Nickelodeon‘s Avatar: The Final Airbender is an animated basic with no scarcity of battle, as the present has greater than sufficient heroic characters and dangerous guys to go round. Regardless of the Hearth Nation’s objective of taking up the world, the episode’s antagonists vary far past those that serve that final objective. There’s Hama from the Southern Water Tribe, these Earth-Kingdom troopers in “Zuko Alone,” and even beings from the Spirit World. Not each one in every of Crew Avatar’s foes is equally fascinating, in fact. The person from season three who shoots monumental blasts out of his eye does not even have dialogue, and he principally has simply as a lot persona. That is a sub-par villain, however many of the others all through Avatar: The Final Airbender are extra engrossing.
You do not have to start out off as a villain to be an excellent one, nor does a villain have to stay one with the intention to be among the many collection’ finest. A terrific nemesis does not essentially should be evil of their core, inclined to violence, and even share the worldview of the individuals they’re appearing with. Some play on a sure aspect as a result of that is the state of affairs they had been born into (or had been compelled into alongside the best way), and Avatar does an ideal job of exhibiting simply how a lot one’s circumstances decide one’s path in life. Then there is a character like Iroh, who feels too peaceable to actually be a villain—regardless of his function in serving to Zuko discover the Avatar in season one. Whether or not they seem in just one episode or act as recurring characters, the perfect antagonists in Avatar: The Final Airbender are ranked by their thematic weight, their degree of nuance, how they set about reaching their objectives, and the rationale for why they’re appearing towards the collection’ heroes within the first place.
10
Commander/Admiral Zhao
Voiced by Jason Isaacs
Whereas Zuko is chasing the Avatar in season one, so is Commander (later Admiral) Zhao. Voiced by Jason Isaacs, he is kind of a normal dangerous man who has adopted the Hearth Nation philosophy, orders his troopers round, and will get actually mad when issues do not work out. In contrast to Zuko, he does not have a lot of a backstory that may give him any interior battle relating to his function within the Hearth Nation. He did, nonetheless, used to have a famously smart and highly effective grasp (Jeong Jeong), who instructed him that he lacked the persistence to develop into a really nice bender.
This proves fairly correct, as Aang tips him into burning his ships down and Zuko beats him at an Agni Kai. Probably the most fascinating factor about Zhao is that he visited a secret spirit library in the midst of a desert and used the knowledge he discovered there to provide you with a method to kill the moon and obliterate the water-benders’ skills. This is able to not solely have an effect on Aang and buddies after they go to the library themselves, however his plans would come to horrifying fruition within the season one finale. In the long run, Zhao was a good adversary.
9
Firelord Ozai
Voiced by Mark Hamill
Firelord Ozai is simply as evil as Zhao, however he is clearly far more highly effective and has a good cooler voice (because of Mark Hamill). There is not a lot nuance to him as a personality, which might be correctly for the final word villain of a children’ present. His essential job for many of the collection is to look intimidating, which he actually accomplishes. What makes him particular is how he provides nuance to Zuko and Azula’s characters, as he traumatizes the previous and offers the latter a drive to succeed that primarily forfeits any moral instincts.
This man does not fiddle, as he challenged his personal son to an Agni Kai for merely talking out of flip throughout a gathering. Moreover, though Zuko refused to struggle him, the Firelord would nonetheless severely burn the boy’s face so badly that it left a horrible scar. As if that weren’t dangerous sufficient, he then banished his son and instructed him to not return with out the Avatar. Together with the best way that he had his father killed for the throne, Ozai’s backstory greater than makes up for his pretty generic persona.
8
Ty Lee
Voiced by Olivia Hack
Some villains convey suspense and foreboding, whereas others are extra lighthearted. Ty Lee (Olivia Hack) has such a bubbly persona that she qualifies as somebody who’s persistently amusing to observe. She does a bunch of flips, makes jokes, flirts with Sokka whereas she’s combating him, and is so good at fight that she will be able to hit individuals’s strain factors such that their bending goes away. Her cheeriness serves as a pleasant distinction to Mai and Azula, who aren’t the friendliest of individuals.
Ty Lee is particularly fascinating as a result of she does not even wish to struggle within the first place. She’s a circus performer, and she or he solely joins the seek for the Avatar after Azula threatens her throughout her personal efficiency. Ty Lee would ultimately betray Azula when it appears she’s about to kill Mai, which speaks to her true character and loyalty to the buddy who is not pure evil. Playful but compelling characters like this assist make Avatar one in every of the perfect Nicktoons of all time.
7
Mai
Voiced by Cricket Leigh
The emotional reverse of Ty Lee, Mai (Cricket Leigh), is both throwing an limitless quantity of darts and knives at individuals or sitting round bored. Not the sunniest character on this planet, she naturally has a romantic historical past with Zuko. Certainly, when she’s with the Hearth Nation prince, we see that she does have emotions. It is fascinating how we’re capable of see the trajectory of their relationship so clearly (even from their childhood), and but she’s solely launched in season two. It simply goes to point out how a lot a sharply written collection can do with only a few glorious seasons.
Regardless of her demeanor, Mai is usually a very humorous character. When Azula comes to select her up, she’s able to go simply in order that she will be able to have one thing to do. When our heroes sneak up on her and Ty Lee within the season two finale to free Bosco, all they should do is disarm Ty Lee. Seeing that she’s outmatched, Mai sighs “Simply take the bear.” It is hilarious that she does not even attempt to cease them. Then there’s her betrayal of Azula, making her one of many extra sophisticated villains within the collection.
6
Lengthy Feng
Voiced by Clancy Brown
Clancy Brown has performed such villains as Captain Hadley in The Shawshank Redemption and Lex Luthor in Superman: The Animated Sequence, so it is no shock that he knocks his Avatar function out of the park: Chief of the Dai Li, Lengthy Feng. This man has kind of been the shadow king of the Earth Kingdom stronghold Ba Sing Se, utilizing the clueless Earth King as his puppet. The Dai Li is a secret police drive that he makes use of to regulate the town, arresting and hypnotizing individuals into believing there isn’t a warfare past the partitions.
It takes lots to drive individuals to not converse of the warfare, given how Basic Iroh tried to interrupt by comparatively just lately. Lengthy Feng’s energy makes our heroes’ time in Ba Sing Se ominous and engaging to observe. The Dai Li is ready to seize Appa, too. Regardless of his capability to rise within the ranks, nonetheless, Lengthy Feng is ousted by Azula in one in every of the collection’ best entries. However, he was a stable villain with distinctive strategies that had been integral to season two’s environment.
5
Hama
Voiced by Tress MacNeille
Season three’s “The Puppetmaster” makes it fairly apparent from the get-go that Hama (Tress MacNeille) should not be trusted. It solely will get extra obvious that this Southern Water Tribe native is the one chargeable for native disappearances, and but the how nonetheless stays a really intriguing thriller. As this previous girl exhibits Katara other ways of discovering water when there appears to be none round (drawing some from the air, taking some from crops), there is a sinister trace of what is to return.
Lastly, Hama exhibits Katara a method known as blood-bending—which is each ingenious and scary. That she had no selection however to study it in a Hearth Nation jail is tragic, and her backstory exhibits how trauma and bitterness towards an oppressive energy can flip somebody right into a monster. Although she’s ultimately caught, Hama’s success at educating Katara the right way to do it herself (though Katara does not wish to know) proves to be one in every of this excellent animated fantasy present‘s most unsettling endings. All of the extra vital that Katara would ultimately use this system in “The Southern Raiders,” making Hama far more than only a random villain.
4
Wan Shi Tong
Voiced by Héctor Elizondo
From “The Library,” Wan Shi Tong is the sort of antagonist who does not begin off as such. After Commander Zhao used his library for warfare, this big owl has grown distrustful of individuals. Aang and the others are capable of persuade him that they are right here for nonviolent causes, which is technically a lie. Stopping the Hearth Nation from taking up the world is a noble trigger, however this spirit librarian is aggressively pacifist. When he discovers that they’ve used his dwelling for army technique, he buries his already well-hidden library so deep into the desert sands that nobody will be capable of discover it once more.
Allow us to admire this character’s attractive design. The juxtaposition between his black-feathered physique and white face evokes the spirit world in an analogous means that the Hei Bai, Moon, and Ocean spirits do. In the meantime, that voice (courtesy of Héctor Elizondo) is each awe-inspiring and chilling. Strongly suggesting that we’re the villains, not him, Wan Shi Tong is the sort of one-episode character who helps make Avatar one in every of the perfect 2000s fantasy exhibits.
3
Hei Bai
Dee Bradley Baker
Worthy of a Hayao Miyazaki masterwork, the Hei Bai from season one’s “Winter Solstice, Half 1: The Spirit World” is a black and white spirit creature that comes out at sunset and destroys a village. It is actually indignant, and Aang can do nothing to cease it—at the least not with fight. These blasts that come out of the Hei Bai’s mouth are terrifically rendered, and the general design of this creature is intimidating in a means that children can nonetheless deal with.
What makes this antagonist nice is the supply of its anger. It seems to be the spirit of the close by forest, which has been largely burnt to a crisp. Early within the episode, Aang comes throughout a statue of a large panda—organising the reveal that the Hei Bai’s non-spiritual type is certainly a panda. Representing Mom Nature’s rage at deforestation, the Hei Bai conveys a message about our have to be type to our surroundings (additionally worthy of Miyazaki). General, this villain’s attachment to real-world points has helped Avatar seize viewers’ hearts years after the collection ended.
2
Zuko
Voiced by Dante Basco
The indignant Prince Zuko is probably the most conflicted villain in Avatar, to the purpose the place he spends the vast majority of season two attempting to determine what sort of individual he ought to be and the second half of season three on Aang’s aspect. Earlier than he lastly turns into an excellent man, although, Zuko features as an antagonist that the viewers finds itself sympathizing with regardless of the younger man’s methodology of regaining his honor. He’s most persistently villainous in season one, however episodes like “The Blue Spirit” and “The Storm” confirmed that Zuko was far more complicated than the typical fire-bender even then.
The truth that he spends a lot time attempting to make his father proud when his father is the one who gave him that scar is especially tragic, to not point out how he misplaced his mom years in the past. On the identical time, Zuko and his uncle Iroh may be simply as humorous collectively as dramatically resonant. General, Zuko’s character arc makes him arguably the perfect character within the present and definitely probably the greatest villains.
1
Azula
Voiced by Gray DeLisle
Whereas Zhao is barely round for season one, Princess Azula is such a mesmerizing villain that she stays a serious participant all through seasons two and three. Her father duties her with tricking her brother Zuko (or “Zoo Zoo,” as she calls him) into getting arrested, in addition to looking down the Avatar herself. Already a fire-bending grasp on the age of fourteen, Azula strikes worry into the hearts of everybody she encounters—even her buddies, Mai and Ty Lee.
Her blue-colored flames and lighting bolts visually distinguish her from different fire-benders, and she or he is so good at strategizing that her trio conquers Ba Sing Se with no formal army battle. But she’s nonetheless weak. One in every of probably the most weird episodes within the collection reveals that she’s inept in common social settings, and her emotional breakdown on the finish of the present conveys how she’s simply as a lot a sufferer of her upbringing as her brother. Watching her mom converse to her within the mirror is deeply unhappy, and Azula’s ultimate scene cements her as one of the vital psychologically partaking villains in animation historical past.
