10. Buffy
Appeared in: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel Surprised by the fact that Joss Whedon's most well-known character barely made the top ten list of his greatest characters? Don't be. Buffy Summers may have brought Whedon fame and glory, but she was far from the greatest, far from the most interesting character Whedon brought to the screen. In fact, by the time season seven of the show rolled around - its final year - she had long since ceased being the most interesting character on her own show, as she had generally been surpassed by both Willow and Spike. That said, Buffy was a fantastic character to start out with, and Sarah Michelle Gellar played the chosen one, slayer of vampires, admirably, but along the way we discovered the the show was really about the ensemble, and the journey to adulthood. We didn't always like the choices Buffy made, and we didn't always like who she had become - but then, that's part of growing up too, isn't it? Her flaws helped make her great, and while she isn't Whedon's greatest character, she is the reason we became interested in the Whedonverse in the first place. Really, she's the reason the Whedonverse, originally the Buffyverse, even existed in the first place. Without Buffy, none of these other characters even exist.