Who is the Human From the Avatar: The Way of Water Trailer?

Avatar: The Way of Water has released quite a few glimpses of the gorgeous new realms of Pandora we’ll get to see when the movie releases. Along with returning characters and even seemingly resurrected ones, we see unfamiliar faces as a new story unravels for Jake Sully and his Na’vi family. While it’s uncertain exactly what will happen in the movie just yet, there are already some fascinating mysteries surrounding several characters. One prominent question regards a mysterious human character wearing an exopack in the teaser trailer released in the spring of 2022, but who is he, and what does he have to do with The Way of Water?

Is the Human in the Avatar: The Way of Water Trailer a Good Guy?

The human from the teaser trailer for The Way of Water is Miles Socorro, nicknamed “Spider” who was adopted by Sully’s family after being orphaned. Spider lost his biological mother in the Assault on the Tree of Souls in the first Avatar film, and was taken in by the Na’vi, learning their techniques despite their environment being toxic to him, thus the exopack he wears for his survival. Spider is not wholly embraced by some, such as Jake’s mate, Neytiri, who sees him as another one of the colonizers who attacked her home, but he bonds well with other Na’vi, including Kiri, another adopted child of the family.

Spider’s relationship with Kiri will likely be key in The Way of Water, with Kiri having been born from Grace Augustine’s avatar before she passed. Grace was a big proponent of efforts to strengthen Human-Na’vi relations, and her Na’vi daughter Kiri bonding with a human is a big step forward in that sense. He admires Kiri’s heritage, seeing Grace as a hero, while he saw his biological family as Na’vi killers like Quaritch, and has greatly sympathized with the Na’vi people. He sees himself as one of them, even despite his human limitations and physiology, and is dubbed “Monkey Boy” by Kiri.

Has Spider Appeared in Other Avatar Works?

Spider appeared in Avatar: The High Ground, a graphic novel series from Dark Horse that acts as a prequel to the events of The Way of Water. The High Ground takes place 14 years after the events of the first Avatar and was supposed to be based on the original screenplay for The Way of Water until the script had rewrites, but will closely precede its events. But Spider will be a major character in the film, and it’s exciting to see what he’ll get to do. Miles “Spider” Socorro will be portrayed in the film by Jack Champion.

Avatar: The Way of Water will release worldwide exclusively in theaters on December 16, 2022.