25 Greatest Characters Across The Entire Whedonverse

2. Spike

Appeared in: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel The popularity of Spike among fans and critics would eventually extend Angel's run to a fifth season, and that's not the only miraculous feat the platinum blonde vampire has pulled off since being introduced to the Whedonverse in the second season of Buffy. Spike was to be a one-off character, killed at the end of the very first episode he appeared in, School Hard (an obvious take on Die Hard). Only, he was too good, and the decision was made to let him live. When he was brought back, he became more integral to the plot of the season, along with his long time lover, the dark and insane Drusilla, and his background with Angelus was further explored. Again, he was expected to die by season's end - but again, he was just too damn popular. Season three had him appearing in just one episode, and he was sorely missed; thus season four had him added to the cast as a main character. There he would remain for the rest of the show's run, transferring over the Angel for an extra season after that, something the network was keen on. And even with all that, he might not have placed second over all were it not for just how damn good James Marsters was at the role, just how perfectly anti-hero the character was - and then there was the fact that Spike went and earned himself a soul. After years of being the devil on Buffy's shoulder, then falling in love with the girl he once swore to kill, he risked afterlife and limb to earn a soul in order to prove he loved her - and cemented himself as one of the greatest characters in the Whedonverse.