Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl rumors claim Avatar fighters are in the roster

If you’ve ever wanted to punch Patrick Star in the face as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, then Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is the game for you. Like Nintendo did with the Super Smash Bros. franchise years ago, Nickelodeon’s upcoming fighting game pits the network’s most iconic characters against each other. If one theory proves true, then some of the best characters have yet to be revealed.

Could Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl include two or more characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra? If a very convincing new theory is correct, then we might be able to enter the fray as either of the franchise’s Avatars. And that alone would up the cool factor enough to elevate this game far beyond a mere Smash Bros. clone.

Developer GameMill Entertainment announced Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl via IGN with an action-packed trailer on Tuesday, July 13.

It introduces us to fighters like the squirrel Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob Squarepants and patriarch Nigel Thornberry from The Wild Thornberrys. But at about 35 seconds into it — right after dearest Nigel is introduced — we see a stage that is absolutely set in the universe of The Last Airbender. That might seem surprising given how popular The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have become on Netflix, but both series did originally air on Nickelodeon, even if the tone and scope are radically different from the many other children’s cartoons represented here.

Thus far, 14 fighters have been revealed for the game, but in a July 14 Twitter thread from GameMill, it notes that these are all of the confirmed fighters “... so far.” That alone confirms that more characters will be included. TMNT’s Michelangelo and Leonardo are already confirmed, so Donatello and Raphael may join at some point. And given the fact that there is at least one stage from The Last Airbender, Aang and Korra seem all but certain.

To the left of Patrick’s plump, pink frame 35 seconds into the trailer is an airbender staff, specifically the one used by Aang throughout The Last Airbender. It allows an airbender to channel their magical powers and fly around sort of like a handglider. This stage is reminiscent of the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se given the architecture and color scheme, but it’s far more likely that this is the Western Air Temple given the fact that the buildings appear to be floating.

Further evidence stacks up when we examine the box art.

Currently, the game’s cover merely shows the silhouettes of various fighters. They match up with the previously revealed characters, but there are several outlines of characters that aren’t currently announced. Yes, that’s clearly CatDog stretching across the bottom of the image. Ren and Stimpy are also front and center.

On the left side under Reptar, however, we can see the silhouette of a muscly female figure that is definitely Korra circa Season 1 of the animated series. Korra’s hair changes pretty significantly across the four seasons of the show, but in Season 1, it’s rather long and parted into a read and two side ponytails held in place by thick bands.

The figure directly below Korra is an outstretched human hand with a long-sleeve shirt that could be Aang. But most of his body, including the presumably bald and round head, are obscured by other figures taking up a lot of visual real estate in the center of the collage. We can’t know for sure until it’s confirmed, but it sure looks like Aang’s sleeve. There’s also the fact that he very often will hold out his palm like that to send out a blast of Air. Google Image search “aang hand” and you’ll see numerous instances of it.

For what it’s worth, all of these character models look uniquely designed for the Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl cover rather than recycled from previous scenes from various shows or other mediums. So it’s not like we can find the exact images elsewhere.