Avatar: The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra had no shortage of strong benders and warriors, from the Avatars to the old masters to the growing leaders. Many of Avatar’s heroes and villains have performed incredible feats, showcasing their strength and cementing their place among the most powerful benders and non-benders. However, other characters were built up as great fighters throughout the series, but could not consistently deliver on it when fans saw them in action.
Avatar has a long history of building up characters before they are introduced in their full glory. Main villains and allies like Azula, Ozai, and Toph were foreshadowed and discussed before they even appeared on screen, letting fans know they were someone who would do great things. In Legend of Korra, fans started out with high expectations for several characters because of their parentage or connections to old characters, and the show continued to hype up the new villains and allies as they were introduced.
Over the course of the series, which characters could live up to or surpass their own hype, and which of them fell flatter than expected when the fate of the world was on the line?
Here are 10 Characters Weaker Than Fans Thought (And 15 Who Are Even More Powerful).
Weaker: Lin Beifong
Lin Beifong was a woman no one wanted to mess with, but she also under-delivered in battle on several occasions. She had a few amazing moments of glory, such as tearing apart an airship with her metalbending and rescuing Korra from a fatal fall. However, she was also consistently incapacitated and captured. For a fighter elite enough to become the chief of police in Republic City, she was not nearly as much use in battle as anyone would have hoped. Though she was still a major player throughout the series, she did not usually display the level of power fans would expect of a Beifong.
More Powerful: Suyin Beifong
Suyin could easily be discounted as the weaker of the Beifongs because she did not often stray into a fight, but the few battles she took part in showed her effortless power. She personally taught Kuvira, a highly advanced metalbender who could hold her own against the Avatar. Suyin, though, was still able to hold her own against Kuvira. They fought to a draw, and Suyin displayed a fluidity and versatility that allowed her to craft impromptu weapons and armor out of the metal around her. Suyin may have been one of the most powerful metalbenders after her mother Toph.
Weaker: Jet
Jet was presented as a major episodic villain even though he never posed more than a middling threat. He could fight well against a non-bender with his hooked swords, but he never stood a chance against any decent bender. He fought Zuko to a draw only when Zuko was unable to use his firebending. Aang and Katara easily defeated him and would have stopped his plan sooner if they had not trusted him. When he turned against Long Feng at Ba Sing Se, Long Feng dispatched him in a single move. Jet could only match with opponents who were incompetent, hampered, or fooled by him.
More Powerful: Azula
Azula posed an unreasonably existential threat for any villain, let alone a 14-year-old. While Ozai was foreshadowed as the great villain of the series, Azula was the ever-present threat that Aang and his allies could not manage to shake. She often evaded Aang’s entire team, even when she fought alone. Even Ozai did not come as close to ending the Avatar as Azula did when she seized Aang’s vulnerable moment entering the Avatar State like the ruthless tactician she was. In the end, it took both Zuko and Katara, two of the most premier benders in the world, to incapacitate a mentally unhinged Azula.
More Powerful: Ozai
Fire Lord Ozai was the big bad of Avatar: The Last Airbender for a reason. He was backed by the military of an entire nation, but he was also a formidable opponent in single combat. He was such a powerful firebender that only his brother Iroh was considered in the same class. He overpowered Aang at many points during their battle, only put on his heels by the Avatar State. Ozai even almost corrupted the Avatar in the final energybending showdown, indicating that he had a nearly unbendable spirit. Though Ozai stayed in the background until almost the end, he delivered on every promise of threat.
Weaker: Mako
Mako seemed to fall short of fan’s expectations from the very beginning. He had big shoes to fill as the team’s resident brooding firebender, and he never distinguished himself enough as a bender or a character to get out of that shadow. He was an advanced firebender, but his contribution often seemed unnecessary, as Korra was an equally competent firebender. His only unique skill was generating lightning, an ability he used to great effect against Amon, Ming-Hua, and Kuvira’s mecha suits. Aside from his one reliable trick, Mako was only useful as another standard fighter on the team, and he seldom lived up to the talk of his talented firebending.
More Powerful: Bolin
Bolin was the Mako’s adorable younger brother, but he was far from the weaker of the two. He held his own as an earthbender against the Equalists and the Red Lotus. He had good enough accuracy to earthbend a single pebble into P’Li’s third eye to block her combustion. His most impressive power, though, was his rare lavabending ability. Bolin was prepared to sacrifice himself trying to stop the lava flow from reaching his friends, leading to the accidental discovery of his lavabending. After this initial attempt, he conjured up and controlled lava effortlessly. Bolin was a far more powerful earthbender than everyone gave him credit for.
More Powerful: Asami Sato
Asami was the non-bender of the team, and she started out pigeonholed into the role of the rich, pretty girl. Fans had little reason to expect much from her at the beginning, but it did not take long for her to prove her worth on the team. When she combined her acrobatic and self-defense skills with her father’s technology, she became an effective fighter against the Equalists. Asami also served as Team Avatar’s engineer and driver, as she was an experienced test driver, architect, and mechanic at her father’s company. In the absence of bending ability, Asami contributed her brilliant mind and warrior’s tactics to the team.
Weaker: Tenzin
Though Tenzin was Aang’s son and the only other airbending master for many years, he seldom showed Aang’s prowess and power with airbending. During battles with the Equalists and the Red Lotus, he did manage to knock back multiple opponents and dodge hit opponents’ hits in an extended fight. He showed his strength on a few occasions when he created tornadoes, air blasts, and shields to use against attacking enemies. Despite these rare shows of power, he was not the caliber of airbending master that fans should have expected from the master carrying on Aang’s legacy.
More Powerful: Zaheer
Zaheer ranks high among the villains in either series, but the rarity of his power gets lost among the collection of other villains. Zaheer developed airbending while he was still in a White Lotus prison, and he had no instruction in bending due to his incarceration. He was still powerful enough to use his airbending to escape the prison. Zaheer studied deep into airbender lore and unlocked the secret to unaided flight, an ability Tenzin thought was a myth. He tore through advanced opponents and took out a world leader with his airbending. It took Korra and most of her allies together to finally capture Zaheer, and it almost cost Korra her life.
More Powerful: Jinora
Jinora was an upstart airbender-in-training through most of her time in Legend of Korra, but she showed that she was poised to take over Aang’s airbender legacy. At 11 years old, she became the first new airbending master since Tenzin. Even as a younger child, she was a powerful enough airbender to take down Equalist opponents. Jinora also showed an affinity for spiritual matters that only Korra could rival. Not only could she detect spirits and guide others into the Spirit World, but she also learned to detach her spirit from her body to spiritually project herself to find and communicate with others across distances. Jinora’s abilities would have made Aang proud.
Weaker: Mai
Mai was Azula’s trusted henchmen along with Ty Lee, and Mai’s knife-throwing skills came in handy on a number of occasions. Despite her dangerous skill set, she rarely managed to gain the upper hand in a fight against real warriors or benders. Katara managed to conjure up several ways to block her knives. She was accurate and could pin down opponents without injuring them, but that was the only ability she showcased on a regular basis. Her lack of versatility is probably more a function of the children’s show rating of Avatar and not an accurate reflection of her potential. Still, she never reached the promise of the lethal assassin she was meant to be.
More Powerful: Zuko
Everyone knows Zuko’s character development arc was one of the best to ever grace television, but he also went through a profound transformation as a firebender. By the age of 16, he was already advanced enough to face down the young Avatar and hold his own against Admiral Zhao. As he went through his journey of self-discovery, he only got more powerful. Iroh taught him lightning redirection, which used effectively against his father. After he learned the secrets of firebending from the last dragons, he displayed extremely powerful firebending, even creating dragon fire on his own in Smoke and Shadow. Zuko could give Azula a run for her money in terms of raw firebending power.
Weaker: Hama
Hama was the original bloodbender after she discovered the bending ability in a Fire Nation prison. Hama used bloodbending in a ruthless fashion to puppet-master and capture unsuspecting villagers. Despite her villainous feats, she could not stand up against Katara. Katara easily broke Hama’s bloodbending hold, defeated Hama in a waterbending duel, and bloodbent Hama into submission. Given the frightening nature of bloodbending, it’s strange the original bloodbender did not pose more of a threat. Katara and Amon both used bloodbending far more effectively, but Hama could not win a battle of strength against a 14-year-old waterbender.
More Powerful: Katara
Katara’s waterbending ability saved the team’s hides on many occasions, but the true scope and depth of her bending mastery can get obscured in her role as the Avatar’s main back-up. Katara had a natural affinity for waterbending, possibly beyond any other waterbender in either series. She became a waterbending master in a single season, even though she could barely control her abilities when she found Aang. She took to both healing and bloodbending with little or no instruction, even though they are both rare and difficult abilities to harness. In the finale, it was Katara who finally took down Azula. Katara may have been the greatest power player on the team after the Avatar.
More Powerful: Sokka
In any discussion of the Gaang, Sokka is often relegated to the role of plucky comic relief. He thrived as comic relief, but he also brought significant contributions to the team beyond his usual morale boost. He served as the team’s strategist, thinking his way out of the most dire straits against angry spirits, Fire Nation soldiers, and Combustion Man. He also contributed to the most advanced technological achievements in the series, including the hot air balloon and the submarine. Sokka was not useless in a fight, either, as he excelled at both hand-to-hand combat and swordsmanship. Sokka was so much more than the non-bender sidekick many assumed him to be.
Weaker: Amon
Amon was a solid first villain for Korra, but he only seemed effective when matched against an Avatar who had never faced an existential or unexpected threat before. His main strength was his unusually powerful bloodbending, an ability he could leverage to remove another person’s bending. However, he usually only had an opportunity to use his bloodbending when his Equalist army had done the heavy lifting. When Korra forced him to reveal himself as a bender and he lost his followers, he lost the ability to effectively threaten Korra or anyone else. While Amon was a powerful bender, his power relied too much on the fealty of others.
More Powerful: Tarrlok
Tarrlok was always underappreciated next to his more powerful brother, but he was a powerful bender in his own right. Like Amon, he could bloodbend without the full moon, and he used that skill to subdue the Avatar. He hid his criminal parentage and amassed political power, never letting his bloodbending secret slip. Even after Amon removed his bending, Tarrlok was able to reveal Amon’s true identity to Korra. When Amon evaded capture, Tarrlok finally ended the Equalists’ reign of terror, taking his own life in the process. Tarrlok’s bending may have paled in comparison to Amon, but Amon made a fatal mistake in underestimating his brother.
Weaker: Suki
Suki was a fierce warrior, but when it came down to a battle, she was often less useful than similarly skilled non-benders. Suki and her Kyoshi warriors were defeated by Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Though she outlasted her warriors, she was unable to entirely hold her own in the fight. In a rematch, she fought Ty Lee to a draw, but this was only after she had experience with Ty Lee’s tactics. Like Sokka, her main asset was creative thinking in a crisis, but her skill as a warrior was only average when she was matched against any decent opponent.
More Powerful: Ursa
Ursa was only a minor character in the series, but her few known actions had long-lasting effects on the war and the lives of everyone connected to her. No one expected Ursa to be more than the long-lost mother figure that walked out of Zuko’s life for mysterious reasons. However, the comic series The Search explicitly confirmed she poisoned Fire Lord Azulon in a deal she struck with Ozai to save Zuko’s life. She also carried on subterfuges behind Ozai’s back and managed to disappear completely from Ozai’s reach after she left the palace. In a collective handful of minutes on screen, she changed the fate of the war in countless ways.
