Buffy The Vampire Slayer

All these years and Buffy the Vampire Slayer still surprises her creator, Joss Whedon.

“You know, I can’t believe she took out the Bat,” Whedon told me Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con when he learned Buffy won RedEye’s Best Superhero tournament. “That freaks me out. Although in my Buffy-Batman crossover that I dream of writing one day in the comics, she could take him. I’m just saying—she’s got powers.”

After a panel discussion about Whedon’s upcoming new series “Dollhouse,” which stars “Buffy” series alum Eliza Dushku, I got a minute with Whedon to talk about Buffy’s win. By the time the tourney ended Friday, Buffy had beaten Thor, Batman, Silver Surfer and Superman to reach the final—where she trounced Spider-Man.

“Spidey never had a chance,” said Whedon, who writes the Buffy comic books. “He would just feel weird about fighting her and she would just pummel him before he’d have a chance to get his [crap] together. That’s my feeling.”

Buffy’s first-round win over Silver Surfer didn’t surprise Whedon either. “I mean I could take out the Silver Surfer,” he said. “He’d be all like, ’Shalla-Bal,’ and I’d just whack him with a two-by-four.”

Along with her win against Batman, Buffy’s victory over Superman surprised Whedon—even though he says Buffy does have superpowers.

“Yeah she does,” he said when I suggested she didn’t. “She’s superhumanly strong. She is not just a girl with a stake in her hand. She can leap—not tall buildings—but smaller buildings. She lives in Southern California where the buildings are smaller and easily lept.

“I have to say I’m really kind of shocked. But Buffy doesn’t just have superpowers, she has super fans, and they can take out a Man of Steel. I’m just saying.”