The infamous James Cameron made his infamous return this last December with his new film, Avatar: Fire and Ash. This movie had many returning actors, such as Zoë Saldaña (Neytiri) and Sam Worthington (Jake). However, the movie had a shift in narrators. In both Avatar and Avatar: The Way of Water, Jake Sully was the main narrator. But in AFaA, Jake hands it off to his son, Lo’ak, played by Britain Dalton.
#1 Plot
This movie follows the story that was set in place by Avatar: The Way of Water. The Sully family is navigating the loss of their oldest son, Neteyam. Jake and Neytiri decide it is best for Spider to go back to the Omatikaya. During this, the movie addresses Neytiri’s hatred towards humans, particularly towards Spider, a human boy living as a Na’vi. The Tlalim clan (nomadic wind traders) come to the shores of Awa’atlu and allow the Sullys to travel with them back to the Omatikaya
On their journey, the Tlalim are ambushed by the main antagonists, the Mangkwan. The Mangkwan are aggressive Na’vi, led by their Olo’eykte, Varang. With Varang’s orders, the ship is set on fire. The convoy eventually crashes, leaving Neytiri very injured and Sully children, Lo’ak, Kiri, Spider, and Tuk, lost in the woods with the Mangkwan after them. The Mangkwan loot the ship and kill any survivors still close to the ship.
Before Jake can reunite with his family, he is found by Colonel Miles Quaritch and Corporal Lyle Wainfleet (antagonists from the two prior movies). Recultently, the three of them work together to save Spider. During this, it is shown that Spider’s oxygen mask stopped working and he started asphyxiating. Kiri then connected her queue to the roots and to the common god, Eywa, to save Spider. Spider wakes up and his body is infused with mycelia, allowing him to breathe Pandora air without a mask.
Shortly after, the Sully children are trapped by the Mangkwan. Quaritch and Jake try to rescue them, but are also captured. Quaritch teaches Varang–Mangkwan matriarch–to use a gun. Kiri once again uses her queue to command flora to kill the Mangkwan guards and escape into the forest.
Neytiri wakes up in the hospital in the Omatikaya village. Accompanied by Tsarem and Norm, they go out to find the rest of the Sully family. Norm Spellman and Max Patel discover the organism inside Spider’s body, which allows them to figure out it could allow every human to breathe Pandoran air. It is also revealed that Kiri was sired by Eywa and is technically a clone of Grace’s avatar, from the first movie.
Quaritch then ventures alone to the Mangkwan village, bringing them firearms and forms an alliance with them. He also enters a romantic relationship with Varang. Quaritch invades the Metkayina village with the help of the Mangkwan, demanding Jake. Jake surrenders himself to avoid a war and is taken to Bridgehead city, along with Spider.
On the other hand, Lo’ak with the help of Tsireya, Ao’Nung, and Rotxo, start to look for an outcasted tulkun, Payakan and Lo’ak is saved from a group of hungry squid. Following this, Neytiri infiltrates Bridgehead to save Jake. Jake, Neytiri, and Spider all escape from Bridgehead. The parents argue over Spider’s liability to human conquest of Pandora. Jake prepares to kill spider, but cannot bring himself to lose another son; Neytiri finally accepts Spider as part of the family.
Tulkun matriarch and council hear Jake’s warning of war, but decide not to change their pacifist ways until Lo’ak brings Payakan and Tan’ok, the disabled and disfigured sole survivor of Payakan’s pod. The elders reconsider their ways. Jake searched for the apex predator, Toruk and rallied Na’vi clans to ambush the Tulkun hunters and Mangkwan.
With Spider and Tuk’s help, Kiri finishes her connection with Eywa and pleads for help; Pandora wildlife ambushes the rest of the RDA and the Tulkan fight begins. During this final battle, Tsahìk Ronal of the Metkayina clan is critically wounded and dies during childbirth. Her story is finished with Neytiri taking her baby, Pril, and being captured by the RDA, along with Neytiri’s biological daughter, Tuk.
Varang tries to kill Neytiri again but is repelled by Kiri, and Toruk destroys the RDA ship. Jake and Quaritch are thrown into a magnetic flux and fight once again over Spider. Neytiri and her children arrive, and Quaritch jumps off a rock into the flux.
The movie concludes with Spider and the Metkayina clan connecting to the underwater spirit trees, where Spider meets many deceased Na’vi; Ronal, Tsu’tey, Eytukan, Rotxo, Grace, etc.
#2 Movie Continuations
James Cameron has emphasized that this movie needs to clear the 1 billion dollar mark in grossing, in order for the movie series to continue to its planned lengths. So far, as of January 7, 2026, the movie has made a total of $1,091,228,142 and is the 43 top lifetime grosses worldwide. I think over this year, the movie will gross a total of $2,000,000,000 and be towards the top of the list. I also think we are going to get more information about Avatar 4.
#3 Personal Opinions
I loved this movie. I saw it the day after it was released, Saturday December 20, 2025. It was everything and more, but I do have my own opinions. Spider and Kiri had a romantic relationship that was hinted at and many people (me included) stated how weird it was that they have feelings for each other. After all, Spider was officially adopted into the Sully family, making him and Kiri adopted siblings.
Also, Neytiri was the only character that had character growth throughout the movie. This movie finally addressed her long time hatred of humans, for good reason. She has lost so many people to the RDA, and it makes no sense that people blame her for that. Neytiri has lost her sister, her father, close friends, son, and Ikran to the RDA and no one else is able to see that she has good hatred for these people.
This story also repeated similar parts of the storyline from Avatar 1, such as Jake rallying the clans and Eywa sending wild life to finish the battle. However, this film was amazing and I would highly recommend it, 9.3/10.
The 2025 Recap
Over 2025, we received many teasers and concept art about what some plot points were. Multiple trailers were released, along with the theme song, “Dream As One” by Miley Cyrus. Avatar: Fire and Ash made $347 million worldwide during just the opening weekend. The movie is still grossing and trying to live up to the first two movies.
