List of Big Bads in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
The following is a listing of Big Bads (main villains) for each season of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. See also List of Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes.
Season 1
The Master, played by Mark Metcalf. According to prophecy, the Master will kill the Slayer and bring Hell on Earth. While he succeeds in this task in the Season 1 finale episode "Prophecy Girl", he does not count on Buffy being resuscitated (after biting her, she faints face-first in a small pool of water and drowns; she is revived a minute or so later by Xander via CPR). She then drops him on a broken piece of wood, killing him. Unlike other vampires who burst into dust completely upon being slayed, the Master leaves behind a full skeleton. His bones are dug up in the Season 2 season premiere "When She Was Bad" in an attempt by a group of vampires (led by The Anointed One) at resurrection, but Buffy crushes his bones, killing him "permanently".
In the Season 3 episode "The Wish", Cordelia wishes that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. The wish is granted by Anyanka, reverting Sunnydale to an alternate reality in which the Master is not only still alive, but rules over the entire town, allowing vampires to freely roam the streets at night (including Xander and Willow, who had been turned at an unknown point prior to this, and who end up killing Cordelia in this reality). Giles, however, leads a small Scooby-esque group of students in "slaying" (known as "white hats"), but is not Buffy's Watcher, since she does not reside in Sunnydale (she is stationed in Cleveland with an unnamed Watcher). The Master creates a plan in which blood from victims is machine-drained via mass production, citing increased efficiency. Giles, however, had Buffy brought into Sunnydale to stop the Master's plans. By the time Giles figures out how to reverse the effects of Cordelia's wish--by breaking Anyanka's amulet--and actually does it, the Master had broken Buffy's neck, still fulfilling the prophecy.
The Master's final "appearance" on Buffy is in the Season 7 episode "Lessons", as a form of The First, who has the ability to assume the identity of any dead being it so chooses.
The Master appears in flashbacks in the Angel episode "Darla". The flashbacks reveal Darla's past with the Master, including her siring and their history with Angelus.
Season 2
Spike (played by James Marsters), Drusilla (played by Juliet Landau), and Angelus (played by David Boreanaz).
Spike comes to Sunnydale in the episode School Hard, accompanied by his longtime love Drusilla. Drusilla, in a weakened and frail condition, is cared for by Spike who hopes that the Hellmouth's energy will help to restore Drusilla's strength and health. They are soon reunited with Angel but constantly refer to him as Angelus (Angel's evil "alter ego", so to speak).
Angelus was cursed with his soul a century before the events leading up to Season 2, but with one major stipulation: should Angelus (known as "Angel" when ensouled) experience even one single moment of absolute happiness, when he's not thinking at all about the horrible actions he perpetrated as Angelus, the curse would be lifted, the soul removed, and Angelus would return. While a recurring character in Season 1 as Buffy's love interest, things take a turn for the worse in the Season 2 episodes "Surprise" and "Innocence", in which Buffy and Angel have intercourse. Angel experiences perfect happiness, and his soul escapes his body, resulting in his transformation back to Angelus. He finds Spike and Drusilla in their warehouse headquarters and joins forces with them in their effort to destroy the Slayer.
Angelus reveals himself as even more coldhearted than most vampires, enjoying playing elaborate mind games with his prey and destroying their spirit before eventually killing or siring them. He seems to have an extra yearning to torment Buffy, seeing as how she "made [him] feel like a human being", which he considers to be an unpardonable sin. His trademark is drawing pictures of his latest target; the most notable of which is the one of Jenny, which he leaves in Giles' bedroom, along with her corpse.
In the two-part Season 2 finale, "Becoming" (Part 1 and Part 2), Angelus' ultimate plan comes into view: by removing the sword from the Acathla statue, a portal to Hell will open up, sucking our world into it; only with Angel's blood can it be closed. After being double-crossed by Spike, Angelus removes the sword. After a sword fight with Buffy, Willow (who Drusilla and some lesser vampires injured and put in the hospital) uses a spell to return Angel's soul. Even though Angel has returned, the gateway to Hell opens up. Buffy drives her sword into Angel's gut, sending him into the portal, closing it.
Angel would return in the next season of Buffy, and the character would get a spin-off show immediately afterward (in which Angelus would return several times in flashbacks, as well as being released in Season Four).
Season 3
Mayor Richard Wilkins (otherwise known as simply "The Mayor"), played by Harry Groener. As evil as he is tidy and pleasant, the Mayor is granted demonic properties in the 19th century. Since his founding of Sunnydale, he changed his name to Richard Wilkins, Jr., and then Richard Wilkins III, all to hide his inability to age. As part of the pact he made to keep himself demon, he was promised Ascension one day: a "promotion", of sorts, from partial demon to full demon (Olvikan, a serpent-esque demon).
During the course of Season 3, he enlists the services of his vampiric associate Mr. Trick. After Trick is killed by Faith, Faith joins forces with him, essentially turning double-agent. Wilkins develops a loving father/daughter-type relationship with Faith, something Faith has desperately wanted and needed her entire life. When Buffy puts Faith in a comatose state after a fight in "Graduation Day, Part One", the Mayor is devastated. In "Graduation Day, Part Two", during a speech he is giving at the Sunnydale High graduation of the Class of 1999, his Ascension goes into full effect, transforming him into Olvikan (who eats Principal Snyder shortly afterward). The Scoobies are ready for him, however; after plotting and strategizing with the entire student body(essentially turning them into a Scooby Army), Buffy lures him into the school library, which is fortified with TNT. Buffy manages to escape and cue Giles, who obliterates the school, along with the Mayor inside.
Just before the Ascension, however, he leaves a videotaped recording for Faith, in the event of her waking. He also leaves her a device that allows her to switch bodies with Buffy in the Season 4 episode "This Year's Girl".
The Mayor appears twice in Season 7 as an incarnation of The First: "Lessons" and "Touched" (his final appearance).
Season 4
Adam, played by George Hertzberg. Adam is a "biomechanical demonoid", created of multiple parts by Professor Maggie Walsh and designed to be the ultimate life form -- strong, immortal, and omniscient. Emotionless in tendency and personality, Adam is originally a loyal operative of the Initiative.
After being completed, Adam promptly kills Professor Walsh and immediately sets forth a plan of action--by summoning demons and putting them out in the open, The Initiative will imprison them. Once the prisons are full enough, he will override the security systems, freeing them all and enforcing a battle between the demons and Initiative soldiers. In the impending slaughter of both sides, he plans to create cyborgs such as himself and build the ultimate army. Even though the battle takes place, Adam is killed by Buffy in "Primeval" by having his power source removed from his body.
In the Season 4 finale, "Restless", Adam appears in Buffy's dream in his human form. When asked about his real name, he replies, "Before "Adam"? Not a man among us can remember."
Adam appears one more time in the Season 7 premiere, "Lessons", as an incarnation of The First.
Season 5
Glorificus, otherwise known as "Glory", portrayed by Clare Kramer. Glory, unlike other monsters in the series, is not a demon but a god. Banished to Earth (and forced to share a body with a human man named Ben), Glory's goal is to find "The Key" to open the portal back up and return home. The two catches in this are that The Key would open up all dimensional gates and The Key is in an unknown form meaning it could be anything from a bug to a building.
Unbeknownst to Glory, The Key is in the form of Dawn Summers, Buffy's younger sister who was created (not born) specifically for the purpose of hiding The Key; since Buffy is the Slayer and thus would make for a strong protector, an order of monks created Dawn and infused false memories to everybody she would have ever met. This may be a jibe on the concept of retcons, in which facts about a person (such as the number of siblings) are changed retroactively to conform to new plot elements.
Once Glory finds out that The Key is in human form, she deduces that it's someone close to the Slayer, and someone new to the fold. She reasons, however, that The Key is actually Tara, who the Scoobies only met a year prior. She captures Tara and realizes that she isn't The Key, so she feeds off of Tara's brain energies, making Tara mentally insane. Those who are victims of this "brain-sucking" (as the gang puts it) have one particular trait: they notice the energy of all things, including the unique signature of The Key. When Glory attacks in "Spiral", Tara unwittingly points Dawn out. As soon as this happens, the Scoobies take Dawn, and using a Winnebago stolen by Spike flee Sunnydale.
When Giles is wounded at the hands of the Knights of Byzantium, Buffy calls Ben and asks him to come fix him up (still not knowing of the fact that he and Glory are one and the same). After fixing Giles up, Ben turns into Glory right in front of the group. She grabs Dawn and takes her to a tower that the rest of the people she has fed from have built. This tower is where she calculates the opening to her dimension to be, but the opportunity to use The Key is a small window and isn't for another few days. Ben later appears and tries to help Dawn escape but reconsiders when Glory convinces him that upon the opening, they will both be immortal.
A few days later, as the opening is being prepared, Buffy shows up and Glory fights her. After a well-placed kick, however, she knocks off "her" head and reveals wiring - it's actually the Buffybot that Spike had ordered built as a sex toy but was reprogrammed by Willow. The real Buffy appears behind her and bloodies Glory as the ritual starts. Downed but not dead, Glory reverts back to Ben, whom Giles kills, thus killing Glory in the process.
Glory appears once more in the Season 7 premiere "Lessons" as an incarnation of The First.
Season 6
The main villains in Season 6 were The Trio - Warren Mears (portrayed by Adam Busch), Jonathan Levinson (portrayed by Danny Strong) and Andrew Wells (portrayed by Tom Lenk) - followed by Willow (known in this phase as Dark Willow), portrayed by Alyson Hannigan. Joss Whedon stated on the Season 6 DVD that the true Big Bad was life itself, and how as time goes on, it becomes more and more our worst enemy.
The Trio is a band of nerds who, over a rousing game of Dungeons & Dragons, decide to take over Sunnydale. Recognizing Buffy as their biggest threat to their schemes, they attempt to keep her out of their hair and just be all-around mean people to her. Things get out of control, however, when after a failed attempt at turning Warren's ex-girlfriend Katrina into their willing love slave, they accidentally kill her when she goes to inform the police. While Jonathan and Andrew want to turn themselves in, Warren insists on using magic to make Buffy think that she killed Katrina, but this plan fails. This takes the three characters into separate character paths--Warren becomes misogynistic and assumes the role of leader of the Trio, Jonathan lets his conscience take over and grows disdain for Warren, and Andrew is loyal to Warren, but still considers Jonathan his best friend. In the end, after a confrontation with Buffy, Andrew and Jonathan are sent to jail while Warren escapes.
Warren acquires a gun and shoots Buffy, with a stray bullet hitting Tara, killing her almost instantly. Willow, who has developed an obsession with dark magic, tries to resurrect Tara as she did Buffy but cannot. After later discovering that he didn't kill the Slayer, Warren goes running and is soon flayed alive by Dark Willow, who is thirsty for vengeance and consumes herself with dark magicks.
After Warren's death, Willow goes after the two remaining members of the Trio, but Buffy, Xander and Anya break them out of jail. Later, Dawn convinces Clem to take her to Rack, a warlock who acts as sort of a "dealer" of dark magic. However, Willow's already been there, killing Rack to absorb his power. When she and Buffy get face-to-face, she magically transports them to the Magic Box, where they start to fight. However, right in the middle, Giles appears, returning from England. She sends a fireball into the air to track Andrew and Jonathan and distract Buffy while she and Giles--who is channeling power from a British coven--begin an epic fight. Afterward, while Giles lies on the ground bloody and dying, Willow sucks the magical power out of him. However, she also takes a massive dose of pure emotion rigged with it, forcing her to feel Giles' pain. Mixed with her own emotional depression and anger, she decides to end the world's pain by causing an apocalypse.
Meanwhile, the fireball blows a hole into the ground where Jonathan and Andrew (and Xander and Dawn) stand; rather, stood... Buffy moved them out of the way just in time, but the proximity of the impact threw Xander, rendering him unconscious. It also created a crater that Dawn and Buffy fall into. Jonathan and Andrew, who were knocked just out of range to not be harmed, decide to flee to Mexico.
On a bluff on the other side of Sunnydale, Willow uses her magic to raise a temple from the ground and begins chanting, but Xander arrives and, after overhearing Anya talk to Giles, decides to try and trigger her emotions. Even though Willow keeps knocking him down, Xander repeatedly tells her that he loves her. Eventually, the emotion in Willow is too much and the dark magical power in her fades away as she and Xander break down in tears, embracing.
Season 7
The First (otherwise known as The First Evil), portrayed by many actors as many characters. This is because The First has the ability to portray itself as any being it so chooses, provided it has died. Another major factor is that it is non-corporeal (it can't touch anything). It also has the ability to imbue certain beings with its powers. Its first appearance is in the Season 3 episode "Amends", in which it tells Buffy that it will return to cause the worst of evil.
Since The First is non-corporeal, it can't be killed. But since it can't touch anything, it can't kill, at least directly. When Buffy was brought back from the dead at the beginning of Season 6, however, there was a distinct imbalance in the good-evil scale, with the weight tipping way over on the "good" side. It enlisted the services of Caleb, a misogynistic preacher, who commanded the Bringer army--Harbingers who were ordered to kill those who were in line to become the next Slayers, should the current ones die. It was part of a master plan that, if successful, would solidify The First as a physical entity. By working backwards, killing potential Slayers, then the current Slayers, nothing would stop The First from flooding the world with an army of Turok-Han, a Neanderthalistic breed of supervampires (known in the series as übervamps), shifting the scale completely over in favor of evil, thus making The First corporeal.
To do this, however, the Hellmouth has to be opened. Buffy and an army of potential Slayers use their blood to open the Seal of Danzalthar, thus opening the Hellmouth. After an epic battle between the Turok-Han and the Potentials/Scoobies, the Turok-Han are defeated (though not without casualties) by a special amulet given to Spike by Buffy, by way of Angel, that shines with a burst of simulated sunlight, killing the entire Turok-Han army. The amulet also closes the Hellmouth, forcing it to collapse on itself. The good news is, the Sunnydale Hellmouth is closed forever. The bad news is, Sunnydale is nonexistent.
Season 8
In the canonical Season Eight comic book, Amy Madison and Warren Mears seek out revenge against Buffy and her friends. Helping them is a group from the United States Army, led by General Voll, who believe that Buffy and the Slayers are a dangerous group of possible terrorists.