Korra (LoK) vs Azula (AtLA)

[Sharkerbob]

Both ladies at the top of their game. If Korra goes into Avatar state, Azula gets the Sozin's Comet power-up. Fight takes place in Republic City.

[Estrecca]

Azula can definitely win if she decides to play lightning sniper.

She uses the same kind of extremely evasive style that Kuvira used to dominate against a Korra who wasn't at the top of her game and far better ranged options, so...

If something is going to give Korra an advantage, it is that she is familiar with the place in ways that Azula isn't.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Azula can definitely win if she decides to play lightning sniper.

She uses the same kind of extremely evasive style that Kuvira used to dominate against a Korra who wasn't at the top of her game and far better ranged options, so...

If something is going to give Korra an advantage, it is that she is familiar with the place in ways that Azula isn't.

But they are at the top of their game.

[Totoro Man]

even though Korra is far more powerful than Azula overall-- she's got a few handicaps.

1. Korra tends to leave a LOT of openings for adversaries to exploit against her in her fights. she does this SO often that I don't think you can blame it on PIS or jobbing to opponents. she simply doesn't have a very strong defensive style or techniques.

case in point: when Tarlok was blasting off ice projectiles at Korra like a gatling gun her reaction to that was to start punching isolated shards instead of creating a shield; redirecting them; or jumping out of the way. there were a lot of things she could have done that would have been more effective than what she actually chose to do.

maybe the biggest problem is that she's basically the most powerful person in her world and knows it. most of her big fights involve her just barely getting by on her super-human damage soak and will-power alone. fighting like that against Kuvira turned out disastrously-- and fighting that way against Azula will end badly for Korra as well.

2. Korra is a very predictable fighter. she almost NEVER uses feints and simply bombards her opponent in directly. she doesn't even seem to try anticipating her enemy's movements and cutting them off... which is something we see on a semi-regular basis with other fighters in the Avatar-verse.

3. she can't redirect lightning. Azula's lighting has a good track record for killing Avatars. heck, it's even done serious damage against people who know how to redirect it.

I think Korra definitely has a shot at winning. however, I see Azula taking 7/10 after a difficult fight. Korra's power is too much for her to take her lightly-- but Korra is so unimaginative and has such terrible defense that I just can't see her winning more than an occasional lucky victory against Azula... even with her ostensible home-court advatange.

[Postmania]

So Korra is the "strong boxer in a time of weak opponents that gets hailed as the best ever"?

[Basara]

So Korra is the "strong boxer in a time of weak opponents that gets hailed as the best ever"?

2. Korra is a very predictable fighter. she almost NEVER uses feints and simply bombards her opponent in directly. she doesn't even seem to try anticipating her enemy's movements and cutting them off... which is something we see on a semi-regular basis with other fighters in the Avatar-verse.

No, that's not true. Korra actually is one of the show's better fighters skill wise. She has displayed phenomenal evasion as well as attacking from different directions. For example, she won a pro bending match by skillfully evading all the opposing team's shots until she could take them out in a single shot. Another time, she flipped through the air and used air bending to tie up a guy attacking her with a curtain that he never saw coming. She also showed tremendous imagination fighting Zaheer when she was chained. And then there is her phenomenal fight with Kuvira at the end of the series in the head of the giant robot. This was Korra at her finest skillwise and this is the Avatar Azula will be facing.

Korra actually is a damn good fighter. Unfortunately, the show is incredibly inconsistent with Korra. She'll learned so many lessons and skills over the course of her show, and then she'll forget every lesson she's ever learned just to let a bad guy stick around until the story calls for her to deal with him/her later. Instead of trying to make the likes of Tarlok and Kuvira badass enough to actually give an Avatar a proper fight, the writers always resorted to making Korra look like a bonehead.

It's one of the biggest problems with "Legend of Korra". Fortunately, the series always does a pretty good job with season endings and Korra and crew really get nice chances to shine.

I'm actually leaning towards Korra beating Azula in Republic City, because the simple truth is, when Korra went Avatar state on Zaheer, it took everything the man had to just evade everything Korra was doing. Mind you, this is a man who could actually fly at a very fast speed. Korra is going to have plenty of cover to avoid Azula's lightning and Azula simply cannot avoid a building dropping on her not blast it to bits even with a Sozen's comet boost before she is crushed.

Put them in the arena and this fight is different because Korra wouldn't have cover from Azula's lightning, though I do believe Korra would win a few fights due to her demonstrated ability to "DOOOOOOOOOODGE!".

[Hiromi]

3. she can't redirect lightning. Azula's lighting has a good track record for killing Avatars. heck, it's even done serious damage against people who know how to redirect it.

Actually given that Aang knew how to redirect lightning there's a better chance of her knowing it than not knowing it thanks to a full season of being connected to her past lives, it's how she knew energy bending after two seconds of it(which I totally called the last time people argued against her knowing stuff that Aang knew).

Edit: Sides, Mako knew it IIRC, so it was hardly some little known secret techniuqe by that point

[The Drunkard Kid]

Doesn't it take Azula a bit of time to charge up a lightning blast? Especially if Korra is messing with the ground beneath her feet or flooding the area with strong winds.

[Basara]

Actually given that Aang knew how to redirect lightning there's a better chance of her knowing it than not knowing it thanks to a full season of being connected to her past lives, it's how she knew energy bending after two seconds of it(which I totally called the last time people argued against her knowing stuff that Aang knew).

Edit: Sides, Mako knew it IIRC, so it was hardly some little known secret techniuqe by that point

Mako demonstrated that he knows how to re-direct electricity using the same technique as re-directing lightning. However, we cannot say that Korra knows this technique by association. Even though Korra picks up many techniques very quickly (except for air techniques because she's more like an earth bender than water bender), she still has to be taught that technique. At no time have we ever seen Korra learn this technique. We have to conclude then that Korra is vulnerable to Azula's lightning blasts.

Doesn't it take Azula a bit of time to charge up a lightning blast? Especially if Korra is messing with the ground beneath her feet or flooding the area with strong winds.

I brought this up in a debate on another thread and it was proven that Azula can fire off lightning blasts pretty darn quickly. That's why I say Korra needs cover to win most of her fights with Azula. Republic City provides tons of cover, thus giving Korra the advantage she needs to win. Korra finds cover, goes Avatar state, and drops several buildings on top of Azula with her metal bending. Fight over.

In an arena fight, it's basically Korra having to dodge Azula's lightning in the open, which is a lot more difficult. Korra is actually very good at dodging, but she was not the dodge machine that Aang was. I believe Korra would lose most duels to Azula in the arena.

[Totoro Man]

yes, Korra got hit by "the Idiot Ball" so many times that it got frustrating. it's easy to forget how impressive her feats in each season finale could be-- because they always put her back at square one with the pilot of the next season. I understand they wanted to save everything for the big showdown at the end of the season-- but I think this did more harm than good. actually, with the dodging feats she showed in the pro-bending matches it's sort of baffling that she keeps getting kicked around like a pinball so often in the later episodes.

I really wanted Korra's first fight with Kuvira to be the big show-stopper. Kuvira would resentfully admit defeat, go back and lick her wounds, and then launch a massive attack on Republic City as a way of restoring her lost honor. it would be nearly the same as what we saw in the series. it's just the big difference is that they don't have to make Korra look like a bumbling idiot in the process. Korra trying to negotiate actually made her look even dumber. "for once in your life, the punch first and ask questions later approach is the right thing to do... and NOW you want to negotiate?" I realize that they were trying to show that Korra had grown-- but I think it would have been better to have her try to negotiate on behalf of Republic City instead. it could show that Korra realizes how awful a full scale battle could be.

I don't remember Korra's metal bending being so good that she could drop buildings on people, though. in Avatar-state she'd have more than enough firepower even w/o metal bending.

[Hiromi]

Mako demonstrated that he knows how to re-direct electricity using the same technique as re-directing lightning. However, we cannot say that Korra knows this technique by association. Even though Korra picks up many techniques very quickly (except for air techniques because she's more like an earth bender than water bender), she still has to be taught that technique. At no time have we ever seen Korra learn this technique. We have to conclude then that Korra is vulnerable to Azula's lightning blasts.

Except no one ever taught her energy bending, she learned it by virtue of a past life knowing it, instantly, also after season 1 we never see her having to actually learn a technique that one of her past lives knew, she was the first ever metal bending avatar and that was after he past lives were severed anyhow. That's the whole point of having all those past lives is knowing all their techniuqes, ya know especially since they retconned Raava into the mix

[Basara]

Except no one ever taught her energy bending, she learned it by virtue of a past life knowing it, instantly, also after season 1 we never see her having to actually learn a technique that one of her past lives knew, she was the first ever metal bending avatar and that was after he past lives were severed anyhow.

I always chalked the sudden ability to energy bend up to the Deus Ex Avatar cheat the writers always used to insure happy endings. YAY! Korra finally learned how to go into the Avatar State and she can instantly undo everything Amon did! HOORAY! I lived with it because we got Lin back, so it was a fair enough trade.

But now we are back to actual feats. Korra can do lots of amazing things such energy bend, metal bend, and grow into a spiritual giant to fight Kaiju battles. We know all of this because she actually demonstrated these abilities. How she does these things does not matter. What matters is that she has shown she can do them. That's how it works here. We can't claim Korra knows how to re-direct lightning until she actually shows us she can.

Now, could she have learned it from Mako or Aang? Absolutely. But to claim she knows is pure speculation and thus not actual proof that she knows this technique.

I don't remember Korra's metal bending being so good that she could drop buildings on people, though. in Avatar-state she'd have more than enough firepower even w/o metal bending.

In the final battle against Kuvira, the earth benders working together did drop a building on Kuvira's mech. We know that Korra in the Avatar State can drop a mountain top on someone from her fight with Zaheer. Buildings would be no problem for her.

[Hiromi]

Except we have precedent for when that's fundamentally how x character's power works, we don't expect Kryptonians to explicitly show the ability of flight heat vision to grant it to them, because it's understood Kryptos work that way, much like the Avatar, ability to use all 4 elements, power boost from the Avatar state, and knowledge from their past lives, it's especially helpful when we have a clear as day example of it happening ala the energy bending.

Edit: And we can find more of them going back to the first series when Aang periodically went into the avatar state and starting using elements he either hadn't learned at all or barely knew, Korra just got to skip the whole uncontrolled Avatar state because plot.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Got to skip it because Aang learned how to control it. So ... y'know. More precedent.

[Cody]

Got to skip it because Aang learned how to control it. So ... y'know. More precedent.

Which...actually supports Hiromi's argument further ironically. Aang learned it, so Korra received his knowledge on it, and could then use it with control.

Still though, without her showing the ability to know it, we can't assume she can use it in a rumble as we do not know it's potential output due to her never using it before. We have no idea how powerful it could, or couldn't be.