class opponent and Marc made the gallant but offensive maneuver of pushing Maya to safety and trying to holding Count Nefaria’s attention himself. Echo returned 
anyway and her Vibranium staff managed to momentarily stun Nefaria. They lost control of the tempo of the fight, though. Marc was thrown clear and Maya was left exposed as Nefaria incinerated a hole through her chest using his ionic laser vision. The shock killed Echo before her body even hit the pavement. [Moon Knight (6th series) #9] Moon Knight followed through on their efforts, beating Nefaria with the Avengers help and dismantling his fledgling empire, but Maya Lopez was still dead. [Moon Knight (6th series) #10-12]