While the villains of Avatar: The Way of Water’s shared coffee habit may not seem like a big deal, it is actually a clever bit of hidden symbolism in the Avatar sequel. Unlike many modern blockbusters, the Avatar movies are not brimming with Easter eggs for viewers to uncover. Director James Cameron’s immersive sci-fi fantasy franchise is surprisingly earnest and, as a result, the Avatar movies feature less playful in-jokes and references than many of their blockbuster contemporaries. However, this does not mean that the Avatar movies aren’t filled with subtle details.

While the blockbuster sequel features some awe-inspiring action set pieces, Avatar: The Way of Water also has some sly details that many viewers could miss on their first viewing. A lot of these details are found in Avatar: The Way of Water's slow second act, a deliberately-paced midsection that allows viewers a chance to get familiar with the Metakyina clan before the movie's climactic bloodbath. However, some of these details can be seen throughout the story of the Avatar sequel, such as Avatar: The Way of Water’s weird recurring coffee motif.

Avatar 2’s Villainous Coffee Obsession Is A Symbol


The villains of Avatar: The Way of Water drink a lot of coffee, including, as in the case of General Ardmore, emptying a cup of java while in a mech suit. However, as noted by the hosts of the podcast Chapo Trap House in their review, this image is deeper than it seems. Like Spider’s wild Avatar: The Way of Water over-acting, this might initially seem like an out-of-place touch or a strange beat, but the detail makes perfect sense when taken in tandem with the rest of the sequel’s story. Avatar: The Way of Water’s villains are attempting to turn Pandora into another earth, thus justifying their coffee obsession.

In Avatar: The Way of Water, coffee consumption stands in as an image of office culture, the mundane corporate lifestyle that the human attackers have forcibly brought to the beautiful natural world of Pandora. Coffee is also, famously, a substance that was often obtained through imperial domination, like the Tulkun oil that the Marines and hunters are willing to kill majestic animals to obtain and sell. Coffee is also a stimulant that helps the human characters override their natural limits, in contrast with the Na’vi who must get in touch with their own natural limits to live among the Metkayina clan.

Avatar 2’s Coffee Underlines An Original Movie Problem


While Quartich’s newly created Avatar self makes for a compelling villain, he is one of few antagonistic characters who gain much character development in Avatar: The Way of Water. The Avatar sequel wisely opts not to spend too much time with the human Marines, corporate overlords, and opportunistic hunters who are colonizing Pandora, since these contemptuous figures don’t require a subplot of their own. In contrast, the original Avatar spent much of its runtime with some reprehensible human characters solely to illustrate that they are greedy, out-of-touch with nature, and pitiless. While this did make Avatar hero Jake Sully’s choice to join the Na’vi believable, it is still good to see Avatar: The Way of Water avoided this wasted screen time.