Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s 8 Big Bads Ranked From Worst To Best

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the best supernatural dramas on television when it aired from 1997 to 2003. Throughout the course of seven seasons, there were several Big Bads that Buffy and the Scooby Gang had to grabble with. While some were definitely scary, there were others that were unworthy of the title. Here are all 8 of Buffy’s Big Bads ranked from worst to best:

8. Adam

Season four’s big bad, Adam, was anything but scary. Sure, he was super strong, but he didn’t really seem to have a definitive plan for defeating Buffy and her gang. It would have been more interesting if they had kept Professor Maggie Walsh, his creator, around for the duration of the season and had her be the big bad. Then she could have unleashed a bunch of franken-monsters on Buffy. Adam just didn’t seem to have what it takes to even take the Scooby gang on. He was too busy naval gazing all season to get a real army of demons together to really challenge the slayer.

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7. The Trio

The trio wasn’t really that scary either. If anything, they were more annoying and so obviously ill-equipped to take over Sunnydale and pose a real threat to Buffy. While Andrew and Jonathan were more followers than anything, Warren turned out to be a violent misogynist, which made him abhorrent, but not really that threatening. The only real thing that Warren and his friends accomplished was turning Willow to the dark side, and she was much scarier.

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6. The First Evil

The First Evil was a bit of a letdown. For most of the season, it spoke through other characters (including Buffy), which didn’t have the desired effect. Although The First did get a lot scarier when Caleb the misogynistic preacher (played by Nathan Fillion) entered the picture at the end of season seven, it would have been much more effective to have had Caleb around early on to give the First Evil a much-needed face.

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5. The Master

The Master was the first Big Bad on Buffy. During season one, the writers really tried to build him up. He did a lot of talking about bringing Hell on Earth and in the season finale he did end up killing Buffy, but then she was resuscitated, which lead to her killing him. He really could have been scarier and more developed, but we will give him points for being the only Big Bad to kill the slayer.

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4. Dark Willow

Season six had two Big Bads – the Trio and Dark Willow and Dark Willow was infinitely scarier than the Trio, who served more to irritate the slayer than anything. After Warren accidentally murdered Tara when he tried to kill Buffy, Willow was on a war path. She was the only Big Bad who actually came close to ending the world, but then Xander was able to stop her by telling her a story from their childhood.

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3. The Mayor

Season three was arguably one of the best seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it had a great Big Bad – Mayor Richard Wilkins, who was an interesting combination of pure evil and good old conservative family values. Throughout season three, he proved to be full of contradictions — he was absolutely hell bent on becoming a pure-breed demon, but he was also a surrogate father to Faith. He really put up a good fight. One of the best episodes was season three’s finale when the mayor finished his ascension, becoming a giant serpent that is killed by Buffy and then the gang when they blew up the school with him in it.

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2. Glory

When Glory was introduced during season five, there was a period of time where viewers were unsure just how Buffy was going to win against her. Glory was unlike any other Big Bad on Buffy and was a breath of fresh air after season 4’s lackluster Big Bad, Adam. She was a nearly invincible God from a hell dimension who was looking for “the key” (Dawn Summers) so that she could get home. One of the best things about Glory were her theatrics – she was a self-centered valley girl who threw tantrums if she didn’t get her way and required her minions to constantly be flattering her. It was these quirks and her ability to feed off the mental energies of humans that make her one of the most compelling villains on Buffy.

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1. Angelus

Angelus was by far the best Big Bad on Buffy. He had an advantage that no other Big Bad had – he knew Buffy intimately. They were in the process of falling in love when he turned to the dark side and proceeded to start terrorizing the slayer and her friends, observing their reactions from a distance. No other villain was able to hurt Buffy or her friends the same way that Angelus did, which is why he was the most effective Big Bad.