Am I The Only One Who Doesn't Like The Idea Of Spider Gaining The Ability To Breathe Without A Mask/getting

Am I the only one who doesn't like the idea of ​​Spider gaining the ability to breathe without a mask/getting his avatar/kuru in the next parts? I kind of like that he has these limitations and it would be more interesting if he completely accepted them and found his way to connect with Eywa and live on Pandora instead of just removing them, I feel like that would take away all the uniqueness of his character

Don't worry, anon, you're definitely not the only one who feels this way! I personally do like the idea of Spider getting an "adaptation," but I've seen other folks raise the concern of these potential changes taking away Spider's uniqueness and I can understand where the fear comes from. It's a totally valid worry to have.

Let me share my perspective on the topic

So you listed three possible changes to Spider's character that have been rumored to occur in Avatar 3. Let's break these down first:

Spider breathing without a mask

Spider getting an Avatar

Spider getting (growing?) a kuru

There are different reasons people believe each of these things may happen and all of them are possible, we won't know for sure until A3 comes out, but as of right now, it's looking like option #1 is the only one that's happening. #1 is the most likely option because it's the one with the most evidence behind it. In Avatar 2 BTS footage, a bit of the script for Avatar 3 was accidentally shown, describing a scene of Spider breathing without a mask. The script was quickly blurred out in the BTS footage, but not before some twitter users were able to transcribe the script. Since the avatar creative team made an effort to cover it up, that makes the first option seem like it's the most likely to happen. @spider-socorro-stan has an excellent breakdown of the leaked script on their blog and you can read it HERE if you'd like to know more.

I've also noticed that Spider's official character poster seems to confirm option 1 as well. The character posters for Avatar 2 are all screenshots taken from the movie, like Jake's is from the scene where he talks to Neytiri about being too hard on their sons, Kiri's is from her first swim in Awa'atlu, Quaritch's is from Spider's interrogation scene, etc, etc. Spider's poster (center) is the only one that isn't a screenshot from Avatar 2, and in fact, he doesn't have a forehead stripe or chest garment in Avatar 2 at all like he has in the poster. Since Spider's look in the poster matches BTS footage of Spider's look for Avatar 3, most people assume the poster is a screenshot from Avatar 3 instead of 2. In the poster you can see plants and trees behind him, meaning he is outdoors, but despite this he is not wearing a mask. The poster on its own wouldn't really be sufficient evidence for such a wild theory, but when it's combined with the leaked script, it seems to make option #1 seem very plausible.

The second rumor stems from a BTS image of Jack Champion lying down in a link chamber (left) making it appear as if he is he is about to link to an Avatar, and the third rumor stems from some concept art that was shared at an Avatar exhibition in Las Vegas (right) that depicts Spider with a kuru. Since these images were shared on purpose and there hasn't been any effort to cover them up, plus they lack any confirmation in a script like the first rumor, I believe it's likely that rumor two and three will not actually happen. The image of Jack in the link pod could've just been Jack messing around, and the image of Spider with the kuru, while legitimate concept art, is most likely an old, scrapped idea because I can't imagine the creative team showing such a massive spoiler on purpose. If you want to know more about the kuru-theory, I made a post discussing it HERE.

So now that we've gone over the three potential changes to Spider's character, and established that the only change that has a real likelihood of happening is the maskless Spider one, let's talk about people's reactions to it.

I'm active in the Avatar communities on tumblr and reddit, and I occasionally peek at tiktok and instagram (I don't touch twitter with a ten foot pole so don't ask me about that), so I've seen lots of different opinions on these changes. Some people, like myself, are enthusiastic about it and curious to see where it goes, while others, like anon, worry that this will take away the underdog qualities that make Spider such an interesting and unique addition to the Avatar cast. Both of these reactions to this shocking leak are completely valid. (There's also a third party that insists the leaks are fake and nothing miraculous will happen to Spider in Avatar 3 because they really really want him to die, but we're not talking about them right now.)

When it comes to the rumor that Spider will be getting an Avatar at some point, I actually agree with the folks who worry about it taking away from Spider's character. We already had the human-gets-an-alien-body story done with Jake in Avatar 1, and we had human-gets-an-alien-body 2: The Revenge done again with Quaritch in Avatar 2. If we had human-gets-an-alien-body part 3: electric bluegaloo with Spider in Avatar 3, the trope would've worn out its welcome. We've already had the topic explored twice already; we really don't need it to be explored again. There's nothing Spider getting an avatar would add to the story that hadn't already been explored by Jake.

But the good news is this rumor seems very unlikely to happen, so unless I'm way off we won't have to worry about that.

Now the rumor about Spider breathing without a mask is where I hardcore disagree with the worries that it will take anything away from Spider's character. I understand and agree with this worry when it comes to the Avatar body, because as I said, the Avatar body story's been done before ad nauseum. But breathing without an exopack? And still being human? That's definitely never been done before.

Two things that make Spider's character so charming IMO is that he's unique and he's an underdog. Unique, because literally no matter where he goes, he sticks out like a sore thumb: among the Na'vi he sticks out because of his humanness, and among the humans he sticks out because he looks like tarzan lost a paintball fight to the blue team. He is literally and visually trapped between two worlds, and that makes for a really interesting story. He's also an underdog for the obvious reason. Poor kid's at a disadvantage no matter where he goes too. He's much smaller and weaker than the Na'vi, he can't bond with any of the cool animals, and he doesn't know how to use any of the cool human weaponry so he can't make up for his size the way human villains like OG-Quaritch did. And yet, despite constantly being the underdog, he never gives up and always fights to protect his loved ones. That indomitable human spirit is always an appealing character trait.

If Spider does get the ability to breathe the Pandoran atmosphere without an exopack, that doesn't take away from his two important character traits. He will still be an underdog, because even if you remove the breathing handicap, he still lacks the size and the ability to bond with the animals that the other main characters have. The audience will continue to see him struggle to overcome his physical disadvantages. He will also still be unique in having that caught-between-worlds quality. In fact, the breathing thing would make him even more unique than before because as far as we know, he is the only human to ever gain this ability.

Unlike Jake and Quaritch, Spider has not left his humanity behind for something completely new. Spider is still fully human, but a part of him will also be fully Pandoran, now able to survive on the planet that's so unhospitable to his kind.

Spider will always be the same goofy little underdog we know and love, even if he does get a new ability in Avatar 3. I fully understand that not everyone likes this concept, and that's fine, but I sincerely hope that everyone who dislikes it can at least come around to it by the time Avatar 3 comes out. There is a lot of evidence supporting this theory, and I'd really hate for anyone's enjoyment of the movie to be ruined because of this creative decision!

I love this AU! Spider would be even more protective of her, I bet he'd always offer to help her when she's having trouble climbing and of course she's always get sassy and tell him she can do it herself. And I love the idea of Kiri being human but still having that deep connection to Eywa, it would just be so cool to see an alien have a deep bond with a planet she doesn't belong to.

swap au! kiri human and avatar spider

happy father's day

avatar 3, we're counting on you

“It was a truth as simple as it was terrifying. Jake’s plan failed.

We lost.”

Felt like being sad, so I quickly doodled up an illustration of RDA descending onto Pandora, but from POV of the Sully kids, as they were escaping Hell’s gate at the time it happened 🤭 idk if it’s obvious but I wanted each character to have their own flavour of grief — their own unique reaction. Lemme know if I actually achieved it lol.

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(DO NOT repost my artwork on any platform, with or without credit. I DO NOT give my consent to do so.)

Will you show a fragment of the second part of the Common Enemy comic? I can't wait to see it!

I am almost done sketching the whole thing, I only have one page left to sketch! After I finish, I'm going to take a little break and then I'll get to work on lineart and coloring.

Here's a sneak peak of Spider's confession 👀👀👀

How do you think everyone will react when they learn what Spider did? (you can answer in the context of my comic or in the context of the canon universe)

She was a ✨f a i r y✨

fairy kiri for a collab im doing w my friend :33 also letting yall know im lowkey gonna turn this into a multi account 🙏🙏