Avatar 2: Sully's Plan To Protect His Family Betrays His Original Movie Arc
*Contains "Avatar: The Way of Water" spoilers*
When we were first introduced to Pandora and all the eclectic and out-there creatures it homed, the one certainty was that Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) was the man with a plan in a new body. Fully aware of how outgunned the people he had become a part of were, he took on the brave task of proving his worth by snagging an enormous bird and amping up the tribe to face off against the enemy when war was on the horizon.
"I say, we take the fight to them," he proclaimed, which got Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) swooning and droves of Na'vi coming to his aid to ensure that the Sky People went and never returned. Of course, that didn't quite work out, hence the new sequel, "Avatar: The Way of Water." Even so, having already beaten them once on their home turf thanks to Sully's expert strategies, what's another butt-kicking, right? Except we don't get that. Not even a little bit. Instead, "Jake Sooly" changes tactics, trying for something a little unorthodox and a bit different from his last battle plan, and it makes absolutely no sense at all.
Jake's new plan in Avatar: Way of Water goes against his former strategy
If Col. Quaritch (Stephen Lang) really wanted to take down his treacherous spy in the first film, it turns out all he needed to do was get an Avatar of his own. That's all it takes to give Jake Sully the willies after discovering that his former foe has been cloned in a new Na'vi body (because, of course). Bent on bringing down the once-human leader of the indigenous people, Quaritch with a blue tint, is enough to make his nemesis rethink a few things and accept the only option is to turn ponytail and run.
Why? It's already known across the land that Sully, aka Toruk Makto, united clans to send the Sky People back to where they came from the last time they visited. He's a legit living legend. So what stops him from blowing the horn once more to go another round with the space invaders? Apparently, it's too dangerous and could put his now fully formed family in peril. "He will never stop hunting us," the man-turned-massive-blue-cat-man tells his mate. Yeah, Jake, but he had the same aim last time, so what's changed? The answer, while not that clear, could lie in the hopeful future of a film that this one needs to make a planet-sized amount of cash to execute.
Avatar 3 could finally put an end to the Sully vs. Quaritch feud
While "The Way of Water" clocked out with another throw-down between hero and villain, the outcome ensured this wasn't the final battle between the two. Thanks to his excessively hissing human son (but not really) Spider (Jack Champion), Quaritch lives to fight another day. Now, after escaping death as opposed to his first encounter with it, it's guaranteed that a final fight between the two alpha males will be initiated, putting an end to the last generation's most formidable members before making way for the new. That is, of course, if we even get to see it.
With "The Way of Water" yet to see the other side of its first opening weekend, there's no solid confirmation just yet if we're going to get an "Avatar 3," regardless of how pieces have been left on the table. If we do, it's clear that the only direction for Jake to go is back on the attack as he did in his first uprising against the Sky People. It's just straight-up baffling that it took a whole film and a dead son for him to reach that inevitable conclusion. If and when it comes, here's hoping that it brings Sully back to the brave warrior we first met rather than the confrontation-averting father figure that blamed his sons for everything, including the near evisceration of an entire nation. We see you, Jake. Get it together, dude.