| NOTE: This article specifically details the M. Night Shyamalan interpretation of the character as the original Zuko is a well-received character beloved by the majority of the fandom. |
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"Major Spoilers Ahead!" |
Zuko is the secondary antagonist of M. Night Shyamalan's infamous 2010 film The Last Airbender based off of one of Nickelodeon's most popular animated show Avatar: The Last Airbender.
He was infamously portrayed by Dev Patel.
What Makes Him a Scrappy?[]
- The main problem with Zuko is the various flaws with his appearance.
- For a start, he was racebent from East Asian to Indian.
- While being played by an actor of Indian descent is not wrong, and Dev Patel actually does a decent job portraying him, it is offensive as along with Zuko, everyone in the Fire Nation were portrayed by Indians or people of Indian descent, who usually don't display imperialistic behavior (unlike the Fire Nation) and was once even part of the British Empire (a textbook example of Western imperialism). This means it is not only inaccurate to the show, but also extremely offensive to Indians, especially considering the real-life parallels between the Fire Nation and the British Empire.
- The original casting choice for Zuko (Jesse McCartney), isn't any better either, due to him being Caucasian.
- While it is understandable they can't have Zuko with his Book One hairstyle as it is hard to imitate in real life, the makeup group made Zuko's scar nearly unnoticeable, and all that was left was a slight first-degree burn. In fact, the disappearance of the scar was one of the biggest complaints about the movie as it made Zuko look less intimidating and more like an edgy teenager.
- The Blue Spirit's mask was also changed, now looking more like a realistic angry face with more blue than white instead of a ridiculously happy face as blue with white accent. He also gains a wig for some reason.
- For a start, he was racebent from East Asian to Indian.
- Like Sokka, Zuko was also aged up by 2 whole years as he was 16 in the original series and 18 in the movie.
- While in the series it was not glossed over about the Fire Nation public knowing about Zuko's banishment, in the movie almost everyone knows about it to the point he is forced to wear a hoodie to avoid being recognized.
- Had a total Kick the Dog moment by having his men capture all the elders of the Water Tribe village, as the original only ordered the village to surrender Aang and even kept his promise and left the village after Aang turned himself in.
- He even planned to have another Kick the Dog moment by threatening to burn the village down if Aang had not surrendered. While he was capable of doing that (as shown what happened to Kyoshi Island), it was still very vile and unnecessary and seems like a compacting between former location and the Southern Water Tribe parts.
- Overall, while Zuko was taken seriously in all three seasons to the point he can't be considered Love Exalted post-redemption, he was still an good anti-hero/villain and even had genuinely nice moments (such as liberating an Earth Kingdom village from their oppressive and bullying soldiers, even after the villagers (even the kid he saved) showed no gratitude for him after finding out he was from the Fire Nation and seeing him firebend and in Book One leaving Kyoshi Island after Aang left it, despite burning it down) in the first two seasons when he was a full-on villain. This one loses many of his nice moments in the movie.
External Links[]
- Zuko on the Avatar Wiki
- Zuko on the Villains Wiki
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