Something that sets The Legend of Korra apart from its predecessor, Avatar: the Last Airbender is the variety of villains. In each of the four seasons of Korra, there is a brand-new villain with completely different abilities, allies, and motives from the last, and this keeps The Legend of Korra feeling fresh.
Korra's first-ever major villain was Amon, the leader of the Equalist revolution in Republic City, a masked terror who always seemed to be one step ahead. Fast forward to season two, and now Korra must contend with her own family in the form of her uncle, Unalaq, who wants to unite the human and spirit worlds no matter the cost. Both of them are powerful men, but which one is truly the greatest villain? Let's compare their abilities and decide.
10 Amon: Rally Huge Crowds
A villain is powerful not just because of his or her own abilities, but because they can inspire many people to join their cause. Some of the best villains in movies, TV, and even video games are those with the charisma to recruit entire crowds and make them believe.
Unalaq doesn't do much of this, but Amon sure does, and that's the main source of his power. He's not a lone operative, either; the power of his Equalist revolt stems from the flocks of Republic City citizens whom he inspired to stand for his cause. It's a sight to see.
9 Unalaq: Control Water Tribe Politics
Unalaq may not have whipped the citizens into a righteous fury, but, then again, he does have power in the upper echelons of the huge Water Tribe. He is the leader of the Northern Water Tribe, and, though the Southern Water Tribe has been rebuilt and expanded, the North still dominates.
In this position of power, Unalaq can make things move exactly how he wants, from recruiting the prince and princess—his children—to swaying a judge to manipulate Korra. It pays to be in a high office like that.
8 Amon: Use Advanced Gadgets
By now, the entire world is fully industrialized, not just the Fire Nation, and the Water Tribe citizens have access to cars, radios, etc. But Unalaq only makes limited use of these things. In contrast, however, Amon is a technology master.
In particular, Amon cultivated Hiroshi Sato as a vital ally in the Equalist cause, and Futur Industries churned out all kinds of airplanes, mecha tanks, shock gloves, gas masks, and motorcycles for Amon's cause. It's a modern army for a modern cause.
7 Unalaq: Purify Spirits
Although Amon was born in the Water Tribe, he never had much of an affinity for spirits. He hardly even mentioned them. By contrast, Unalaq is a master of all things spirits, since he takes them quite seriously.
His expertise isn't just academic, either. Early in season two, he demonstrated his ability to pacify an evil spirit and then use waterbending to purify it and restore it to its natural state. This put an end to a dark spirit's rampage early on, and an impressed Korra was eager to learn more from her uncle.
6 Amon: Terror
Terrorism is a dreadful thing, to be sure, but Amon does know how to use intimidation to corner Korra and put some serious pressure on the all-bender council of Republic City—this was before the post of mayor was created.
Amon is precise about it, too. He doesn't cause collateral damage or harm any bystanders since that contradicts his populist edge. Instead, he cornered Korra at the avatar Aang memorial statue to intimidate her—it totally worked—and he nearly got the pro-bending arena shut down just through threats on the radio. He sure knows how to scare people.
5 Unalaq: Access the Spirit World
This is one of those abilities that a character has never been seen using, and it's safe to assume that they either can't or absolutely won't use it. In this case, it is very likely that Amon either cannot or never wanted to enter the spirit world.
But Unalaq certainly can, and with ease, too. This ties into his affinity for spirits and his knowledge of them, and he even had Korra open the southern portal so he could more easily enter this realm with his bending skills intact.
4 Amon: Bloodbending
Any discussion about Amon is bound to bring up his bloodbending powers, too. He is not blessed by the spirits, as he claims, but, rather, he is a prodigy of a waterbender. He was born as Noatak, son of the legendary kingpin Yakon.
As a boy, Noatak was exceptionally gifted with bloodbending, and he could perform it at any time regardless of the moon or time of day. Now, he uses that power to block people's bending by controlling the blood in their brain and neck, and he can use it in a more conventional manner, too.
3 Unalaq: Shift The World To Darkness
This monstrous entity is Vaatu, the dark counterpart to Raava. They are the ultimate light and dark spirits, and they date back to the dawn of time. Since avatar Wan sealed away Vaatu, Raava has enjoyed 10,000 years of uncontested light and peace in the world.
But Unalaq can change that, and he got pretty close to succeeding. He knew where Vaatu was and how to release him, and he manipulated Korra into doing just that. He created the ultimate stakes by threatening one hundred centuries of darkness, something Amon could never hope to do.
2 Amon: Forgive
Forgive whom? Himself and his brother Tarrlok, mostly. What's so compelling about Amon/Noatak is that, once his Equalist revolution failed and he fled Republic City, he was already ready to move on, with his brother.
This humanizes the character quite a bit, and he was in good spirits. In his mind, now that the brothers were back together, they could take on the world, and he had made peace with everything that's happened up to this point. Tarrlok, though, cut that short with a fuel explosion.
1 Unalaq: Create A New Avatar
For one hundred centuries, the avatar was a unique entity, a sole person born with the power to bend the four elements and go into the legendary avatar state, not to mention act as a bridge between humanity and the spirits.
Season two reveals that the avatar contains Raava, but, if the light spirit can live in a person, then so can the dark spirit. Unalaq made history when he became a vessel for Vaatu, threatening to start a hundred-century cycle of dark avatars who would rule over an abysmal world of chaos and destruction.