Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s titular character has what it takes to not only be an Avenger, but to win against most of them in 1:1 battle. No, seriously.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer started out as a comedic horror box office hit upon its theatrical release in the summer of 1992. Not too long after, a relatively unknown writer at the time, the disgraced and currently vilified Joss Whedon, saw what his story had been turned into and thus took creative initiative. He wrote, produced, and directed several episodes of the darker and ultimately far more popular TV series starring Sarah Michelle Gellar on The WB (years before it would become The CW).
The show saw Buffy and her eventual “Scooby gang” go on to fight more than just vampires. Together, she and her friends took on monsters, ghouls, demons, robots, and even the government! Buffy from then on became an empowering symbol for young women everywhere. Young women who could watch Buffy and realize maybe they too could realize their potential. Minus the vampire hunting, of course.
THE POWER OF BUFFY
To understand her superiority over MCU’s Avengers (referring only to those in the first film of the tetralogy), one must understand Buffy’s powers. The opening credits of every episode assert, “Into every generation a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.”
So let’s review the specifics. Buffy’s supernatural gifts as the chosen one include super strength, super speed, superhuman senses, accelerated healing, heightened agility, heightened reflexes (still not done), and hand-to-hand/weapons combat skills. Barring Thor and Hulk, these powers give Buffy a one-up on over half of the Avengers.
It goes without saying that her skill level far surpasses Black Widow’s, sorry ScarJo and Florence Pugh, now, I guess. Of course, Natasha is an expert martial artist who’s incredibly skilled in many different weapons and tactics, but she has absolutely zero superpowers. While a much-deserved fan favorite, she could not defeat any of her fellow Avengers in a fair battle, save for Hawkeye (who she technically “bests” in Avengers: Endgame, to be fair).
ONE DOWN
Speaking of Clint Barton, Hawkeye is of course a master marksman, which means he could probably demolish Buffy in a bow and arrow competition, sure, but when it comes to overall fighting, he doesn’t come close. With regard to Clint’s weapon of choice, Buffy was adequately trained by her mentor, Rupert Giles, quite literally with her eyes closed. She is seen a handful of times throughout Season 1 hitting targets and catching sharp items while blindfolded. Clint can shoot a coin with his fingers, as we saw in his Disney+ series Hawkeye, but not much else.
Although a more difficult, and likely the most challenging, feat, Buffy also takes the lead against the “First Avenger” himself, Captain America. While the super soldier serum gave him similar powers to Buffy (super strength, super speed, accelerated healing), he’s still not a match for the Vampire Slayer. Is he strong? Yes. Is he worthy? Without a doubt. But from what we’ve seen in various Avengers films and indeed Cap’s own saga, his talents just aren’t not enough to beat Buffy.
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For example, Cap struggles a bit while fighting with Loki and is utterly trounced by Winter Soldier and Thanos, whereas Buffy is able to pull off gravity defying blows to season 5’s hell god, Glory. Steve’s average, at best, combat skills simply can’t help him. Not in this realm.
IRON MAIDEN
This leaves Buffy against Iron Man. Tony’s obvious pull over Buffy is his super-suit and resourceful thinking. He can shoot lasers and missiles. He can fly and hack just about anything. But can this level of tech mastery really stop Buffy from launching Pointy (her beloved stake) right at Iron Man’s arc reactor? Absolutely not. Once Buffy has him on the ground, without armor, Mr. Stark won’t feel so good.
They come from incredibly different universes, but Buffy Summers has the capacity, competence, aptitude, and ability to overpower four out of six Avengers. And that’s not even getting into the later entries. Falcon? Ant-Man? Rocket Raccoon? Needless to say, Buffy has little to fear unless your name is Scarlett Witch, Vision, or Captain Marvel. Luckily for them, if ever there were a crossover between Marvel and the Buffyverse, she would probably be on their side. They can only hope.
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