Buffy Summers

Buffy Anne Summers is the title character in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the television show of the same name (though it should be noted that, being different interpretations of an original concept, these are actually two seperate entities, as explained below). The character was introduced in the financially unsuccessful movie in which she was played by Kristy Swanson. She gained popularity after being transferred to the small screen where she was played by Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Powers and Abilities

Buffy has various abilities which are virtually unattainable by any human (With the exception of magical or technologically enhanced ones). Prominent amongst these abilities is her great physical strength. Depictions of her strength have been rather inconsistent throughout the history of the show. At the high end, Buffy has been shown able to lift a metal portcullis which as many as a dozen teenagers were unable to budge, hefted steel girders quoted to weigh "a few hundred pounds" with one arm without any strain, bent a steel rifle barrel with little effort, and bent prison bars in under 30 seconds to assist in a jail break. On one occasion she was able to pick up two Harbingers - servants of an evil force who are equal in size to Human males - in each hand and throw them across a room in opposite directions. Faith, a Slayer with abilities similar to Buffy's, was able to punch through concrete with her bare hand, pick up the Vampire Angel with one hand and easily throw him across a room as well as lift him over her head into the ceiling, and pick up a 200 lb. barbell with one hand and use it as a weapon. As a result of such incidents (plus quotes that compare her strength to Spiderman), high end estimates of Buffy's strength imply that she could lift up to ten tons, making her some one hundred times stronger than would be expected for her size. Which would be a fair assumption for someone capable of being the ONLY human to stand against the dark forces.

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However, on other occasions Buffy has struggled to carry a single Human. Additionally, many episodes have depicted ordinary Humans as being able to at least hold their own with Vampires, implying that Vampires have no more than two or three times the strength of a Human at most. Whilst Buffy is generally stronger than the Vampires, including Angel as he is quoted in saying so, she does not always seem show the level of physical dominance that would be consistent with high end estimates of her strength.

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However it's possible that Buffy's apparent physical weakness in selected situations underscores her more human qualities, symbolizing her struggle with the aspects of her life that she shares with normal young women. For example in the episode in which Buffy starts college, she is beaten up by a female vampire. This reinforces to the audience her feelings of being a lonely young girl on a big, unfriendly college campus, after having been the hero in high school.

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Since Buffy's physical strength derives from supernatural sources, it is at least conceivable that her precise level of strength is dependant on her state of mind and that she is quite literally weaker when emotionally disturbed or otherwise unfocused. Much related to Peter Parker's struggle in the second Spiderman film.

Related Topics:
Peter Parker - Spiderman

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Her strength allows Buffy to perform superhuman feats of agility beyond any Olympic medalist. She can jump the height of maybe 30 feet and the length of a street and perform extreme acrobatics of all kinds unreplicable by any Olympic athlete.

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Beyond her strength, Buffy also has superhuman almost instantaneous reflexes and amazing speed. She has shown herself capable of dodging - and even catching - arrows and knives in mid-flight. She has also outmaneuvered bulletfire from a machine gun fire from a Cyberdemonoid. We've also seen how fast she can run and evade an enemy when she outdodged a superhuman agent of The First Evil.

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Her body is substantially more durable and resistant to impact or trauma than an ordinary human. She is difficult, though not impossible, to bruise and has never been seen to suffer a broken bone. Her skin can be punctured by ordinary weapons such as knives or bullets. Buffy recovers from even very severe injuries in remarkably short periods of time.

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Buffy's senses appear to be heightened. Details are rare, but the degree of enhancement seems to be rather limited - indeed it is possible that she merely happens to have good but normal eyesight, hearing, etc. She has been seen to locate attackers whilst in the dark or blindfolded, though it is not clear if this is a result of heightened hearing or some form of extrasensory perception.

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Buffy has natural general fighting skills. Her watcher trains her to hone these talents, and to teach her specific fighting skills, such as various martial arts. The training helps her to battle the occasional demon whose physical strength outclass her own. In general, her super-strength suffices.

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It should also be noted that Buffy reached her physical peak in Season 5 as a pivotal episode makes her character accept the hunter and nature of "what" she is and almost begin to appreciate what makes her different. She fully begins to explore her identity as a Slayer, as opposed to in the first few seasons where she wanted to be "just Buffy". Her training becomes more intense than ever and she fights more fluidly and efficiently than ever before, which came in good timing as she had to fight opponents of considerably higher strength such as Glory, the Turok-han, and Caleb.

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Her last power is a limited prescient ability. This manifests itself in occasional prophetic dreams, often presaging some dire event.

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Buffy and her friends refer to her various abilities collectively as "The Slayer package".

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