History Film / Avatar

* AudienceSurrogate: Jake comes across as your average red-blooded American guy... and ends up with all the wish-fulfillment that guy could ever want.

* HeelFaceTurn: Arguably, with Jake siding with the Na'vi instead of the humans.

* IdenticalStranger: Stephen Lang, Colonel Quaritch's actor, is [[http://movies.yahoo.com/news/james-cameron-found-avatar-darth-vader-stephen-lang-175002625.html set to appear in major roles]] in all of the movies, under different roles. Same thing for Sigourney Weaver, Grace Augustine's actor.

%%* LensFlare: And yes, they're 3D.

%%* BeastMan: The Na'vi.

%%* ConLang: The Na'vi language.

%%* EpicMovie

* ExpandedUniverse: Creator/JamesCameron wants to flesh out the universe of ''Avatar'' in several books and even other films. The official wiki is a great example.

%%* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha: The humans have plenty of impressive machines at hand, but the one most featured is their AMP Suit, a robotic mech suit which possesses durable features which allow their operators to traverse through the Pandoran environment and live.

A third-person action video game ''James Cameron's Avatar: The Game'' was released in 2009. The game acts as a {{prequel}} to the movie and Creator/SigourneyWeaver, Creator/StephenLang, Creator/MichelleRodriguez, and Creator/GiovanniRibisi reprise their roles from the film. Creator/{{Ubisoft}} has also announced the open-world ''Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora'' for 2022.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Jake's intel gives the marines the info needed to [[spoiler:destroy Hometree]]. By the end of the movie... well, let's just say it doesn't work out for the bad guys.

** Worth special mention is the Toruk, which is said to be untameable by even the strongest of Na'vi. Jake manages to do so.

* SicklyGreenGlow: All Pandoran organisms, including the Na'vi, possess bioluminescence of many colors which emit light when darkness falls and one of those colors is green. However, [[SubvertedTrope the Pandoran animals are happy to leave anyone alone if no one disturbs them and the Na'vi are not evil]].

-->'''Jake Sully:''' Well, uh, I guess this is my last video log. With whatever happens tonight, either way, I'm not gonna be coming back to this place. Well, I guess I better go. I don't wanna be late for my own party. It's my birthday, after all. This is Jake Sully signing off.

** Unobtainium. The humans don't get much of it. This is an in-joke relating to something that has incredible properties. See {{Unobtainium}}.

* ThankYourPrey: The Na'vi. Taken from tribal cultures that do the same.

* JungleOpera [[RecycledInSpace IN SPAAAaaace]]!

* CategoryTraitor: When Jake betrays the human colony.

* TheChosenOne: Jake is chosen by Eywa and becomes the first human accepted into the tribe.
* CloseOnTitle

* DeadpanSnarker: Various characters are candidates for this, but Grace and Jake are probably the most apparent early in the film.

* DeathWorld: Pandora, pretty much every variety all at once.

%%* BigBad: Selfridge takes this role at first before it is usurped by [[DragonAscendant Quaritch]].

* FloatingContinent: In fact, this is the reason why humans are there. There's also the [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/officialavatarmovie/4054823306/sizes/l/ Hallelujah Mountains]]. Justified as [[AllThereInTheManual Superconductors]], like the Unobtainium in the Hallelujah Mountians do float in magnetic fields such as the flux vortex.

* [[GaiasVengeance Eywa's Vengeance]]: [[spoiler:The Na'vi equivalent to Mother Earth eventually fights back against the humans.]]

** A more traditional version of the trope is the "Toruk Makto unites the clans" montage.

* HeliCritter: The fan lizard.

* HorseOfADifferentColor: It's blue. And has six legs.

%%* ScienceHero: Grace Augustine, Norm, Max, and ultimately Jake.

%%* SicklyGreenGlow

%%* WorldInTheSky: The Hallelujah mountains in Avatar are not an example - they are a FloatingContinent.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: The Na'vi have their palms facing outwards, which is the opposite of real life archers. While InUniverse this is justified by the Na'vi having different biomechanics, there is still the fact that humans were performing that gesture. With enough practice in this grip, it's more than plausible to use it. It's not considered proper by professional archers, but it's far from a useless grip.[[note]]

* AlienInvasion: By humans, naturally.

%%* BigDamnHeroes: By way of DeusExMachina.

-->'''Jake Sully:''' Well, uh, I guess this is my last video log. Whatever happens tonight, either way, I'm not gonna be coming back to this place. Well, I guess I better go. I don't wanna be late for my own party. It's my birthday, after all. This is Jake Sully signing off.

* MyselfMyAvatar: The eponymous Avatars are humans who have the same neural link to the "Na'vi" bodies they have and control them by the same link. Their human DNA is mixed into the bodies they control, allowing them to have faces resembling their human drivers.

* SceneryGorn: [[spoiler:When hometree is destroyed, the entire landscape is shown smouldering, burning, and grey all at once, leaving for a very poignant and saddening display]].

%%* InstantAwesomeJustAddMecha

%%* MyselfMyAvatar: The eponymous Avatars.

%%* SceneryGorn: [[spoiler:When hometree is destroyed]].

%%* StandardSciFiArmy

* TemptingFate:
-->'''Grace:''' [[spoiler:What're you gonna do, Ranger Rick? Shoot me?]]\\
'''Quaritch:''' [[spoiler:I can do that.]]

** The avatars are, despite all appearances, remarkably human -- their voices, spectrum of vision, and hearing all fit human parameters, despite Na'vi evolving on a moon with a different atmosphere guaranteeing all three of the above should be significantly different. The fact the Na'vi are [[HumanoidAliens functionally human with the exception of some minor physical traits]] despite the extreme unlikelihood of this coincidental evolutionary route (even evolving from the Pandoran equivalent of "monkeys") [[WordOfGod has been stated]] to be entirely for artistic reasons.

** The mere concept of "avatars" is a massive example of artistic license, since it involves mixing of Human and Na'vi genes to create a seamless hybrid. The likelihood of alien genes being equivalent enough with human DNA to produce a perfectly compatible body is outrageously improbable (AllThereInTheManual notes Na'vi don't even ''have'' DNA).

Its sequel, ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'', took [[ExtremelyLengthyCreation the better part of the following decade]] to produce, since Cameron (as usual) was interested in utilizing experimental technology to portray new environments (specifically, Pandora's [[AuthorAppeal oceans]]), taking a few years to improve it. Production finally began in September 2017 and the film was released in December 2022. Currently, there are four sequels planned for release starting in December 2022. Cameron is set to write and direct all of them. Alleged titles for further sequels include ''Avatar: The Seed Bearer'', ''Avatar: The Tulkun Rider'', and ''Avatar: The Quest for Eywa'' respectively. Cameron also suggested the possibility of sixth and seventh films in the series depending on the performance of the sequels, though he may not direct them.

A sequel, now titled ''Film/AvatarTheWayOfWater'', has been in the making [[ExtremelyLengthyCreation for the better part of the following decade]], since Cameron (as usual) was interested in utilizing experimental technology to portray new environments (specifically, Pandora's [[AuthorAppeal oceans]]), taking a few years to improve it. Production finally began in September 2017. Currently, there are four sequels planned for release starting in December 2022. Cameron is set to write and direct all of them. Alleged titles for further sequels include ''Avatar: The Seed Bearer'', ''Avatar: The Tulkun Rider'', and ''Avatar: The Quest for Eywa'' respectively. Cameron also suggested the possibility of sixth and seventh films in the series depending on the performance of the sequels, though he may not direct them.