Nickelodeon’sAvatar: The Last Airbenderis renowned for its complex fight scenes and comprehensive world building. Creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino incorporated various martial arts into the series; in fact, they determined the four martial arts styles used for the show’s “bending” by consulting Sifu Kisu, a renowned martial arts instructor, who played a pivotal role in turning ideas into a set of moves. As such, fight scenes beyond the typical bending are just as carefully made,culminating in a timeless, rewatchable cartoon.
During some fights in the world of Avatar, bending isn’t an option, whether it’s to keep cover or because the fight demands a different angle. In any case, each fight is important to stay alive and well enough to finish the task at hand. From Sokka to Zuko, plenty of fighters bring something to the table that when water whips or air blasts aren’t an option.
10The Kyoshi Warriors vs Azula, Mei and Ty Lee (“Appa’s Lost Days”)
After the Kyoshi warriors find Appa and nurse him back to health, they’re ambushed by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee on gigantic lizards on the hunt for the bison’s owner. From the get-go, Kyoshi warriors’ coordination is strong; with lightning-fast reflexes, they all deflect Azula’s fire blast with open fans and protect Appa. However, it takes more than a moment for the warriors to figure out what they’re up against; after all, going against an expert with blades and a qi-blocking circus girl has to be quite the surprise.
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Though it’s a one-sided fight, it’s always fascinating to see Mai and Ty Lee’s arsenal of skills. Mai brandishes a handful of blades and arrows while Ty Lee takes down a warrior with a sword in just a few seconds. Conversely, Suki’s experience with Azula’s team will better prepare her for a future battle, where she won’t need swords and fans to match Ty Lee.
9Aang vs Jet (“Lake Laogai”)
Aang is a pacifist at heart, so when he has to face off Jet, he avoids any kind of bending. At the bottom of Lake Laogai, Long Feng uses a brainwashed Jet to fight Aang and prevent him from leaking Ba Sing She’s war conspiracy. Aang dodges swings in quick succession, and while he does use a gust of wind to push Jet back, his main defense strategy is to tire him out enough to talk.
It’s a quick segment for sure, but Aang still dodges impressively against Jet’s swings. Trying to snap someone out of a trance at the same time probably isn’t easy, either. On Jet’s end, his skills with a pair of tiger hook swords is pretty impressive for having no formal training. The way he keeps his balance after Aang airbends at him shows his preparedness with his weapon of choice.
8Sokka vs Wan Shi Tong (“The Library”)
After Team Avatar finds crucial war information in the spirit Wan Shi Tong’s library, they must escape with their lives once their motives are made clear. Running through an enormous sinking library, Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Momo split up among the bookshelves to hide from Wan Shi Tong’s speed, beak, and Talons. Only with a surprise landing on his head does Sokka deliver a blow with his boomerang, giving them enough time to escape.
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Sokka’s simple fighting points out the usefulness of tools like his boomerang when the enemy is one step ahead. Aang’s airbending only quelled Wan Shi Tong for a short time, and when facing Katara, he claimed to know every water-bending style. Luckily, even thousands of years of studying couldn’t possibly have prepared him for Sokka’s surprise blow.
7The Blue Spirit against Fire Nation guards (“The Blue Spirit”)
His sister Azula may be the most perfect fire bender, but Zuko also has twin swords at his disposal. While disguised as the Blue Spirit, Zuko sneaks into a palace where Aang is being held prisoner, breaking him out of Admiral Zhao’s custody. Not only does he manage to take out enough guards to sneak into the palace, but he and Aang also use gigantic bamboo ladders to walk across the courtyard unscathed.
As the Blue Spirit’s debut episode, Zuko’s swordsmanship is put front and center for much of the escape. His entrance is intimidating and eye-catching, swinging his twin blades masterfully and slicing the chains from Aang’s hands. From then on, the two push through the guards without fail; While Aang creates gusts of wind to push away soldiers, the Blue Spirit dodges and slices their spears by the dozen. Whether it’s the high-energy situation or because Zuko knows Aang’s fighting style, the two are surprisingly well-coordinated. Though, when you have to fight off an entire fleet of Admiral Zhao’s men, it’s more than necessary.
6War Balloon Fight (“The Northern Air Temple”)
Sokka works alongside the mechanist, an inventor pressured into creating weaponry for the Fire Nation, to protect the Northern Air Temple from Fire Nation invaders. While Aang and Katara stall the army on the ground, Sokka flies an altered war balloon and drops rotten egg bombs onto the tanks below. As a final attack, locating the source of a gas leak, Sokka drops his war balloon’s engine into the ravine, creating a deadly explosion surrounding the bottom of the temple.
Many complex fights in Avatar involve multiple means of defense: in this case, Team Avatar fights both on land and in the air. Sokka’s skills as an inventor really shine as he and the mechanist put their heads together, creating a potent weapon used later on.
5Suki vs Ty Lee (“The Boiling Rock”)
Suki’s help during the group’s escape from the Boiling Rock is essential; without her, Sokka and Zuko wouldn’t have enough manpower to pull off their second plan. So, when she, Sokka, Zuko, and Hakota escape on the monorail with the warden held captive, she faces off Ty Lee while Sokka and Zuko are occupied with Azula.
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Suki isn’t unprepared after her fight in the forest a few weeks prior. She matches each of Ty Lee’s moves in a heartbeat and is ready to parry her sneak attack afterward. What makes the fight crazier is the distractions that surround the two: Suki has to dodge Azula’s fire blasts simultaneously, and when the monorail line’s being cut, must also maintain enough balance to keep from plunging into boiling water. It’s a battle that demands constant alertness, and she still succeeds.
4Jet vs Zuko (“City of Walls and Secrets”)
When Jet storms into a tea shop to accuse Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders, Zuko ends up fighting with sword-to-sword against him. To keep appearances, Zuko is on the defense for most of the fight; he dodges attacks on tables and forces Jet outside. When they finally get up close and personal, neither is afraid to cast a near-fatal strike. Zuko gets close enough to slice the end of the stalk of wheat Jet’s sucking on.
Jet shows he means business with this dramatic entrance, and the extra flair from backflips and taunting makes it even better. The teashop fight was a great way to show Jet before his final showdown a few episodes later (unlike other shelved ATLA villains). Moreover, this isn’t the first time Zuko has battled someone in the Earth Kingdom, but he does incredibly well with a whole audience of bystanders, including his boss. Overall, the series’ first battle between swordsmen displays a myriad of moves in an unconventional (but very entertaining) setting. Watching an employee draw a sword is definitely the best action that the tea shop has ever seen.
3Sokka vs. Piandao (“Sokka’s Master”)
“Sokka’s Master” provides a slew of entertaining Sokka moments as he tries to prove his worth as a sword fighter. But when he is finally given the honor of Master Pian Dao’s bequeathing, he declines and reveals his Water Tribe roots—resulting in Piandao pursuing him. Sokka manages to hold his own against a fully-fledged swordsman for quite a while, ducking out of range, jumping from walls, and even cutting bamboo to block his path.
Even Piandao is impressed with the way Sokka leverages his environment and uses skills outside the box. Even though he would definitely be killed were Piandao fighting him for real, Sokka learned the art of sword fighting quick enough to last quite a while against his master.
2Suki captures the warden (“The Boiling Rock”)
While audiences don’t see Suki often in books one and two, her appearances in Book Three more than makeup for her absence. While she, Sokka, and Suko are escaping the Boiling Rock prison, she effortlessly climbs the warden’s tower to reach him. When she reaches the warden, she immediately takes him by the arm, meeting his eyes before gagging him with his own headband.
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Compared to the rest of the fighters, Suki is arguably one of the series’ strongest non-benders; after all, taking on a full-grown, fleet of prison guards single-handedly is no easy feat. The best part is, Suki doesn’t even break a sweat; after years of Kyoshi warrior training, subduing the guards must have seemed like a quick warm-up. It’s no wonder Sokka looks up to her.
1Sokka’s Airship Attack (“Sozin’s Comet Part 3: Into the Inferno”)
Sokka’s experience piloting war balloons comes in handy at the final battle during Sozin’s Comet, where he, alongside Toph and Suki, crash a fleet of Fire Nation airships into one another to prevent the armies inside from setting fire to the Earth Kingdom.
Team Avatar always jumps from one dangerous mission to the other, but here, purposefully crashing gigantic ships in midair, there is a dangerously thin line between life and death. In a bone-chilling moment at the edge of a falling shop, Sokka holds onto Toph while laying feet away from plunging to his death. As a final battle for Sokka and the others, the “Airship Slice” certainly showedjust how dark the show could get, and, in Sokka’s case, proved his worth as both a fighter and Team Avatar’s dauntless leader.
