3. "Faith" Buffy The Vampire Slayer
If there is one thing Buffy knew how to do well before any other TV series, it was to craft really interesting anti-heroes. Faith, played by the brilliant Eliza Dusku is the perfect example of this. If it hadn't been for Faith's introduction is Season 3 of Buffy, I wouldn't have liked Season 3 nearly as much. Although many people love the Big Bad from that series "The Mayor", I actually thought he was one of the weaker ones, and his character is only interesting because of his relationship to Faith, the true breakout character from that season. Faith is the greatest female anti-hero in television history. Starting out the show as somewhat of a promiscuous rebel with a dark past and her own demons, Faith accidentally becomes a murderer in the brilliant Season 3 episode "Bad Girls", and spirals out of control from there. Though becoming an intentional murderer, we never stop feeling sympathy for the character because we know there is still some good inside. Watching her transform from a psychopathic villain to an important warrior in the fight against evil in Season 7 of Buffy, Faith's arc is one of the most interesting arcs on the show... and any episode where the character featured (like the two in Season 4 for example) was that much better for it. Faith was a much needed addition to the cast, if only to emphasize what a brilliant character Buffy was. Watching Buffy and Faith square off, two opposite sides of the same coin, were some of the most thrilling fight sequences in Buffy history. The two characters had so much in common (being the only two Slayers in the world), and a deep underlying respect for one another, that when they fought each other, they may as well have been fighting themselves. If only Eliza had decided to do the Faith spin off show instead of "Tru Calling" (remember that?). At least she still lives on in comic book form.