Buffy Summers

Buffy Anne Summers is the title fictional character in the film Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the television program of the same name and its numerous spin-offs such as novels, comic books and video games. The character was portrayed in the film by Kristy Swanson, later in the television program by Sarah Michelle Gellar and in the video games & unproduced animated series by Giselle Loren.

Buffy is a Slayer and as such has all of the powers and abilities thereof. These include superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes and accelerated healing. Buffy also possesses a type of precognition that warns her of impending danger through her dreams. For example, her dreams warned her of both her and Angel's deaths. Soon after Angel lost his soul and reverted to Angelus; holding true to her vision. In addition she also exhibits a strong ability to lead others in battle campaigns. Slayers are also supposed to be able to sense vampires which Buffy, Kendra and Faith all seemed to lack although Buffy had on occasion appeared to have sensed the presence of demons.

Trivia

 * Buffy's unusual name was the subject of Aphrodisia's somewhat ironic ridicule in the series opener. It would be the subject of a joke as late as the penultimate episode of the series.
 * Joss Whedon has since revealed that the character of Buffy Summers is a combination of several X-Men characters. For example, her surname is taken from the character Scott Summers (Cyclops), and her personality is largely taken from Kitty Pryde.
 * In addition to Swanson and Gellar, five other actresses have portrayed Buffy. In flashbacks, a younger Buffy has been played by Mimi Paley, Alexandra Lee and Candice Nicole.  In season four, Buffy was victim of body switching and was portrayed by Eliza Dushku ("This Year's Girl" and "Who Are You"). Giselle Loren has portrayed Buffy Summers in the videogames based on the series.
 * Charisma Carpenter auditioned before Gellar for the part of Buffy for the TV show. She was later cast as Buffy's rival Cordelia, the part Sarah Michelle Gellar originally auditioned for.
 * Despite repeatedly stating that Slayers don't kill people, over the course of the series Buffy directly caused the deaths of at least a dozen human beings. All of them were trying to kill her or others at the time, so these deaths are more in the vein of self-defense and not outright murder.
 * In the season 6 opener ("Bargaining"), Buffy is revived and has to dig her way out of her grave; this recalls her nightmare scenario of being turned into a vampire and having to dig her way out of her grave, shown much earlier in "Nightmares".
 * Buffy Summers was ranked 13th of Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters of all time.
 * In "The Girl in Question", Buffy is portrayed not by Sarah Michelle Gellar but by a unnamed blonde actress whose back remains to the camera.