Across The Spider-Verse Has Paved The Way For The Last Airbender's Big-Screen Revival

If you love animation, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" might have been the most surefire movie sequel in years. It didn't really matter how good the story was or what characters popped up. As long as it still embraced the visual style of "Into the Spider-Verse" it seemed bound to be another smashing success.

Fortunately, the other parts are great too. "Across the Spider-Verse" tells a compelling tale about growing up, making a place for yourself in the world, and holding onto your family even when your life is changing. But make no mistake: The star of the show is still the furious, brilliant combo of different animation styles, bold colors, and gorgeous music. The aesthetic of "Across the Spider-Verse" is elite, making every single shot a work of art and every action sequence a dizzying storm of complementary hues.

It may have been five years since "Into the Spider-Verse" came out, but no American animation studio has even come close to matching it in the interim. Perhaps "Across" will change that, banging on the door of boring computer graphics until it finally knocks it down. Every company from Disney to Warner Bros. and every franchise from "Batman" to "Star Wars" should be taking notice of what the "Spider-Verse" films are doing. But there's one movie in particular that seems fated to pick up the legacy and run with it: the new "Avatar: The Last Airbender" film coming out in 2024.

The upcoming "Avatar: The Last Airbender" movie is one of the most interesting Hollywood projects on the horizon. It has the potential to relaunch the franchise as a true superpower, but its production cycle has been long enough that a lot of the fervor has died down. Netflix's live-action "Avatar" remake will premiere first, but it's the animated projects being developed at Nickelodeon's Avatar Studios that will truly determine the future.

Of course, the last time "Avatar" made its way to the big screen, it was a disaster. The 2010 M. Night Shyamalan film is one of the most reviled adaptations of all time. There's no question that the animated feature will be worlds better — both because it's being made by the original creative team and because it's staying in the realm of animation — but that doesn't guarantee success. Die-hard fans know just how deep and complex the "Avatar" world is, but most casual viewers just know it as a great cartoon with a less beloved sequel series.

If the 2024 film truly intends to establish the franchise as a modern powerhouse, it has to break new ground. It needs to separate itself from the typical Hollywood animated fare and show what "Avatar" can do with a big-screen budget. That's a big ask in a genre that's mostly filled with cutesy CGI comedies. Well, cutesy CGI comedies and "Spider-Verse," that is.

For what feels like an eternity, American animation has been stuck in a rut. In part, that's because most people here view the medium as being only for children. We can also blame a general lack of studio daring and Hollywood's habit of grinding underpaid animators under its boot. Regardless of the exact formula, the result is dismal: the same old slate of inoffensive family adventure stories from Disney, Pixar, Illumination, and the other usual suspects. It's rare to see something that breaks that mold.

Like its predecessor, "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" shows what's actually possible with modern animation and a Hollywood budget. No two shots in the film are the same, as the styles and colors change drastically in every scene. Since it's a comic book movie, it takes style cues from its source material, writing characters' thoughts in text blocks and even popping up a few editorial notes during comically confusing moments.

Obviously, that exact approach can't work for every movie. You wouldn't want an animated "Star Wars" feature to have comic book "Bang!" bubbles popping up, for instance. But the principle that anything truly is possible in animation is one that Hollywood seems to have forgotten. "Spider-Verse" puts it in bold and underlines it, blowing the competition out of the water and teasing the world we could all be living in if studios actually valued quality animation.

The story of blockbusters over the past decade or so has largely been a CGI arms race. From the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DCEU to "Avatar: The Way of Water," sci-fi and fantasy films that create the most digital spectacle tend to rule the roost. It's part of why the practical effects in movies like "Top Gun: Maverick" and the "Mission: Impossible" films earn such high praise. But action star Tom Cruise's death-defying stunts aren't the only way to stand out from the pack, as "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" shows.

Just imagine how other franchises could benefit if they took those cues. An animated "Fast and Furious" movie with hyper-stylized races, or a "James Bond" flick that oozes color and flair to match 007's own charisma. Disney's big-screen "Star Wars" woes could be solved with a proper animated outing — not "Boss Baby" with X-wings, but a space saga that embraces the same visual creativity as "Spider-Verse." It's no secret that the MCU model of modern mass-market movies is beginning to run out of road. This could be the next big thing, but no one other than Sony is jumping on it.

Well, if they won't do it, maybe "Avatar" will. The original cartoon was hugely inspired by Japanese animation, which has historically been leaps and bounds beyond the competition in the West. Taking that inspiration and blending it with the flashy approach of "Across the Spider-Verse" could help reassert the franchise as a titan for years to come.

In fairness, "Avatar: The Last Airbender" doesn't need to change all that much to make a stylish splash in 2024. Both the original show and "The Legend of Korra" look fantastic, with rich visual worldbuilding and tense fight choreography that still hold up today. But why stop there? Why not raise the bar even higher to fit the big screen and continue exploring different animation styles like "Korra" did with its "Beginnings" episodes?

The world of "Avatar" is a magical one. It's full of ancient spirits, majestic vistas, and exciting battles between benders of the different elements. We know that the new movie will follow the original characters as adults sometime between the end of "Airbender" and the beginning of "The Legend of Korra," but other details have yet to be revealed. That leaves the whole world open — a treasure trove of potential.

Think about what the Spirit World could look like in a "Spider-Verse" kind of style. The impossible creatures and nonlinear geography, the way emotion can change the landscape around you in seconds — these are jumping-off points for an animated movie the likes of which we've never seen. Heck, Joaquim Dos Santos, one of the co-directors of "Across the Spider-Verse," first gained fame as a leading director on "Avatar" and "Korra." The pairing just makes sense. "Beyond the Spider-Verse" will lay down the torch when it completes the trilogy in the spring of 2024, and "Avatar" can pick it up just months later, if it plays its cards right.