Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, the upcoming animated film follow-up to the wildly popular series, suffered an extensive leak earlier this year, and Paramount+ is moving up the film’s premiere date on the streaming platform from October to later this month without a ton of fanfare. Though several people have already seen the movie in full, the animated sequel will now launch on Paramount+ on July 25. I have personally seen the film thanks to some early screeners, and while I can’t put out a review yet, I can say that this movie follows adult versions of the series’ cast of heroes and is very, very aware of it. Aang and his friends are all extremely hot in this movie, and the film is full of tasteful, equal-opportunity fanservice for everyone. Water benders at the ready, the floodgates are opening.
If there’s one thing this movie loves to do, by creator Bryan Konietzko’s own admission, it’s slut out adult Aang at any given opportunity.
“He’s hot, he’s tall and ripped, broad shouldered, and he looks great, but he’s not quite the adult Avatar that he needs to be yet, Konietzko tells EW. “So this film is really trying to dive into that.”
The Avatar is now chiseled by the gods, having honed his martial arts training into the kind of body you put on your vision board or look at long enough to make yourself get out of bed and go to the gym. Scenes where Aang is battleworn and moody about whatever he’s going through while Katara tends to his bruised and battered back are enough to make a man bend the earth. Aang wears several outfits throughout the movie, each of which does a good job of aging up his original iconic look from the series, but half the time, the guy is dressed down with a sash that only barely covers his impressive upper body. I only wish he had the beard he’s seen with in older depictions.
It’s not just Aang, though. Everyone has had a major glow-up in the time between the original Nickelodeon series and the film. Toph, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka are all constantly animated and framed like proud, powerful warriors who are also extremely hot, buff, and elegant in how they move in and out of battle. Their toned physiques are a key part of each of their character designs, and that means everyone is flexing and fine as fuck as they fight. These guys are showing off, and it’s clear Avatar Studios knows what it’s doing. Avatar Aang’s animation is pretty stunning, and that’s apparent even in the first trailer, but one nice surprise to unwrap when watching the full film is that the team used their talents to give everyone something to look at of a different kind. Thank you for your service.
We’ll have a proper review of Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender closer to the film’s premiere later this month.