Avatar: The Last Airbender and Dark Horse are on a streak of releasing standalone comics, but who should be next to get the treatment? The Red Lotus was introduced in The Legend of Korra Book Three, with the team consists of four extremely powerful benders who wanted to usher in a new age by overthrowing the Four Nations and killing the Avatar. The Red Lotus' members include Zaheer, P'Li, Ming-Hua, and Ghazan. They are by far the most popular and dangerous villains of the show. Even though fans have not had an Avatar show in years, the comics continue to breathe life into Avatar's already expansive world and as they start to do more Korra comics, it would seem there is an obvious story they could choose.
Most of the comics published so far have been graphic novel trilogies. However, recently Dark Horse has delved into the world of standalone comics, focusing on specific stories set during and between episodes. Katara and the Pirate's Silver is set during Book Two: Earth and was released in October 2020. Likewise, Suki, Alone is set during the events of the show and it follows Suki during her incarceration on the Boiling Rock. The fact that Dark Horse is singling out a fan-favorite story like The Boiling Rock would make it not too far fetched to assume that they may have plans for other comics soon.
The Legend of Korra ended with Book Four in 2014 and has since had two major continuations in comic form, Turf Wars and Ruins of the Empire. However, the events of season 3 left fans wondering about the Red Lotus' origins as we only met them shortly after Harmonic Convergence, when the group managed to escape from their top-security prisons. Avatar's next standalone comic should focus on the formation of the group and their attempted kidnapping of Korra soon after she was pinpointed as the new Avatar.
The Red Lotus was formed as a splinter group of the Order of the White Lotus after the Hundred Year War. The event that the comic would focus on is 13 years before Book Three, as the four Red Lotus benders led by Zaheer attempt to kidnap Korra. Although they had all been members of the organization for a while, it was their actions to try and take out the Avatar that cemented their legacy. However, the fact that their actions were hidden from the world is a great point of intrigue. Not even Korra knew of their attempt, the secret was kept between Tenzin, Zuko, Sokka, and Korra's dad Tonraq. All of whom prevented young Korra's capture, which resulted in the four's imprisonment.
There are a lot of untold stories in Avatar's world and by exploring the Red Lotus, another well-known villain could return. Unalaq was season 2's main villain who was once a member of the Red Lotus. The comic could see Unalaq's betrayal of the group as he failed to accompany Zaheer and the others on their mission, even though he was the one who devised it. Unalaq's selfishness opposed their beliefs and luckily for him, his plan to become the Dark Avatar was not learned of until after their capture. Additionally, showing the fan-favorite group's origin would help build a clearer picture of what happened between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. The Avatar comics mainly explore the gap between the two shows and with their recent focus on standalone stories, it would seem likely that the Red Lotus could star in their own Legend of Korra comic.