Ranking the Top Buffy Villains: One Per Season

Buffy the Vampire Slayer wouldn’t be half as iconic without its memorable antagonists, and each season features an especially great villain, whether they’re one of Buffy‘s best monsters-of-the-week, a big bad, or something in between. As the Slayer, Buffy Summers has her work cut out for her, as she never gets a break from protecting Sunnydale — and the world — from vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness.

There are a variety of reasons why these baddies are Buffy‘s best villains, whether they’re ridiculously powerful, the stuff of pure nightmares, or a rough-and-tumble, charming bad boy who became one of the most beloved characters in television history. And while we’re not exactly rooting for these villains, we cheer every time they pop up on screen.

The Master

Season 1

Buffy season 1 may have hinted at the masterpiece series that was to come, but by and large, it was considered a pretty weak start to the show, with the Master one of the worst big bads. However, he deserves lots of credit for being the first major villain that established Buffy‘s iconic formula.

Whereas most of season 1’s monster-of-the-week villains are pretty cheesy, and there’s never any doubt Buffy will vanquish them, the Master poses a legitimate threat. Despite being trapped underground, he has a seemingly endless supply of minions eager to do his dirty work. He’s also a major player in Buffy‘s lore, as he sired Darla. Without the Master, there’d be no Angelus, Drusilla, or Spike.

The Master is Buffy’s polar opposite in every way: he’s an evil vampire who believes in tradition, whereas she’s a teenage heroine insistent on defining her own path. Their final battle isn’t just good guy vs. bad guy, but sees these ideologies come to a head with Buffy emerging the victor — despite fulfilling the prophecy in which the Master kills her. As she tells him, “I may be dead, but I’m still pretty.“

Spike

Season 2

No villain in the history of television has a more iconic introduction than Spike. The punk rock vampire boldly runs over the Welcome to Sunnydale sign, and, over top some badass electric guitar music, announces himself as the antithesis of the Master. As Spike says at the end of his first episode, “School Hard,” Buffy is about to become “a little less ritual, a little more fun.”

And boy, does he deliver. Spike is every bit as determined as the Master to put Buffy in her grave, but he has a blast doing it, and makes sure that his plans never get in the way of doting on his beloved paramour, Drusilla. Then, when Angel loses his soul midway through the season, the script gets flipped. Angelus takes over as big bad, and Spike becomes the underdog.

Whether as a ruthless villain or a vulnerable, threatened boyfriend, Spike is more charming than an antagonist has any right to be. Spike was originally supposed to die very early into season 2, but, because of his popularity with audiences and James Marsters’s powerful performance, he remained on the show and became one of Buffy‘s biggest fan-favorite characters.

Faith

Season 3

A rogue Slayer is a fascinating concept, which Faith brought into “livin’ large” reality in Buffy season 3. Faith is an example of a villain who is not born, but made, as, despite her rebellious nature, there’s a big part of her that wants to do good and save the day, just like Buffy.

Sadly, despite her tough exterior, Faith is just a vulnerable girl who never got the love she deserved. When she meets Buffy, with her caring mother and devoted support system in the Scoobies, the unfairness is too much for Faith. It’s rare that Buffy paves the way for a character to embrace their dark side, but, through no fault of her own, that’s what happens with her fellow Slayer.

Things get even more fascinating when Faith goes full baddie and joins forces with the Mayor because, despite their unthinkable villainy, they find the very human connection they’ve both been missing, and form a pseudo-father-daughter relationship that’s as sweet as it is twisted. It’s this complexity that makes Faith such a “five-by-five” villain.

The Gentlemen

Season 4

The Gentlemen definitely have an advantage being in season 4, which features the weakest Buffy big bad in Adam, a bland Frankstein’s monster-type. However, this monster-of-the-week happens to be the star of one of Buffy‘s note-perfect episodes, the almost dialogue-free “Hush.”

Just about every single person has had the nightmare of being attacked but unable to scream or cry for help, and the Gentlemen bring this to vivid waking life. Their graceful, serene movements as they float towards their victims is an eerie contrast with how the brutal way in which they kill them — cutting out their hearts while they “can’t call to Mom, can’t say a word.”

Unlike previous excellent Buffy villains like Spike or Faith, precious little is known about the Gentlemen, but that only adds to the horror surrounding them. A lot of hardcore fans dismiss the show’s one-off villains, but the Gentlemen make a compelling case that Buffy‘s monster-of-the-week villains can be scarier than the big bads.

Glory

Season 5

It took five seasons, but Buffy finally gave us a female big bad, and Glory does not disappoint. While Buffy had been bested in battle before, almost every encounter with the hell goddess sees the Slayer get her butt thoroughly kicked, which serves to make Buffy‘s fifth installment the season with by far the highest stakes.

Of course, being all-powerful isn’t enough to make a great villain — the best ones must possess a compelling personality, which Glory has in spades. Buffy lost a lot of charm with the departure of Cordelia, and Glory injects plenty of welcome mean-girl snark. Buffy even comments that Glory is “a bit like Cordelia.”

Throughout season 5, Glory does more damage to the Scoobies than any villain before her. She beats Spike to within an inch of his life, she drains Tara’s mind, and she kidnaps Dawn and successfully starts the ritual to go home. Though Glory is ultimately defeated, the final battle with her is the first one that Buffy loses, as she’s forced to sacrifice herself to save the world.

Dark Willow

Season 6

Though the Scoobies have their share of conflict throughout the show, none of them had ever gone full bad guy, and the fact that Buffy’s stalwart best friend Willow is the one to go to flip is all the more shocking. Her villain turn is also perfectly in keeping with season 6’s polarizing themes that explore the darkest sides of humanity.

The best TV twists aren’t the ones we didn’t see coming; they’re the ones we should have seen coming and didn’t, and Dark Willow was hiding in plain sight throughout season 6. The season saw Willow’s magic addiction getting worse and worse, and Tara’s leaving her was a major factor in Willow getting better. Thus, when Tara is brutally ripped away from Willow, there’s nothing holding her back.

In a twisted way, it’s also incredibly satisfying that Dark Willow stole season 6’s big bad title away from Warren, a misogynist desperate to leave his mark as a supervillain on Sunnydale. Alas, he failed miserably as he was no match for the formerly meek wallflower — and he paid for it with his skin and his life.

Caleb

Season 7

Technically, Caleb is a vessel of the First, which is easily the biggest foe Buffy has ever faced. But, seeing as the First is noncorporeal, we need to put a face to season 7’s best villain, and that’s Caleb by a landslide.

Buffy is one of the most feminist television shows of all time, so it makes sense that one of the final big boss villains would be a raging misogynist. Caleb is by far the Buffy villain you love to hate the most, and the series made the right call introducing him so late in the game, as he’s so loathsome that audiences wouldn’t be able to stomach Caleb for an entire season.

Caleb is unapologetically evil, but he never feels like a cartoon character, and that’s thanks to Nathan Fillion’s masterful performance. Fillion is typically known for playing charismatic everymen, and he instills just the slightest bit of his charm into Caleb.

You’re always happy to see him turn up because you’re so eager for Buffy to finish him off once and for all. Indeed, his death is the most satisfying in Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the very reason that he’s such a spectacular villain.