Avatar: The Last Airbender Introduces Sun the Lavabender

Warning: Spoilers for Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy Comic

Toph is perhaps one of the most popular characters in the entire franchise, so it was a welcome surprise to discover that she would be receiving her very own comic book (something Suki will be receiving quite soon as well). Those familiar with the ongoing Avatar: The Last Airbender comic book series, a series that picks up where the popular show left off, are already aware that Toph set off to start her own school. Being the world’s first-ever metalbender, it is only natural for her to go off in order to spread her knowledge of this new form of bending to students she deems worthy. However, the Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’sMetalbending Academy comic shows that in order for her to become the best teacher, she must actually also embrace being a student. This is exactly where the new lavabender, Sun, comes in.

In Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy by Faith Erin Hicks, Tim Hedrick, Peter Wartman, and Adele Matera, While out for a stroll, Toph’s earthbending senses a strong bending presence nearby, which eventually leads her to a secret underground bending fight club. Here she witnesses a fight where a young boy unleashes an incredible amount of power, splitting the very earth beneath him to reveal lava. Unfortunately, before Toph can find out exactly what kind of power this boy used, the fight club breaks up in a panic thinking that they are about to get busted and shut down by the authorities, but not before she is able to learn this bender’s name is Sun.

This causes Toph to reflect on where she has ended up in life, and despite having discovered metalbending, she now feels stale and misses the thrill of unveiling new techniques. Seeing this strange new bending, which she describes as a mixture of both earth and firebending, Toph is now eager to pursue this boy. She soon finds herself back at another evening of the secret bending tournament, where Sun is yet again competing. Sun is then faced with the challenge of taking on a powerful, and much older, waterbender, an opponent who most of the fight seems to have the advantage. Just as Sun is about to be defeated, he lets out a burst of rage, ripping lava from the ground, though it is quickly revealed that even Sun himself doesn’t quite understand this power. It connects with Toph that this isn’t at all a mixture of firebending and earthbending, but actually a whole new form of advanced earthbending known as lavabending. Absolutely thrilled by this new technique, Toph, after some convincing, is able to recruit Sun to join her academy where they will work together to master this art form. That’s right, this means that Toph not only metalbends, but actually also learns lavabending!

While this is technically not the first time lavabending has been seen within the franchise, something that is shown in The Legend of Korra, this is canonically the first time it is seen in the known Avatar timeline. This means that Sun isn’t simply a one-off character tossed into the comics, but actually an important part of the world’s overall history. His recruitment into Toph’s Metalbending Academy expanded her school to also teach lavabending, meaning that much of the knowledge that leads to the lavabending seen in The Legend of Korra is discovered and spread by Toph and her school.

With the recent announcement of an entire studio dedicated solely to Avatar projects, it stands to reason that this won’t be the last fans see of Sun. Being one of the “fathers” of lavabending, there is little doubt that this character will return, at least in comic form, but possibly even in other forms of media such as future films or television projects. To learn more detail about Sun and Toph’s discovery of lavabending, check out Avatar: The Last Airbender – Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy, available online and at your favorite comic book stores today!