Avatar fans tease James Cameron for “copying” The Last Airbender

Kayla Harrington
Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender and Kiri from Avatar: The Way of Water

Avatar fans have started to tease James Cameron for modeling his sequels in a similar way to Avatar: The Last Airbender.

It’s no secret that James Cameron’s Avatar is one of the biggest movies of our generation with both films grossing almost $6 billion at the box office.

Both Avatar and its sequel — The Way of Water — follow Corporal Jake Sully, a disabled former Marine whose consciousness is transferred into the body of a Na’vi warrior and infiltrates their tribe before joining them fully as he falls in love with their tribe leader’s daughter Neytiri te Tskaha Mo’at’ite.

And with a third movie on the horizon, Avatar fans have started to tease the director about how his movies’ storytelling matches that of the beloved animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Avatar fans find a connection to Avatar: The Last Airbender

The sequel to Cameron’s generation-defining film Avatar saw Sully and his family get help from the Metkayina clan, who live in Pandora’s Eastern Sea, as they tried to fight off a new human threat.

Cameron has teased that Avatar’s third film, which is currently untitled, will feature what he calls the “Ash People” or Fire Na’vi, which he has said will add a darker element to franchise.

“In the early films, there are very negative human examples and very positive Na’vi examples,” Cameron explained, “In Avatar 3, we’ll do the reverse. We will also explore new universes while continuing the story of the main characters.”

Eagle-eyed Avatar fans were quick to point out on Twitter that Cameron’s summary of the “Ash People” sounds a lot like the Fire Nation in Avatar: The Last Airbender, which saw fire benders as evil forces against the other element nations.

They also discussed how Book One of ATLA saw Aang, the last Airbender, and his crew seeking help from the Water Tribe in the North like Sully had to do with the Metkayina clan.

It wasn’t long for fans to joke that the fourth Avatar movie, which is set to come out in 2029, may follow this similar path and focus on Na’vi that have close ties to the Earth, like ATLA’s Earth benders.

Avatar fans will have to wait and see if the franchise will end with Sully facing off against an evil, bearded man who threatens to destroy the world with fire.

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About The Author

Kayla is a TV and Movies Writer at Dexerto. She's huge fan of Marvel (especially if Wanda Maximoff is involved), shows that make you laugh then cry, and any cooking show found on the Food Network. Before Dexerto, she wrote for Mashable, BuzzFeed, and The Mary Sue. You can contact her at kayla.harrington@dexerto.com