Buffy’s Version of Kryptonite Unveils the Ultimate Anti-Slayer Weapon
Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics have introduced their version of Kryptonite: a demonic poison that can take away all of a Slayer’s powers.
WARNING: SPOLERS FOR THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #8
Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics have introduced their version of Kryptonite that could become the ultimate anti-Slayer weapon. After revealing a brand-new monster, Hungrus, who feeds exclusively on Slayers, the series shows that her venom is the only known substance that can rob a Slayer of her powers, just like Krptonite does for Superman.
In the Buffy universe, Slayers are human women who are chosen to be the defenders of mankind against the forces of evil. They are imbued with mystical powers like super-strength and resilience that allow them top fight supernatural threats such as vampires and demons. Even if a Slayer’s powers need to be “activated”, and they can temporarily be taken away, ultimately they will always returned because they are a fundamental part of the Slayer’s nature. Over the centuries, monsters started to develop a healthy fear of Slayers and usually try to avoid them as much as possible. There is one demonic creature, however, who has evolved specifically to feed upon Slayers.
In The Vampire Slayer #7, by Sarah Gailey, Claudia Balboni, and Valentina Pinto, Buffy was attacked by Hungrus, a spider-like demon who calls herself the Slayer-eater. What Hungrus doesn’t know, however, is that Buffy is not currently the Slayer. A spell gone wrong has transferred her abilities and her memories as a Slayer to Willow, while Buffy now is by all purposes a normal girl. In issue #8 (from the same creative team), readers learn a little more about Hungrus. The creature emerges from her slumber once every one-hundred-sixty-nine years to deed, and her poison is the only natural substance that can rob a Slayer of her powers, making her helpless while the monster devours her.
The Slayers Now Have Their Own Kryptonite
The poison explains how the demon could become an eater of Slayers, who are supposed to be natural predators of supernatural monsters. This is an interesting new addition to Slayer lore made by BOOM! Studios comic book series. While The Vampire Slayer takes place in a different universe in the Slayerverse from the original TV show, something similar to Hungrus’ poison could exist in other worlds too. Just like Krptonite serves to make the overpowered Superman character more manageable, this “Slayer poison” could serve in the future as a rare but effective weakness that the enemies of the Slayer could exploit, for example by artificially replicating the poison and turning it into a weapon.
The Slayers are an order of monster hunters who have been the bane of supernatural creatures for centuries, It makes perfect sense, then, that one of the Slayers’ “preys” could develop a form of natural defence against their predator. This was a very clever and interesting way to give Slayers their own Krptonite, a concept that future Buffy the Vampire Slayer stories will hopefully explore further.
The Vampire Slayer #8 is available now from BOOM! Studios.
Original article at Screen Rant.
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