While Stephen Lang’s role as the Avatar franchise villain Quaritch is a career-defining part, he ironically played the exact opposite character decades earlier. By Avatar: The Way of Water’s ending, it was clear who the central villain of James Cameron’s sci-fi franchise was. Although the RDA and Earth’s corporations more broadly were to blame for Pandora’s colonization, there was one face who came to represent the violent attacks on the Na’vi. Stephen Lang’s Colonel Miles Quaritch, in Avatar’s human form and Avatar: The Way of Water’s recombinant form, was the walking embodiment of humanity’s most violent colonial efforts.

Lang’s villain is a fascinating figure and, since his son Spider saved him in Avatar: The Way of Water’s climax, one that Avatar 3’s story could explore further. Quaritch is endlessly loyal to his fellow marines and is well-liked by them, but his vehement belief in the colonial project makes him inhumanly cruel. He jeers at the RDA’s reliance on technology and is often impressed by the Na’vi’s guerrilla tactics, but he still fails to see the natives of Pandora as his equals. Lang lends Quaritch humanity, but the villain never seems conflicted about his evil deeds.

Stephen Lang Played The Exact Opposite Of Avatar’s Quaritch In Tall Tale

This 1995 Family Film Focused On The Old West

What makes this role so fascinating is the fact that Stephen Lang played the exact opposite of Avatar’s Quaritch in 1995’s Tall Tale. In this underrated family film, Lang played a hard-working farmer who was forced off his land so that greedy developers could mine it for resources. This is the exact thing that Quaritch tries to make the Na’vi do in Avatar and, like Pandora’s natives, Tall Tale’s hero Daniel Hackett eventually gets the courage to stand up to them. In Tall Tale, Daniel develops his plan with help from Old West heroes like Paul Bunyan.

While Tall Tale’s semi-fantastical Western story doesn’t share the same genre as Avatar, its plot is strikingly similar given Lang’s later role. Lang plays Jonas Hackett, a humble farmer who is bullied off his land by developers. Like the Avatar franchise’s Colonel Quaritch, the developer JP Stiles sees nothing wrong with shooting Jonas when he refuses to give up his land quietly. When Jonas’s injuries leave him unable to farm, his young son Daniel must protect their home from these villains. Daniel is aided by Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and John Henry, stars of the titular traditional American folk legends.

Tall Tale’s Story Makes Stephen Lang’s Avatar Villain Role Very Ironic

Stephen Lang’s Two Roles Couldn’t Be More Different

What makes Lang’s roles in both Avatar’s story and Tall Tale’s plot so ironic is that the two movies are both similar and opposite in numerous areas. Both movies have a younger hero who Lang’s character mentors (his son in Tall Tale, Jake in Avatar), and both of these heroes eventually defeat the miners in the end. The difference is that the Avatar franchise’s Jake Sully switches sides and ends up facing off against Quaritch before Neytiri kills the villain. In contrast, Daniel saves his father, their farm, and his town with the help of the folk heroes from the Avatar actor’s tall tales.