The Legend of Korra push the The Avatar cartoon franchise into a new era, with the kind but headstrong Avatar Korra as the latest incarnation of the long-running Avatar Cycle. Much more than her predecessor Air Nomad, Korra was an action Avatar, never hesitating to clash with powerful benders to save the world or protect her many friends. Sometimes, the ensuing fights were rather one-sided, like Kuvira throwing Korra out of Zaofu or Korra beating up some Triple-Threat Triads on her first day in Republic City. But other fights were quite different.
A one-sided fight can be short and dramatic to prove a point, but the best fights in The Legend of Korra tend to be evenly matched, with each side having a fair chance to win. These fair fights give both sides a chance to show off their skills, and when fights are evenly matched, there is serious tension over which side will win, when, and how. Ten Special Fights in The Legend of Korra they are just like that, and it's no surprise that many of them are also among the best on the show.
10 The fire ferrets vs. the platypuses pushed Korra to become the leaf
Episode: “A Leaf in the Wind”
While the sport of pro-bending hasn't necessarily created great tamers, Avatar Korra has learned a few new tricks from practicing the sport. Early in the first season of the show, Korra struggled with the basic philosophies of airbending, including the idea of ”being the leaf,” so Korra ran away to try pro-bending, which spoke to her as a tamer.
This meant that Korra took part in the hotly contested match between the Fire Ferrets team and the Platypus Bears. The Mako brothers and Bolin were knocked out, so it was up to Korra to stay light on her feet and dodge the opposing team's attacks until she was ready to strike back. This made for a tense, satisfying, and educational match for the Avatar.
9 Fire ferrets vs. wolf bats were a fair play challenge against dirty cheating
Episode: “And the Winner Is…”
Some of Korra's pro-bending matches were easy in the final tournament, but the championship match was a different story. By this point, the disparate Fire Ferrets team had overcome their issues and were ready for action, but their opponents were the league's best, the fearsome Wolfbats. This made the matchup even in the arena.
Worse still, the Wolfbats repeatedly cheated and the referee was bribed to ignore it. This meant that the Wolfbats were free to slide the Fire Ferrets with ice and even mix rocks and water, but the Fire Ferrets did their best to get their revenge by fighting cleanly and putting on a good match. The Fire Ferrets ultimately lost, but they still did a good job and even won a round.
8 Avatar Korra vs. Councilor Tarrlok started with words and ended with blood rule
Episode: “When Extremes Meet”
Not long after the pro-bending tournament ended, Korra began to fight her true enemies, the Equalists. She also clashed with Councilor Tarrlok, who wanted to use Korra as his best weapon. Eventually, Tarrlok arrested Korra's friends to gain an advantage, only to have Korra storm his office one night and challenge him directly.
What followed was a tense battle between the Avatar and the Councilor, starting with Tarrlok's ferocious water attack. He had Korra pinned down with his ice barrage, only for Korra to briefly gain the upper hand before Unalaq's bloodbending decided the match once and for all.
7 Asami Sato vs Hiroshi Sato was a rare mech battle in history
Episode: “Endgame”
During the climax of Book One: Air, the Equalist movement went all out to capture Republic City, and every member of Team Avatar fought back as hard as they could. Among them was Asami Sato, who could do more than just build things and provide inside information on Future Industries' actions. Asami could fight, too, which is what she did when her father went on a rampage at the Equalist airport.
Asami mounted a mech to challenge Hiroshi's, resulting in one of the few battles between machines in the series without any bending whatsoever. For a moment, Asami was vulnerable and almost lost, but then Bolin helped her with his earthbending, giving Asami the chance to capture her Equalist father forever.
6 Avatar Korra vs. Unalaq played out like a Kaiju battle in the harbor
Episode: “Light in the Darkness”
Korra's most challenging and evenly matched struggle in all of Book Two: Spirits came when her uncle Unalaq merged with Vaatu to form the world's first and only Dark Avatar. For one horrifying moment, all seemed lost, only for Tenzin to lead Korra to the Tree of Time and show her how to energybend herself.
With that mystical art, Korra transformed into a giant blue spirit, who stood a chance against the Unavaatu creature that was tearing apart Republic City's harbor. Korra leapt into the fray and fought her uncle to the finish in a kaiju-style battle, and fortunately for the world, Korra emerged victorious from that brutal clash.
5 Lin Beifong vs. Suyin Beifong was a bitter clash between separated stepsisters
Episode: “Old Wounds”
With Book Three: Change, the Beifong family has grown considerably. Korra had already met Toph's daughter Lin, and when the team visited Zaofu, Korra also met Lin's younger half-sister Suyin. The problem was that Lin and Suyin had bad blood, and eventually, that tension boiled over into a daylight ground domination duel.
Korra could only watch as the half-sisters hurled rocks and metal at each other in a hotly contested battle. Suyin had the upper hand, though Lin continued to fight hard and refused to give up, making the fight bitter indeed. There was no winner, as Suyin's airbender daughter Opal eventually intervened and convinced them both to come down.
4 Team Avatar vs. Red Lotus was a sudden and fierce battle within the safe walls of Zaofu.
Episode: “The Terror Within”
Avatar Korra had been assured that the metal city of Zaofu was safe from all enemies, but Suyin didn't count on Aiwei being part of the Red Lotus group and allowing Zaheer's team to sneak in one night. Zaheer and his henchmen captured Korra and almost escaped, but then Team Avatar and the metalbenders caught up with them and started a full-blown fight.
That fight was brutal and evenly matched, with the heroes' bending against lava, air, and explosions from Zaheer's group. The heroes eventually prevailed when Bolin stopped P'Li's combustion and Korra was recaptured, forcing Zaheer to cut his losses and flee Zaofu with his three friends.
3 Tenzin vs. Zaheer showed what happens when airbenders really fight.
Episode: “The Ultimatum”
Zaheer failed to use stealth to capture the Avatar, so his next plan was to use serious leverage to get his hands on Korra. That plan included a major raid on the Northern Air Temple to capture all the Airbenders there, a move that pitted the Red Lotus against Aang's sons and daughter. While Kya faced off against Ming-Hua and Bumi clashed with Ghazan, Tenzin faced off against Zaheer himself.
This was one of the few times in the series where two Airbenders fought a serious battle, making this battle a rare occurrence. It was also notable that despite Zaheer's limited experience with airbending, he held his own against a lifelong master like Tenzin and fought him so evenly. The fight was decided when Zaheer's friends intervened and Tenzin was defeated and captured.
2 Avatar Korra vs. Zaheer was a desperate attempt at survival
Episode: “The Poison of the Red Lotus”
Even though Korra was poisoned by mercury, she put up a good fight against Zaheer during their final showdown in the third book finale. Zaheer had underestimated the Avatar's raw power when he tried to assassinate her, so Zaheer had a fight on his hands. Zaheer had the advantage of flight, while Korra had the four elements and the powerful Avatar State on her side.
The fight was won when Jinora and the other Airbenders formed a huge funnel to lure Zaheer into the air and finally capture him. Korra couldn't have won that fight alone, but she managed to buy herself quite a bit of time, and luckily, Suyin was there to extract most of the mercury from Korra's system to save her life.
1 Avatar Korra vs. Kuvira began in a Colossus cockpit and ended in the spirit world.
Episode: “The Last Stand”
Korra lost badly to Kuvira when they fought just outside Zaofu. Even though Korra was now free of the mercury, she was rusty in combat and had lost her confidence. Fortunately, when Korra faced Kuvira again, the Avatar was ready for a proper duel, and won when the two faced off inside the platinum colossus.
Korra and Kuvira fought fiercely with metalbending and other elements, and at one point in their duel, the colossus crashed, its spirit cannon breaking and spinning out of control. The destructive effects of that cannon helped end this bitter fight, while also opening an entirely new portal to the spirit world, a bizarre twist that helped convince Kuvira that what she had done was wrong.