Despite people debating about its status as an anime or cartoon, Avatar has gained a huge fan base and secured its place as one of the most talked shows.
Everything from its unique storyline to its legendary characters and its iconic line, “and everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked” turned meme, has immortalized Avatar in their fan’s hearts.
This love for it has given rise to heated debates such as comparing the strongest characters on Reddit, Quora, anonymous fan forums, to literally any other social media site.
With each fan having their own opinions, we have attempted to make our very own top 25 list.
While we have tried to be as objective as possible, feel free to comment your opinions below. With that said, let’s get started!
25Jet
Jet was a master in wielding hook swords, with which he was able to defeat a master bender and even duel evenly with a swordsman of Zuko’s caliber.
Furthermore, he was not restricted to one weapon as he also used knives and throwing darts on occasion.
Aside from his swordsmanship skills, he was also an extremely agile warrior, able to scale trees so that Aang found it difficult to fight him.
During his early days, Jet and his band destroyed an Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation and was strong enough to resist Long Feng’s brainwashing before falling to him.
24Long Feng
As the head of Dai Li, Long Feng was one of the most powerful earthbenders in Ba Sing Se.
When capturing Appa, he overturned a huge slab of ground, as well as dodged Jet’s sword and mortally wounded him with a single, well-aimed rock.
He was also knowledgeable in hypnotism and could cause people who had been subjected to Dai Li’s hypnosis, such as Jet, to obey his every word.
However, he depended too much on its members and had no leverage in the Earth Kingdom without it.
23Xin Fu
Despite being the tournament’s host, Xin Fu was also a successful former competitor and a capable earthbender.
His style of combat was direct and a direct show of force. In his brief fight against Toph, he showed great dexterity and unrivaled hand to hand combat skills.
However, sidetracked by his greed, he never showed a desire to develop them further.
22The Boulder
The Boulder was one of the best earthbending fighters in the Earth Rumble tournament who defeated his opponents straightforwardly with his physical strength.
His importance as one of the Earth Kingdom’s finest Earthbenders was seen when he was chosen to accompany Team Avatar during the Invasion of the Fire Nation.
If not for Toph standing in his way, he would’ve definitely won the championship.
21Admiral Zhao
Zhao was a skilled firebender and one of Jeong Jeong’s best students.
However, he later entirely disregarded the latter’s teachings and only focused on the destructive techniques, which made him lose control in a prolonged battle.
While he easily overpowered Zuko in their duel earlier and was able to fight him on almost equal terms later, he ultimately ended up being overwhelmed and hit several times.
20Mai
Despite neither being a non-bender nor being physically strong, Mai could hold her own against them due to her mastery over marksmanship.
This skill, also known as “stilettos”, involved shuriken knives and hand arrows, which she used to pin her opponents.
Just by throwing them, they could cause fatal injuries, such as when she attacked Aang and Katara.
In addition to her shurikens and darts, Mai was also proficient with wielding a three-pronged sai dagger, which she used for close combat.
19Suki
Like Ty Lee, Suki was more than capable of handling herself in a fight despite being a non-bender. She was mainly known for her hand-to-hand combat and agility.
When taken into account her great physical strength, she could easily fight against many weaker benders. In addition, Suki was a master at wielding the traditional Kyoshi Warrior war fans and katana.
18Piandao
Piandao was a former member of the Fire Nation Army and a high-ranking member of the Order of the White Lotus.
He was mainly known for teaching Zuko and Sokka, as well as for being the best swordsman in Fire Nation history.
He had never lost a single battle and defeated a hundred Fire Nation soldiers with ease.
Furthermore, in the battle of Ba Sing Se, he disabled several soldiers and established his name as one of the most skilled non-benders in the world.
17Ty Lee
Studying alongside Azula, Ty Lee was extraordinary and powerful enough among non-benders.
She was mainly known for her agility, which surpassed even Azula’s. Due to this, she was able to outmaneuver almost any opponent she came across and dodge their attacks.
In addition, her mastery over pressure-point-striking martial arts was incredible as with her extensive knowledge of the human body; she could immobilize her enemies.
Furthermore, she could block chi paths in benders, which made her especially dangerous to them. Combined with her agility, she was able to defeat powerful earthbenders with ease.
16Huu
From the water tribe, Huu specialized in plantbending using his master waterbending to bend the fluids inside the plants of the swamp. This technique strongly resembles Hama’s bloodbending.
When covering himself with vines, he was strong enough to easily throw and smash tundra tanks.
It also acted as a good defense against fire attack despite not being able to withstand ones from the inside.
15Hama
Hama was a waterbending master from the Southern Water Tribe who was strong enough to resist Fire Nation’s captivity longer than any other of her fellow waterbenders.
With her imagination and proficiency, she could manipulate and extract water from grass, flowers, and even use trees to fuel her bending during combat. One of her most impressive feats was pulling water from air itself.
Later on, Hama became highly skilled at bloodbending, which allowed her to control Aang and Sokka simultaneously.
14Combustion Man
Combustion Man, or as called by Sokka and the fans, ‘Sparky Sparky Boom Man,’ had the unique ability to perform combustion bending, which allowed him to trigger explosions from a third-eye tattoo on his forehead.
The true degree of his raw power and skill was considerable, as he almost always overpowered Aang’s group.
Physically speaking, Combustion Man showed no weaknesses; however, ironically, his only known weakness involved his greatest weapon, which was exploited by Sokka.
13Jeong Jeong
Jeong Jeong was a master firebender, a former prodigy who preferred to use the defensive side of his bending.
He believed firebending to be a curse fuelled through anger, which is why his style emphasized self-control, precision, and patience.
Despite this, he was extremely powerful, seen when he created several fire walls, and forced the surrounding tanks back.
Jeong Jeong’s firebending stemmed from his keen and experienced mind, which required him to be tuned in with his spirituality.
He was one of the few characters who, despite not always bursting up with explosive powers, showed great strength.
12Pakku
Pakku was Katara’s teacher and a powerful Northern-style waterbending master. He was incredibly skilled and was once regarded as the best waterbender in the world
During his duel with Katara, he created huge waves of water and ice and eventually defeated his student.
Furthermore, during the North’s Siege, he held his own against dozens of soldiers and created an extremely large water spout.
Not only that, but he also fought many comet enhanced Fire Nation soldiers, and along with the rest of the Order of White Lotus, successfully liberated Ba Sing Se.
11Katara
Despite not being really proficient in waterbending in the beginning, Katara rapidly developed her skill at the art to become the most powerful waterbending master in her era.
Under the guidance of Master Pakku, her abilities advanced the quickest, and she was named a prodigy.
While she was defeated by Zuko during the day, at night, she defeated him easily with the full moon’s augmented power.
However, this does not mean that she’s stronger than Zuko as their victory or loss is affected by the time of the day.
Other than her waterbending abilities, she was incredible at healing and became one of the very best in this scene by the end of the second installment.
10Zuko
At one point in the series, it almost seemed as if Zuko was the main character due to his extreme changes.
While he was not as skilled as his sister, Azula, after training under Iroh, he slowly started refining his skills and reached the point of becoming a firebending master.
Other than his bending abilities, he was an expert swordsman and had great agility.
With the power of Sozin’s Comet, Zuko’s firebending was enhanced, and during this time, he was able to match Azula’s blue flames and even gain the upper hand.
However, despite his fast development as a firebender, he has been noted not to be as skilled or as powerful as his younger sister, which is why he is placed in one place lower.
9Azula
Azula, the princess of the Fire Nation and daughter of Ozai, was one of the series’ prominent antagonists.
She was one of the most skilled and powerful firebenders of her time and was recognized as a prodigy by Ozai himself.
What made her so unique was her ability to create blue flames, which were much more intense than flames normally used by firebenders.
During the confrontation at Tu Zin, she easily defeated Zuko and even overwhelmed Aang.
Furthermore, she could defeat the Avatar when he had mastered Air, Water, and Earthbending twice.
Other than that, she was a master in other advanced techniques, such as creating large blasts of flame, using them to propel herself forward like a jet, and even producing and guiding lightning.
She was extremely powerful, and the only reason she lost to Zuko once was due to her mental instability.
8King Bumi
King Bumi was one of the best master earthbenders in the world.
He used his imagination to improve his bending further, and with his conservative fighting style, he was rarely ever in a difficult position.
Furthermore, he could levitate entire houses, create fissures, turn dirt into quicksand, and even topple metal statues from underneath.
Bumi’s most exceptional feat that guarantees him a place in this list is his ability to bend earth with just his face and thus free himself and rid the entire city of Omashu of Fire Nation soldiers.
7Toph Beifong
Toph Beifong is one of the most powerful earthbending masters of her time.
Despite being blind, her training in earthbending allowed her to use seismic sense to feel even the most minute vibrations in the earth. With this, she had a distinct advantage when facing other earthbenders as she could predict their attacks.
Furthermore, she did something that even the Avatar was unable to do, i.e., bend metal and successfully discover metalbending. She is a legendary character and is placed 6th on this list.
6Sozin
His position as a Fire Lord guaranteed him being a powerful firebending master. When he was young, he sparred with Avatar Roku and even defeated him on more than one occasion.
Even before having access to the power Sozin’s Comet provided, he attacked Roku by unleashing a massive wave of fire. Furthermore, he helped the latter tame a literal erupting volcano and was on equal footing with him regarding firebending.
5Iroh
Iroh was one of the most powerful firebenders of his time and was the only non-avatar who could defeat Ozai.
While he was not in his best state in Avatar: The Last Airbender, due to his son’s death, we were shown tremendous feats of strength on his part, such as his destructive power that blasted through the inner wall of Ba Sing Se.
Despite having less raw power than his younger brother, his history as a general provided him with great tactical knowledge and control over his abilities.
All of this earns him this spot in the list, and the only reason he is not ranked higher than Ozai is due to the unproven rumors of him slaying the last dragon and the lack of fights between them.
4Ozai
The final antagonist of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ozai, was the ruler of the Fire Nation and sought to conquer the other nations to become the supreme ruler of the world.
Later on, he declared himself the Phoenix King, ruler of the world, and ambitiously planned to utilize Sozin’s Comet to burn down the Earth Kingdom.
During his last battle with Aang, he held his own against the latter and even pushed him back for a while, but was overwhelmed by the Avatar who used energybending to remove his firebending abilities permanently.
Despite that, Ozai was an incredibly powerful and skilled firebender.
In fact, other than the Avatars, the only other individual capable of defeating him would be Iroh, and even then, the latter was unsure of his victory.
3Roku
Roku was the Fire Nation-born Avatar immediately succeeding Avatar Kyoshi and preceding Aang. Throughout the series, his memory served as a guiding force for Aang to end the Hundred Year War.
Like other Avatars, he had great control over all four elements, shown when he easily defeated Fire Lord Sozin.
Despite the latter being a master in his own right, Roku’s skilled combat and raw power were more than enough to render him helpless.
In fact, if not for the purpose of the storyline and his friendship with Sozin, he would have never let the war begin in the first place.
With feats including battling an erupting volcano, it was only because of his friend’s betrayal that caused his unfortunate downfall. Despite that, he deserves his place in the third position on this list.
2Kyoshi
Kyoshi, the predecessor of Roku, other than strength, was extremely unlike her successors.
She believed in taking immediate actions in order to maintain a just world, which is why she was not opposed to killing when necessary.
Due to this, she saw many successes in her life, such as preventing the resurgence of the disastrous Yellow Neck uprising and stopping the Fire Lord Zoryu from massacring the Saowon clan.
As the Avatar, Kyoshi was able to bend all four elements and enter the Avatar State at will.
In fact, she was one of the most powerful Avatar’s in the series, with her most spectacular known feat being the creation of an actual island.
1Aang
By the end of the series, other than being proficient in bending all elements, Aang was able to do what no other avatar could, i.e., bend energy itself.
With this, he spiritually fought and defeated the Phoenix King, Ozai, and took away his firebending abilities.
With such unmatched power, no one could compare to him by the time the series concluded.
Aang is the strongest character in Avatar: The Last Airbender, as he single-handedly ended the Hundred Years’ War at the mere age (biological) of 12.
Furthermore, he achieved more than what most avatars could in years. If this doesn’t guarantee him the first place on this list, I’m not sure what does!
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