Avatar: The Way of Water left fans with a lot of questions, with it quickly becoming clear that those won't be answered until James Cameron gets to enact his full vision in the planned sequels.
One particularly noteworthy mystery was the identity of Spider's mother. Played by Jack Champion, the human was adopted by Jake Sully and Neytiri, and later revealed to be the son of the villainous Miles Quaritch. After being captured by his father's Avatar, Spider clearly struggled to decide where his loyalties lie, saving Miles' life before ultimately parting ways.
Now, The Direct (via SFFGazette.com) has shared some pages from the recently released prequel comic book, Avatar: The High Ground, confirming that a Scorpion pilot for the RDA, Paz Socorro, is Spider's mother.
While she was briefly referenced in Avatar: The Way of Water, her final fate was never properly addressed. This comic book shows more of Paz's relationship with Quaritch and some heartwarming moments between mother and son (including her calling Spider the "first true Pandoran human").
Later, we discover that Paz died during "the last great battle," with her ending up impaled during Avatar's final battle.
We don't know how much Spider knows about what happened to his mother, but should it be revealed that Jake or Neytiri is responsible for her death, then that could explain the teenager's eventual betrayal. That seems to be where things are heading, especially with such a big focus on the younger members of this cast.
Only time will tell on that front, but this does promise to be one of the most exciting aspects of this series of follow-ups to Cameron's record-breaking 2009 hit.
"Avatar: The Way of Water’s epic visuals are impossible to find fault with," we said in our review earlier this month, "but with a paper-thin, painfully boring story and little in the way of character development, this three-hour snoozefest is all style, no substance."
Avatar: The Way of Water is now playing in theaters.