10 Worst Buffy The Vampire Slayer Villains

Season 1 has its fair share of bad villains, but Moloch the Corruptor is the worst of the lot. Featured exclusively in ‘I Robot, You Jane’, this horned demon originally lived in fifteenth-century Italy but was taken down by some monks who trapped him inside a book.

Before long, the narrative jumps to the Sunnydale High library in 1997, and the aforementioned book is scanned into the computer, causing Moloch to reawaken inside the digital realm. Moloch decides to take on a new alias: Malcolm Black, and tries to win Willow’s affections by messaging her online. Then, he manages to get a new body with the help of some geeky students and a random scientist.

How Moloch was able to manipulate his targets so easily is never explained properly, but the final act is definitely the worst aspect of the episode. Here, Moloch confesses his love for Willow with a series of corny lines that are so terrible even Alyson Hannigan can’t salvage the scene.

Buffy then arrives to save the day, but due to Moloch’s armour, she’s unable to strike a meaningful blow, which leads to a rather dull fight scene. Instead, she has to use the death-by-electricity trope and trick Moloch into punching a powerline.

After spending most of the episode locked inside the digital realm, Moloch’s appearance is a massive disappointment with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.