Avatar 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the original Avatar film, could be setting up an interplanetary war bigger than Avengers: Endgame, as the plot will see audiences return to Earth in the upcoming film. In the original, Earth was described as having been depleted of its natural resources. This means that the film’s human characters could be returning to an Earth that is post-apocalyptic, or at the very least, struggling to survive.
This would be quite similar to the Earth seen in Avengers: Endgame, which (post-snap) struggled to cope with the massive loss of human life. The ensuing conflict between the remaining Avengers and an alternate timeline Thanos (Josh Brolin) set the bar high for massive interplanetary battles. However, it seems that the plot of Avatar 2 could be trying to achieve something similar in scale.
If characters in Avatar 2 travel between Earth and Pandora, or the few remaining humans on Earth bring their struggle for survival to Pandora, the subsequent conflict could be just as dramatic and full scale as that of Endgame’s. At the end of the last Avatar film, the Resources Development Administration (RDA) was all but entirely expelled from Pandora and sent back to Earth. However, with their planet struggling to get by, it’s likely the RDA will mount another attack against Pandora in a desperate attempt for survival. Additionally, the backdrop of Pandora for the battle between the Na’vi and the human race could accentuate the epic scale of an Endgame-like conflict.
The premise of Avatar 2 has been lightly teased by director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau as following original protagonist Jake Sully and his new family on Pandora. However, as an old threat reemerges, Sully and his family are forced to leave their home and explore new biomes within Pandora. This hint at the plot of the new film implies that the RDA will likely come back to Pandora to seek vengeance for their initial defeat, likely with greater and more powerful threats at their disposal. This is similar to Thanos’s desire to carry out his future plan to wipe out half of humanity successfully and his second attempt to stop the Avengers from reversing it in Endgame.
Additionally, as the film’s plot indicates that Sully and his family will explore new reaches of Pandora, it’s likely that the backdrop of the ensuing conflict will be increasingly dramatic in scale. Much of the film’s initial delayed-release can be chalked up to the need to develop new CGI technology to meet the needs of the production, namely, technology for underwater motion capture. It seems likely that audiences will see even more diverse biomes within Pandora that could provide an incredible background for an all-out, Endgame-style conflict between humans and Na’vi for the fate of the planet.
With the first of the Avatar sequels premiering next year, and shooting for the third installment already underway, Cameron and his team are heavily investing in the franchise’s continued development. And, as hints of the sequels’ plots continue to drop, it seems like the scale of each subsequent film is getting bigger and bigger, striving for the success and scale that Endgame achieved. However, until next year, it remains to be seen if Avatar 2 will be able to pull off the scale of a war bigger than Avengers: Endgame.