Avatar 2 Is Skipping One Of Its Biggest Na’vi Battles

Despite showing tons of conflict with the RDA, Avatar: The Way of Water skipped over one of the biggest Na’vi battles with them. Taking place years after the events of Avatar, the sequel depicted the return of the colonizing “Sky People.” Rather than focusing on their coerced settlement and its impact on the Na’vi, the film instead fast-forwarded to their already-established campsites. However, this abrupt re-introduction was not James Cameron’s original plan for the highly-anticipated second installment.

Initially, the Avatar sequel had a much different and battle-centric screenplay planned. Since that original narrative did not fit the vision for James Cameron’s Avatar sequels, it was instead turned into a three-volume comic series titled Avatar: The High Ground. Not only did the prequel comic series more extensively fill the gaps between the first and second Avatar movies, but they also gave way to one of the most epic Na’vi battles as they fought their colonizers in space. The major battle that Cameron came up with, however, was omitted from The Way of Water.

What We Know About James Cameron’s Scrapped Avatar 2

Cameron’s first proposed screenplay for Avatar 2 was fully fleshed out as he worked with his team of writers to create an impressive 130-page successor. A decade after the first film, the story followed Jake and Neytiri raising their kids in an emancipated Pandora. With the return of the heavily-armed RDA, Jake trained the Na’vi population to go up against them, hoping to send the Sky People away for good. When things didn’t go as planned, and the Na’vi failed to win the battle in space, Jake and Neytiri fought to protect their children, home, and people.

Despite offering important insights into events like the Na’vi’s migration, Cameron found it to be “missing one of those critical elements about sequels” and not going “enough into the unexpected” (via Games Radar). Sam Worthington, who plays protagonist Jake Sully, shared (via Collider) that while the script filled the missing gap between the films, Cameron wanted it to be “more about family than about being heroes.” So, rather than continuing with that developed story, Cameron instead reworked its elements into the current trajectory of the saga. Unfortunately, that meant excluding the monumental interim battle as well.

Why The High Ground’s Na’vi vs. RDA Battle Is So Important

Beyond filling missing gaps, Avatar: The High Ground showcased the unity and resilience of the Na’vi clans in line with Avatar. Although the sequel suggested the importance of community, the focus clearly shifted from the greater collective to the Sully family. By doing so, it took away from the colonial narrative to prioritize familial messages instead. Not only does the climactic Na’vi vs. RDA battle retain the first film’s themes, but it also depicted the harrowing costs and impact of the RDA’s forced settlement.

With higher stakes and Cameron’s raving about “the Na’vi fighting with bows and arrows in zero-G” (via Games Radar), this battle was much more monumental than that of Avatar: The Way of Water. By spanning various settings and resulting in a devastating loss, the unseen Na’vi vs. RDA battle set up the future emotions, scale, and trajectory of the series. Although the defining battle may not have been realized on-screen, it can still be experienced through comic book form thanks to the Avatar: The High Ground series.