The Top 20 Characters We Wish Were in M. Night’s The Last Airbender (11-20)

Share on Facebook posted 05-11-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

Avatar: The Last Airbender was a multi-layered series enjoyed by many fans. Though it was meant to be a show for children, the martial arts action, well written humor, and compelling characters made the show enjoyable for all ages. Now, M. Night Shyamalan is helming The Last Airbender, the big screen adaptation of the Avatar series. The Last Airbender is just a two hour movie (although the vision is for it to be a trilogy) and Avatar: The Last Airbender was a three season series, so we know that M. Night isn’t going to be able to get to everything. However, when we looked at the IMDB page for the movie, we saw that some of our favorite characters (even if they were minor) won’t even be showing up. Maybe this is because the movie will probably only address part of the series and maybe we’re being paranoid that we may never see the already planned two sequels that would introduce these fan favorites but we wanted to note are our Top 20 Avatar: The Last Airbender characters we wish were in the movie, but aren’t.

20. The Sandbenders

Part of the fun of Avatar: The Last Airbender, was seeing how different groups of people spun basic elemental manipulation into all different sorts of cool powers. The Sandbenders, first appearing in book two, didn’t have a whole lot of personality, but for generic desert bandits they sure had one hell of an awesome fighting style. The Sandbenders combined the stamina of the earth with a flowing Tai Chi style of martial arts, allowing the amorphous desert sands themselves to become their weapon. Most of us have already accepted that M. Night’s interpretation will be nothing more than a special effects fest, and what better eye candy than fighting with the desert itself at your control. It worked for The Mummy!

19. Guru Pathik

Now it’s a bit much of us to expect Guru Pathik to show up in the first movie because he was kind of a late game entrant. He only showed up for a few episodes and then vanished for the rest of the series, but this wise old man had the key to the avatar state in his hands. He teaches Aang how to unblock his chakras to gain unlimited power, and though Aang fails horribly, the wise words of the Guru stay with him till the very end. That, and he also had sense of humor to boot, so we would have loved to see him get some screen time.

18. Hama

Another late game entrant that showed up in one episode in book three, Hama deserves to get some screen time because of just how creepy she is. This old woman was an imprisoned member of the Water Tribe, deprived of everything but the bare essentials and kept from any sort of moisture that could be used as a weapon. Unfortunately for her captors, she soon realized that most of life itself is made of water, 70% for humans. She soon learned how to sap water out of living things including plants and animals, killing them in the process and granting her a potent weapon. She also invented blood bending, the ability to control the water in a victims veins and arteries so as to control them like a puppet. Once again, this is something that seriously needs to be represented on the big screen, just for its cool factor.

17. Hakoda

Hakoda is damn important, and honestly we couldn’t believe that he wasn’t cast in the big screen interpretation. He is Sokka and Katara’s father, and he actually was represented in a flashback in book one, which is what M. Night’s movie is covering. He plays key roles in the final battle and the very search for his whereabouts is one of the longest running plot arcs in the series. It seems foolish to not even give him a face.

16. King Kuei and His Bear … Weird …

King Kuei was the king of the Earth Kingdom, and considering that, he was one hell of a throw-away character. He was controlled by a shadow government, extremely pretentious in personality, and was overly devoted to his pet bear which was one of the only non-hybrid animals in the Avatar world. However, he was hilarious and all things considered, he was a decent guy. He too, eventually ran off to live a peasant’s life when shit hit the fan, but he played a big part in the overall Earth Kingdom storyline so he certainly deserves some screen time. Also, this lets M. Night make some bear jokes.

15. Jeong Jeong

Bet you don’t remember who Jeong Jeong is. Well we couldn’t remember him either … at least by his name that is. Jeong Jeong was the deserter, the man who had had enough of the cruelty practiced in the Fire Lord’s war. He was an enlightened soul who had infinite rage inside him that fueled some of the most powerful fire-bending in all the land. Aang originally wants Jeong Jeong to teach him the way’s of fire bending, but Aang was not capable of controlling the fire stoked by his own emotions and nearly burned a forest to the ground, burning Katara in the process. Jeong Jeong perhaps knew more about fire-bending than anyone else, and for this he deserves some screen time. Well, that, and the gigantic infernos he causes would be some awesome special effects eye candy.

14. June and Nyla

June is another one of those characters that actually showed up in book one but for some reason wasn’t cast in M. Night’s spin. She is a bounty hunter hired by Zuko to capture the Avatar, and she rides one hell of a strange giant lizard anteater thing. Her favored weapon is a whip, and the paralyzing toxins that her mount secretes. She could totally kick your ass. No fooling, she easily beats up pretty much every thug that starts trouble with her. However, the main reason we want to see June in M. Night’s movie is because she is goddamn sexy. There is nothing hotter than a chick that can beat you up.

13. Chit Sang

Most of our entrants on this list have secured their places because we thought that they were cool. However, Chit Sang has secured his place at thirteen by not being cool enough. This convict escaped the boiling rock with the rest of the Avatar crew, only to eventually fade from the story (and their little freedom fighting band of adventurers) a few episodes later. Overall, this was a cop out, because Chit Sang proved how awesome he was time and time again. Though he had a kind heart he wasn’t afraid to play dirty and he was one of the only characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender that used a style of fighting more oriented toward street brawling. He was this well of possibility that Nickelodeon never capitalized on, and we wouldn’t mind if M. Night gave him a bit more time in the spotlight.

12. Teo and The Mechanist

Teo was one of those short bus type of characters that made sure to shove the word “handi-capable” in your face. Bound to a wheel-chair, Teo still manages to be one of the most awesome characters in Avatar because he converts his wheelchair to a glider, which can basically drop bombs on you. Yeah, this kid basically had the first single person strike bomber, which makes him the coolest character in a wheelchair aside from maybe Professor X. Oh yeah, and he also doubles as a submarine and tank commander. Bad-ass no? The Mechanist on the other hand … well he sort of comes as a package deal with Teo being his father and all, but on the upside he is responsible for inventing gigantic war drills and hot air balloons and that is pretty cool too.

11. Haru and His Dad

Early on in the series, we were introduced to the horrible atrocities that the Fire Nation committed on a regular basis. One of these atrocities was shipping out earth benders to concentration camps at sea. Devoid of any sort of earth, they slaved away at forced labor, unable to help themselves in any way, shape, or form. It was depressing. Haru’s dad was one of these oppressed many, and Haru, being an earth-bender himself, was eventually shipped off to the concentration camp as well when he foolishly helped an old man trapped under a rockslide by earth bending his way out. Luckily, Katara and the rest of the crew engineered a plan to get captured and shipped off to the prison camp as well (they seem to be good at that) and through their heroic and inspiring exploits, they freed the earth benders and saved the day. Now, this is all well and good, but the real reason we want to see Haru get some screen time, is his awesome moustache. It’s just so … manly!