WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 by Jeremy Lambert, Ramon Bahs, Raul Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire, on sale now
The modern Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book has been making serious changes to the canon of the original Buffyverse, giving character’s new arcs and accelerating some key transformations. However, one of the most radical deviations from the original series just got even further from established lore, which could set up another major shift for an important member of the story’s original cast.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 just killed Xander, again. But given the circumstances surrounding this demise, this truly might finally be the end of this vampiric version of the character.
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In the original continuity, Xander became a consistent ally and friend to Buffy and a foundational member of the Scoobies, the informal term for the group of evil-fighting heroes of Sunnydale. However, the modern incarnation of the character has had a far rougher experience. As a far more put-upon and despondent version of the character, Xander was eventually lured into the night by Drusilla and bitten by the vampire. Drusilla intended for him to die, only for Spike to share some of his blood, which began his transformation into a vampire. But Willow was able to sacrifice half of her soul to stop the full transformation and instead turn Xander into a half-vampire.
Xander used his newfound abilities to help the Scoobies for a time before the events of the “Hellmouth” crossover forced him to sacrifice this bond and have his soul fade. While his friends initially believed this resulted in his death, it only ensured the fully vampiric form of Xander was able to finally rise up. Quickly establishing himself as the new “Big Bad” of Sunnydale, Xander tried to manipulate things to be reunited with his “best friend.” But his efforts only resulted in more chaos, building to the events of Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24. While Buffy tries to help Willow control her darker mystical impulses, Xander finds himself in the Sunnydale High courtyard facing off with Faith. Xander proves to be a capable enough fighter to hold her at bay, even biting her before Kendra arrives to help and force him back.
But when Willow descends to the courtyard, seemingly back in control of herself, Xander becomes distracted for one moment too long. Faith takes the chance to drive a stake into his back, causing Xander to crumble to dust and ash as he reaches out to Willow one more time. This seems to be the end of the vampiric Xander, as there’s little way to reverse the full destruction of his body. While the series is full of magic and resurrections, this seems (at least on the surface) to be a fairly final fate for this version of Xander. But Willow, consumed by her grief, quickly opens a portal to try and find him, which results in many of the Scoobies being dragged into alternate dimensions.
Perhaps there’s a chance Willow will find Xander — or at least another reality’s version of him, which could result in her either bringing him back to their universe or at least coming to terms with the loss of her Xander. It also marks the third time Xander has been “killed” in the series, effectively making him the Kenny McCormick of this Buffyverse. But even his final moments in Sunnydale could be a tease of dark things to come, with some of his final words being a warning to Faith that the Scoobies would inevitably turn on her. With her killing of Xander, it’s likely there’ll be additional drama with the other teens, which could lead this version of Faith down a similar road as her original incarnation, where she ended up striking out on her own.