Buffy Summers is a fictional character from
Joss WhedonJoseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American director, executive producer, occasional actor, and creator and head writer of the television programs Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse...
's
Buffy the Vampire SlayerBuffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series, a supernatural drama that aired from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson,...
franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 movie
Buffy the Vampire SlayerBuffy the Vampire Slayer is a American action/comedy/horror film about a valley girl cheerleader named Buffy who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires. The movie is a parody which plays on the clichés of typical horror films...
, before going on to appear in the television series and
subsequent comic bookBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off series
AngelAngel is an American television series, a spin-off of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was created by Buffys creator, Joss Whedon in collaboration with David Greenwalt, and first aired on October 5, 1999...
, as well as numerous non-
canonA canon, in terms of a fictional universe, is a body of material that is considered to be "genuine" or "official", that can be directly referenced as, or as if it were, material produced by the original author or creator of a series...
expanded universeThe term Expanded Universe is generally used to denote the 'extension' of a media franchise with other media...
material, such as
novelsBuffy novels have been published since 1998. Originally, under the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster they are now published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment which launched in 2004. Authors who have written original novels include Mel Odom, Christopher Golden, and Nancy Holder.-Canonical...
,
comics-Introduction:Buffy comics refers to comic books based on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While many of these comics were published when the television show was on air they are not considered canonical and often deal with characters that do not appear on in the television series,...
, and
video gamesSeveral official video game adaptations of the cult television program Buffy the Vampire Slayer have been released:-Buffy the Vampire Slayer :Released in 2000 for Game Boy Color. Set in the fourth season...
. Buffy was portrayed by
Kristy SwansonKristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing the original Buffy Summers in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Career:...
in the film, and later by
Sarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle Prinze, better known by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar, is an American film and television actress...
in the television series.
Giselle LorenGiselle Loren, sometimes credited as Giselle Achecar, is an actress most famous for her voice-over work in animation and video games. Her credits include an appearance in Happy Feet, a recurring role as Stargirl in Justice League Unlimited and a part as the wife of Curt Connors in the 1990s...
voiced the character in the video games and
unproduced animated seriesBuffy the Animated Series is an animated television series concept based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Initially greenlit by 20th Century Fox in 2002, it went ultimately unproduced and unaired when no network was willing to buy the series. The series would have taken place in the middle of Buffy...
.
Buffy is the
protagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, video game, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to share the most empathy...
of the story, and the series depicts her everyday life as she grows up. In the movie, she is a high school cheerleader who learns that she is the
SlayerA Slayer, in the fictional Buffyverse established by Buffy and Angel, is a young female bestowed with mystical powers that originate from the essence of a pure-demon, which gives her superhuman senses, strength, speed, endurance, agility, and healing in the fight against forces of darkness...
, a Chosen One gifted with the strength and skills to fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. The television series shows Buffy carrying out her destiny in a small town built atop a portal to hell, surrounded by a group of friends and family who support her in her mission. By the comic book continuation, she is a young woman who has accepted her duties and is now responsible for training others like her. The character of Buffy was created to subvert the stereotypical female horror movie victim; Whedon wanted to create a strong female cultural icon.
Film
The character of Buffy first appears in the 1992
Buffy the Vampire SlayerBuffy the Vampire Slayer is a American action/comedy/horror film about a valley girl cheerleader named Buffy who learns that it is her fate to hunt vampires. The movie is a parody which plays on the clichés of typical horror films...
film, played by
Kristy SwansonKristen Nöel "Kristy" Swanson is an American actress best known for playing the original Buffy Summers in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Career:...
. The movie, written by Joss Whedon, depicts Buffy as a shallow high school cheerleader who is informed by a man named Merrick (
Donald SutherlandDonald McNicol Sutherland, OC is a Canadian character actor with a film career spanning over 50 years. He is currently working in the American television series, Dirty Sexy Money. Some of Sutherland's more notable movie roles included offbeat warriors in such war movies as The Dirty Dozen, in...
) that she has been chosen by fate to battle the undead. Buffy reluctantly undergoes training in her abilities by Merrick, and as her responsibility as the Slayer causes her to become alienated from her
valley girlValley Girl is a term originally referring to affluent upper-middle class girls living in the bedroom community neighborhoods of San Fernando Valley....
peers, she finds friendship and romance with fellow outcast Pike (
Luke PerryLuke Perry is an American actor. Perry starred as Dylan McKay in the long-running TV series Beverly Hills, 90210, a role he played from 1990–95, and then from 1998–2000...
). Merrick eventually comes to respect Buffy's rebellious nature, and she defeats vampire king Lothos (
Rutger HauerRutger Oelsen Hauer is a Golden Globe–winning Dutch film actor. He is well known for his roles in Blind Fury, Blade Runner, The Hitcher, Nighthawks, Ladyhawke, The Blood of Heroes and Batman Begins....
) by relying on her own contemporary style as opposed to traditional Slayer conventions. Although this movie is not in
continuityIn fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer. It is of relevance to several media....
with the later television series, in 1999, author
Christopher GoldenChristopher Golden is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults, teens, and young readers.-Biography:Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family...
adapted Joss Whedon's original script into a
comic bookA comic book is a magazine made up of narrative artwork, often accompanied by dialog and often including brief descriptive prose...
entitled "
The OriginThe Origin is a trade paperback collecting comic stories based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series. It retells the events of the film on which the television series is based, in an attempt to reconcile the series and its vastly different precursor.-General Synopsis:Buffy Summers...
," which Whedon later confirmed to be "pretty much"
canonicalThe Buffyverse canon consists of materials that are thought to be genuine and those events, characters, settings, etc., that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe established by the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
.
On May 25, 2009,
The Hollywood ReporterThe Hollywood Reporter is an American trade publication of the entertainment industry. During the last century it was one of the two major publications — the other being Variety. Today both newspapers cover what is now more broadly called the entertainment industry.- History :The Hollywood Reporter...
revealed
Roy LeeRoy Lee is a Korean-American film producer who regularly takes well known Asian films and remakes them for American audiences. Examples include The Ring, The Grudge and The Departed...
and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment would be working with Fran Rubel Kuzui and Kazi Kuzui on a relaunch of the
Buffy series for the big screen. The series would not be a sequel or prequel to the existing movie or television franchise and Joss Whedon will have no involvement in the project. None of the cast or original characters from the television series will be featured.
Television
Buffy returned in Joss Whedon's television series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this time played by
Sarah Michelle GellarSarah Michelle Prinze, better known by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar, is an American film and television actress...
for all of the show's
144 episodes. In season one (1997), Buffy begins to accept the responsibilities and dangers of her calling as the Slayer after moving to the small
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
n town of
SunnydaleSunnydale, California, is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the all-too-serene towns typical in traditional horror...
. She becomes best friends with
Xander HarrisAlexander LaVelle "Xander" Harris is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Nicholas Brendon, whose twin brother Kelly Donovan occasionally appeared as his double or as a substitute actor when Brendon was unavailable.-Character...
(
Nicholas BrendonNicholas Brendon , is a Saturn Award nominated actor best known for his character Xander Harris in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer ....
) and
Willow RosenbergWillow Rosenberg is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was portrayed by Alyson Hannigan, who also played the character in three episodes of the show's spin-off, Angel and the pilot for Buffy the Animated Series .Willow is the...
(
Alyson HanniganAlyson Lee Hannigan is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Michelle Flaherty in three American Pie films, Lily Aldrin on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother and Willow Rosenberg on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Personal life:Hannigan was born in Washington,...
), and meets her new Watcher,
Rupert GilesRupert Giles is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Stewart Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure.-Character history:...
(
Anthony Stewart HeadAnthony Stewart Head , usually credited as Anthony Head, is a Saturn Award nominated English actor and musician.-Early life:...
). Together, they form the Scooby Gang, and work together to battle
various supernatural occurrences"Villain of the week" is a term that describes the nature of one-use antagonists in episodic fiction, especially ongoing American genre-based television series...
which plague Sunnydale High. In the season finale, Buffy battles the villain known as the Master (
Mark MetcalfMark Peter Metcalf is an American actor in both television and film.-Life and career:Metcalf attended Westfield High School in Westfield, NJ. He is likely most known to two different generations for two notable roles...
), and is drowned in the process. She is resuscitated by Xander after Angel is unable to as he "doesn't breathe," and rises to defeat the vampire. In the show's second season (1997–1998), Buffy continues to come to terms with her destiny, finds forbidden love with benevolent vampire Angel (
David BoreanazDavid Paul Boreanaz is an American actor, best known for his role as Angel on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and as Seeley Booth on the television comedy-crime drama Bones.-Early life:...
), and clashes with new villains Spike (
James MarstersJames Wesley Marsters is a Saturn Award-winning American actor and musician. Marsters first came to the attention of the general public playing the popular character Spike, a platinum-blond English vampire in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off series, Angel from 1997...
) and Drusilla (
Juliet LandauJuliet Rose Landau is a Saturn Award nominated American actress best known for co-starring as Loretta King Hadler in Tim Burton's Ed Wood and for portraying Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and spin off show Angel....
). In the episode "
Surprise"Surprise" is Episode 13 in Season 2 of the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Summary:Buffy has a vivid dream which she fears is prophetic. Willow remembers why she can't go on a date with Oz and invites him instead to the surprise party the Scoobies are planning for Buffy's 17th...
," Buffy loses her virginity to Angel, an event which triggers the loss of his soul and unleashes his evil side, Angelus. His sadistic alter-ego, Angelus, proceeds to subject the characters to mental and physical torture for the remainder of the season. In the final episode of season two, Buffy is forced to reveal her identity as the Slayer to her
motherJoyce Summers is a fictional character played by Kristine Sutherland on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Character history:...
(
Kristine SutherlandKristine Sutherland is an actress best known for her role as Buffy Summers' mother Joyce Summers on the television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer.-Career:...
), and send her boyfriend to
hellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
in order to save the world. She then leaves Sunnydale in the hopes of escaping her life as the Slayer. Season three (1998–1999) sees Buffy reconnect to her calling, her friends, and her family after her departure, as well as make difficult life decisions regarding her relationship with the resurrected Angel. She must also deal with the introduction of rebellious new Slayer Faith (
Eliza DushkuEliza Patricia Dushku is an American actress who has appeared in several Hollywood movies such as True Lies, The New Guy, Bring It On, Wrong Turn and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back...
), who becomes increasingly destructive and disloyal over the course of the season. In the season finale, Buffy is forced to stab Faith to save Angel's life, and lead her classmates into a climactic battle against the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale (
Harry GroenerHarry Groener is an American actor and dancer, perhaps best known for playing Mayor Wilkins in Buffy the Vampire Slayer .-Personal life:...
). Angel then leaves Sunnydale in hopes Buffy can have a more normal life without him.
In the fourth season (1999–2000), Buffy balances her Slayer duties with her new life as a college student at
UCThe University of California is a public university system in the state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system...
Sunnydale. She experiences some difficulty adjusting to college life, and becomes increasingly disconnected from her friends, who all seem to be moving in different directions. Buffy eventually finds a new love interest in the form of
Riley FinnRiley Finn is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Marc Blucas, and is a regular in Season Four and the first part of Season Five.-Character history:...
(
Marc BlucasMarcus Paul Blucas is an American actor, known for playing Riley Finn in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He married TV presenter Ryan Haddon on July 25, 2009.-Early life:...
), a soldier in the demon-hunting government
task forceA task force is a temporary unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...
known as the Initiative. She briefly joins forces with Riley's team, until they discover one of the Initiative's experiments, Adam (
George HertzbergGeorge Hertzberg is an American actor best known for his portrayal of the cyber-demonic soldier Adam in the fourth season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
), is creating an army of demon-human hybrids. Buffy literally unites with her friends to defeat Adam in a spell which invokes the power of the First Slayer. During
Buffy season four, Buffy also appears in the first season of spin-off series
Angel (1999–2000), guest starring in the episodes "
I Will Remember You"I Will Remember You" is episode 8 of season 1 in the television show Angel, originally broadcast on the WB network. In this episode, Buffy follows Angel back to Los Angeles, where she confronts him about his surreptitious assistance back in Sunnydale. They are attacked by a Mohra demon; when Angel...
" and "
Sanctuary"Sanctuary" is episode 19 of season 1 in the television show Angel. Co-written by Tim Minear and series creator Joss Whedon and directed by Michael Lange, it was originally broadcast on May 2, 2000 on the WB network....
." In season five (2000–2001), Buffy battles the hell-goddess
GloryGlory is a fictional character in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Also known as "Glorificus", "That Which Cannot Be Named" and "The Beast", , she appeared during the fifth season of the program and was portrayed by Clare Kramer.-History:Glory is a god from a hell dimension, over...
(
Clare KramerClare Elizabeth Kramer is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Glory, the main villain in Season 5 of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Early life and career:...
), and fully embraces her destiny for the first time. A younger sister named
DawnDawn Summers is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and introduced by Marti Noxon and David Fury on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed by Michelle Trachtenberg.-Television:...
(
Michelle TrachtenbergMichelle Christine Trachtenberg is a Daytime Emmy and Saturn Award nominated American television and film actress. She is perhaps best known for playing Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the show's final three seasons, Penny in the 1999 film adaption of Inspector...
) mysteriously appears in Buffy's household, her existence having been seamlessly integrated with memories of the other characters. Buffy suffers emotional turmoil throughout this season, including the realization Dawn is not actually her sister, the deterioration of her relationship with Riley, and her mother's death from a
brain aneurysmA cerebral aneurysm or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.- Locations :...
. While on a quest to learn more about her nature as the Slayer, Buffy is told "death is her gift," a message she has difficulty understanding until the episode "
The Gift"The Gift" is episode 22 in season 5 of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the 100th episode of the series. It was the last episode to air on The WB network and therefore, the network called it the series finale. The TV series was then picked up by rival UPN for its sixth and seventh...
," in which she sacrifices her own life to save Dawn's by diving into Glory's interdimensional portal and closing it.
Season six (2001–2002) depicts Buffy's struggle with
depressionIn psychology and psychiatry, depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity. While most often described as a disease or dysfunction, there are also strong arguments for seeing depression as an adaptive defense mechanism....
and loss after being ripped out of
HeavenHeaven may refer to the physical heavens, the sky or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English...
by her friends, who perform a spell to bring her back from the dead. Forced to take a mundane and degrading job slinging burgers at the
Doublemeat PalaceA fast food restaurant, sometimes known as a quick service restaurant or QSR, is a specific type of restaurant characterized both by its fast food cuisine and by minimal table service...
, she begins suffering from extreme depression and self-loathing, embarking on a violent sexual relationship with the vampire Spike which leaves neither satisfied. As the season draws to a close, Buffy is forced to battle her best friend when Willow becomes psychotic with dark magicks after the human,
WarrenWarren Mears is a fictional character in the U.S. television and comic book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, played by Adam Busch.-Introduction:...
(
Adam BuschAdam Busch is an American actor who played the recurring character Warren Mears on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He first appeared on Buffy in season 5, in an episode called "I Was Made to Love You."-Career:Early roles include Noah Allen from Nickelodeon's the Mystery Files of...
) shoots and kills Willow's girlfriend
TaraTara Maclay is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the cult television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, portrayed by Amber Benson. Tara is introduced in the fourth season as a romantic interest for one of the show's leads, Willow and is a recurring character in the show until the...
(
Amber BensonAmber Nicole Benson is an American actress, writer, film director, and film producer. She is best known for her role as Tara Maclay on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and directing, starring and producing her own films Chance, Lovers, Liars & Lunatics and the upcoming film Drones.-Early...
) and wounds Buffy in the process. She then tries to destroy the world to end all pain. After Xander gets through to Willow in the end, Buffy promises to change her self-destructive behavior in order to be there for her sister. In the final season of the show (2002–2003), Buffy is confronted with the threat of the
First EvilThe First Evil is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The First Evil first appeared in the third season episode "Amends", and became the main antagonist of the 7th and final season.A being manifested from all evil in existence, the First is an...
and becomes a reluctant leader to the Potential Slayers, who are initially respectful of her, but become increasingly more alienated by her tactics and decisions throughout the season. She unexpectedly becomes emotionally close with Spike, who has sought out his soul in an effort to prove himself to her. In the show's final episode "
Chosen"Chosen" is Episode 22 of Season 7 and the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Summary:"Chosen" depicts the events leading to and including the final battle between the potential Slayers, organized by Buffy and her associates, and the First Evil...
," Buffy shares her power with her fellow Slayers before leading them into an epic battle against an army of
Turok-HanThe Turok-Han vampires are fictional characters from Joss Whedon's TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They appear in the 7th and final season of the series, making their first appearance in the episode "Never Leave Me", when the Seal of Danzalthar is opened under the basement of Sunnydale High,...
vampires. She also confesses her love to a disbelieving Spike before he sacrifices himself to save the world; as he dies, Buffy escapes Sunnydale's destruction with the surviving characters. Following the end of
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the character maintains a presence in the fifth season of
Angel (2003–2004), but does not appear onscreen. In the episode "The Girl in Question," Angel and a resurrected Spike travel to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
to find her, where they learn she is now dating the Immortal. Sarah Michelle Gellar was approached to appear as Buffy in
Angel's
one hundredth episode"You're Welcome" is episode twelve of season five of the television show Angel. Written and directed by David Fury, it is the 100th episode of the series, and originally broadcast on February 4, 2004 on the WB network. In "You're Welcome", former series regular Charisma Carpenter returns as a guest...
, but declined, so the character of
Cordelia ChaseCordelia Chase is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer; she also appeared on Buffy's spin-off series Angel...
(
Charisma CarpenterCharisma Lee Carpenter is an American actress. She is best known for playing the character Cordelia Chase in the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off Angel...
) was used instead.
Between 2001 and 2004, Joss Whedon and
Jeph LoebJoseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an Emmy and WGA nominated American film and television writer, producer and award-winning comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, writer for the films Commando and Teen Wolf and was a writer and Co-Executive Producer on the NBC...
developed a 4-minute pilot episode for
Buffy the Animated SeriesBuffy the Animated Series is an animated television series concept based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Initially greenlit by 20th Century Fox in 2002, it went ultimately unproduced and unaired when no network was willing to buy the series. The series would have taken place in the middle of Buffy...
, which was set during the show's first season. Had the series been picked up by a network, the series would have focused upon Buffy (voiced by
Giselle LorenGiselle Loren, sometimes credited as Giselle Achecar, is an actress most famous for her voice-over work in animation and video games. Her credits include an appearance in Happy Feet, a recurring role as Stargirl in Justice League Unlimited and a part as the wife of Curt Connors in the 1990s...
) in more high-school adventures. Following a 2008
leakAn Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential intellectual property is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic...
of the pilot to
YouTubeYouTube is a video sharing website on which users can upload and share videos. Three former PayPal employees created YouTube in February 2005. In November 2006, YouTube, LLC was bought by Google Inc. for $1.65 billion, and is now operated as a subsidiary of Google...
, Loeb expressed some hope the series may be resurrected in some form.
Literature
As the main character of the franchise, Buffy appears in almost all
Buffy the Vampire Slayer literature. This includes a
Dark HorseDark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book publisher.Mike Richardson, the owner of several comic book shops in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, began to publish in 1986 with an anthology series called Dark Horse Presents, investing profits from his stores into Dark...
ongoingIt is used in contrast to limited series , a one shot , a graphic novel, or a trade paperback...
comic book-Introduction:Buffy comics refers to comic books based on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While many of these comics were published when the television show was on air they are not considered canonical and often deal with characters that do not appear on in the television series,...
and a
series of novelsBuffy novels have been published since 1998. Originally, under the Pocket Books imprint of Simon & Schuster they are now published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment which launched in 2004. Authors who have written original novels include Mel Odom, Christopher Golden, and Nancy Holder.-Canonical...
. Buffy's debut into literature came in the comic
Dark Horse Presents 1998 Annual on August 26, 1998, while her first prose appearance was in
Halloween RainHalloween Rain is an original novel based on the U.S. television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Plot summary:The novel is set during Halloween in Sunnydale. Xander and Willow warn Buffy not to go out on Halloween if it's raining...
by
Christopher GoldenChristopher Golden is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults, teens, and young readers.-Biography:Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family...
and
Nancy HolderNancy Holder is an American writer and the author of several novels, including numerous tie-in books based on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's also written fiction related to several other science fiction and fantasy shows, including Angel and Smallville.Holder is a four-time winner...
on October 5, 1998. Most of these stories occur between episodes and seasons of the television series, however, some are set outside the timeline of the show to explore in depth other areas of Buffy's history. Christopher Golden adapted the film into a comic entitled "The Origin" (1999) which more closely resembles Joss Whedon's original script. In 2003,
Scott LobdellScott Lobdell is an American comic book writer.He is mostly known for his work throughout the 1990s on Marvel Comics' X-Men-related titles specifically Uncanny X-Men, the main title itself, and the spin-off series that he conceived with artist Chris Bachalo, Generation X...
and
Fabian NiciezaFabian Nicieza is an American comic book writer and editor who is best known for his work on Marvel titles such as X-Men, X-Force, New Warriors, Cable and Deadpool, and Thunderbolts, for all of which he helped create numerous characters.-Early life and career:The son of Omar and Irma Riguetti...
wrote a
Year OneThe term "Year One" in political history usually refers to the institution of radical, revolutionary change. This usage dates from the time of the French Revolution: after the abolition of the French monarchy , the National Convention instituted the new French Revolutionary Calendar, declaring that...
-style run on the
Buffy comic book series which filled the gap between the film and the first season of the show. These stories explain how Buffy's relationship with Pike ended, as well as fleshing out events alluded to in the television series, such as the time she spent in a mental institution and her parents' divorce. The novel
Queen of the SlayersQueen of the Slayers is an original novel based on the American television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer.-Plot summary:Following the Hellmouth's closure, hundreds of potential slayers have been awakened. Buffy Summers hoped that overturning the Slayer's self-sacrifice would result in her earning...
(2005) by Nancy Holder offers a potential follow-up to the television series; set after season seven, it depicts Buffy living in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
with the morally ambiguous Immortal.
Buffy also makes appearances in literature outside of her own titular series. In the
Tales of the SlayersTales of the Slayers is a Dark Horse Comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novel that consists of multiple stories written by Joss Whedon, Amber Benson, and others which tell of different members of the Slayer line....
comic one-shot "Broken Bottle of Djinn" (2002) by
Doug PetrieDoug Petrie was a co-executive producer, writer and director on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also wrote for the Fantastic Four film, Tru Calling, Harriet the Spy and Clarissa Explains It All. He is now a co-executive producer and writer for the Las Vegas based CSI series. He has a cameo on Joss...
and
Jane EspensonJane Espenson is an American television writer and producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She is perhaps best known for her five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, work for which she shared in a Hugo Award...
, Buffy battles a spirit in Sunnydale High, while the
Tales of the VampiresTales of the Vampires is a five issue American comic book limited series , published by Dark Horse Comics and set in the Buffyverse. It comprises an anthology of short stories written by Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, Ben Edlund, and Drew Goddard...
comic book story "Antique" (2004) by
Drew GoddardDrew Goddard is a film and television screenwriter best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon and J.J. Abrams...
sees her breaking into Dracula's castle to rescue Xander from the infamous vampire. Volume II of the similar series of novels
Tales of the SlayerNote: This is not to be confused with Tales of the Slayers Graphic Novel.Tales of the Slayer are volumes containing prose short stories. Four volumes of this series have been released, all published by Pocket Books...
(2003) features two stories about Buffy; the character battles a mummified spirit in Todd A. McIntosh's "All That You Do Comes Back Unto Thee," while Jane Espenson's "Again Sunnydale" sees a season six-era Buffy sent back in time to high school, when her mother is still alive but Dawn does not exist.
In 2007, Buffy's story was continued when Joss Whedon resurrected
Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a comic book. These comics differ from previous
Buffy literature in that they are the official continuation of the television series and are considered canon. In
Season EightBuffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the...
, a retcon establishes Buffy is not living with the Immortal in Rome as previously suggested, but is now the leader of a global organization which recruits and trains Slayers to deal with demonic threats worldwide. However, a mysterious group led by the masked villain
TwilightTwilight is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, the canonical comic book continuation of the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Twilight first appeared in the first issue of the run, "The Long Way Home", but his or her identity was first...
believe the Slayers themselves are the danger, should they begin to consider themselves superior to mankind. In the story "
Wolves at the Gate"Wolves at the Gate" is the third story arc that spreads from the twelfth to the fifteenth issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series of comic books, a continuation of the television series of the same name. It is written by Drew Goddard....
," Buffy shares a
lesbianLesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
encounter with fellow Slayer Satsu; however Satsu leaves soon after because she realizes Buffy cannot return her feelings. Earlier in the series, the audience glimpsed Buffy's most personal sexual fantasy in her dreamspace, which featured her in a nurse's outfit entwined with a naked Angel and Spike surrounded by phallic imagery.
Concept and creation
The character of Buffy was conceived by Joss Whedon as a way of subverting the cliché of "the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every
horror movieHorror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness...
." Whedon stated "Martha the Immortal Waitress" was the first incarnation of Buffy in his head, "the idea of a seemingly insignificant female who in fact turns out to be extraordinary." When asked how he came up with the name of "Buffy," Whedon states "It was the name that I could think of that I could take the least seriously. There is no way you could hear the name Buffy and think, "This is an important person." To juxtapose that with Vampire Slayer, just felt like that kind of thing—a
B movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture conceived neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its original usage, during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double...
. But a B movie that had something more going on. That was my dream." Whedon claims the title was criticized for being too silly, and the television network begged him to change it. He refused, insisting "You don't understand. It has to be this. This is what it is." Jason Middleton feels that Buffy avoids the "
final girlThe final girl is a horror film trope that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Alien, Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13th,...
" character trope seen in horror movies, where the androgynous and celibate heroine gets to outlive her friends and exact revenge on their killer; in Middleton's words, "she... gets to have sex with boys and
still kill the monster".
Whedon always intended for the character to become an icon, claiming "I wanted her to be a hero that existed in people's minds the way
Wonder WomanWonder Woman is a DC Comics superhero created by William Moulton Marston. First appearing in All Star Comics #8 , she is one of three characters to have been continuously published by DC Comics since the company's 1944 inception .Wonder Woman is a member of an all-female tribe of Amazons...
or
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer and editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
does, you know? I wanted her to be a doll or an action figure. I wanted
BarbieBarbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
with Kung Fu grip! I wanted her to enter the mass consciousness and the imaginations of growing kids because I think she's a cool character, and that was always the plan. I wanted Buffy to be a cultural phenomenon, period." In developing Buffy, Whedon was greatly inspired by
Kitty PrydeKatherine Anne "Kitty" Pryde is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #129 and was created by writer-artist John Byrne....
, a character from the pages of the
superheroA superhero is "a fictional character of unprecedented powers dedicated to acts of derring-do in the public interest"...
comic
X-MenX-Men is a superhero team in the . They were created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, and first appeared in The X-Men #1 . Under a cloud of increasing anti-mutant sentiment, Professor Xavier creates a haven at his Westchester mansion to train young mutants to use their powers for the...
. He admits, "If there's a bigger influence on Buffy than Kitty, I don't know what it was... She was an adolescent girl finding out she has great power and dealing with it." In a 2009 interview, Whedon revealed he only recently realised how much he saw of himself in Buffy. After years of relating more to Xander, he says, "Buffy was always the person that I was in that story because I'm not in every way." Whedon openly wonders why his identification figure is a woman, but describes it as "a real autobiographical kind of therapy for me" to be writing a strong female character like Buffy.
According to Whedon, Buffy "had been brewing in [him] for many years" before finally appearing in the
Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie played by Kristy Swanson. However, he was not satisfied with the character's treatment in the film, feeling "that's not quite her. It's a start, but it's not quite the girl." Although Whedon's vision of female empowerment was not as apparent as he would have liked in the 1992 movie, he was given a second chance when
Gail BermanGail Berman is the former president of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company and the former president of Viacom's Paramount Pictures.She graduated from the University of Maryland in 1978...
approached him with the idea of re-creating it as a television series. Adapting the concept of the movie into a television series, Whedon decided to reinvent the character of Buffy slightly. The shallow cheerleader of the original film had grown more mature and open-minded, identifying with social outcasts such as Willow and Xander, and instead, the character of Cordelia was created to embody what Buffy once was. Early in the television series, make-up supervisor Todd McIntosh was instructed to make Buffy "a soft and sort of earthy character." He gave Gellar a soft, muted green make-up and kept her look very natural. However, it was later decided this was inappropriate for the character, and Buffy needed to look more like a
valley girlValley Girl is a term originally referring to affluent upper-middle class girls living in the bedroom community neighborhoods of San Fernando Valley....
. McIntosh switched her make-up around, giving her frosted eyeshadow and lip colors, bright turquoise and aqua marines, bubblegum colored nails, and bleach-blonde hair, causing the character to "blossom."
See also
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (disambiguation)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer may refer to:*Buffy the Vampire Slayer , a television series that aired from 1997 to 2003.*Buffy the Vampire Slayer , a 1992 film that introduced the character Buffy Summers...
- List of women warriors in folklore, literature, and popular culture
External links
- Buffy Summers at the Buffyverse Wiki
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