A third core X-Men title was also introduced called Astonishing X-Men, written by Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon, following Morrison's departure.

She was developed by Joss Whedon and portrayed throughout the TV series by Alyson Hannigan.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ( often simplified as Buffy ) was originally conceived by Joss Whedon for a 1992 feature film.

However, in its development Whedon felt it lost some of the quirkiness he considered was the heart of the project, and it was not received as well as he liked.

Joss Whedon found that Hannigan was especially gifted reacting with fear ( calling her the " king of pain ") and viewers responded strongly when she was placed in danger, needing to be rescued by Buffy.

Whedon admitted he was upset by Green's announcement and that if he had wanted to continue, Oz would have been a part of the story.

Whedon and the writing staff had been considering developing a story arc in which a character explores his or her sexuality as the Scoobies left high school, but no particular effort was made to assign this arc to Willow.

The scene was, upon completion, noticeably sensual to Whedon, the producers, and network executives, who encouraged Whedon to develop a romantic storyline between Willow and Tara, but at the same time placed barriers on how far it could go and what could be shown.

When viewers realized that Willow was falling in love with Tara, Whedon remembered that some threatened to boycott the show, complaining " You made Willow a fag ", to which he responded, " Bye.

Although the show's writers and producers received a minimal negative reaction from Willow choosing Tara over Oz, the response from viewers and critics alike was overwhelming towards Whedon for killing Tara, accusing him of homophobia.

The character of Buffy was created to subvert the stereotypical female horror film victim ; Whedon wanted to create a strong female cultural icon.

Between 2001 and 2004, Joss Whedon and Jeph Loeb developed a 4-minute pilot episode for Buffy the Animated Series, which was set during the show's first season.

In 2007, Buffy's story was continued when Joss Whedon resurrected Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a comic book.

The character of Buffy was conceived by Joss Whedon as a way of subverting the cliché of " the little blonde girl who goes into a dark alley and gets killed in every horror film ".

Whedon stated " Rhonda the Immortal Waitress " was the first incarnation of Buffy in his head, " the idea of a seemingly insignificant female who in fact turns out to be extraordinary.

" When asked how he came up with the name of " Buffy ," Whedon states " It was the name that I could think of that I could take the least seriously.

" Whedon claims the title was criticized for being too silly, and the television network begged him to change it.

" In developing Buffy, Whedon was greatly inspired by Kitty Pryde, a character from the pages of the superhero comic X-Men.

It was also nominated for Best Writing — Screenplay Written for the Screen for the work by Joel Cohen, Pete Docter, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Alec Sokolow, Andrew Stanton, and Joss Whedon making Toy Story the first animated film to be nominated for a writing award.

The character had intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major " romantic vampire " character like Angel-Marsters says " Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead "-but the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as " the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die ".

Spike was initially conceived as a disposable villain to be killed off, but proved so popular with fans that Joss Whedon decided to merely injure him instead, in the episode " What's My Line, Part Two ", in which Spike is crushed by a collapsing pipe organ and left paralyzed.

In the commentary, when Joss Whedon is asked about his decision to turn Angel evil, he said that he feels it was necessary to keep the story fresh as viewers would quickly become bored with Angel and Buffy's relationship.

Tara had become popular among fans, and Whedon and series writer David Fury decided that her death would elicit a strong response, something that Whedon felt sure was the correct course to take.

Whedon considers the scene one of the " most romantic images we've put on film " in the course of the series.

Creator Joss Whedon agreed, saying, " In seven years, we'd sort of run through our course of character and didn't want to start just doing hollow riffs on what we'd done.

Despite Fred's soul supposedly shattering in the process of Illyria taking over her body, Joss Whedon originally intended for either Fred and Illyria to be split in two had Angel gotten a sixth season, as revealed by Amy Acker in an interview: " As I ’ m playing this new character now, it was just some stuff that he was going to do with her and bringing Fred back and getting to work with both characters ", or for Illyria to take on more and more of Fred's memories.

Joss Whedon originally intended for Fred and Illyria to either be split in two had Angel gotten a sixth season, as revealed by Amy Acker in an interview: " As I ’ m playing this new character now, it was just some stuff that he was going to do with her and bringing Fred back and getting to work with both characters ", or for Illyria to take on more and more of Fred's memories.

Groener stated that when he tried to play the Mayor too dark or evil, Joss Whedon or other directors would ask him to tone it down, take it easy and make the part " real nice ".

Whedon allowed some shots to last far longer than is common in a television episode ; this cinematic technique allowed the images to take on meaning.

Whedon shot the scene where she finds her mother as one long take, showing her move through the house and calling the paramedics, about seven times.

Whedon divulged that recovering her magical abilities will become Willow's " personal obsession " in a miniseries where she will be the central character.

Writer Peg Aloi calls the backlash at Whedon " staggering ", and summarizes Tara's effect with Willow, stating that they were a single unit the moment they met: " Willow's need for approval and Tara's need for unconditional love allowed their supernova trajectory its singular, incendiary thrust toward its triumphant but tragic end ; like all witches who burn, martyred by flames, they move on to a place where their gods are the right ones.

Benson and Hannigan's chemistry was impressive enough that two episodes into Tara and Willow's friendship Whedon took the actors aside and informed them the relationship would be turning romantic.

In the theater scene during Willow's dream, a Frazier lens was used to provide a large depth of field, allowing both the foreground and background to be in focus at the same time, while in Xander's dream, as he moves from room to room in Buffy's house to the university dorm rooms, Whedon used a 17 mm lens to give a sense of motion as the camera passes by walls.

Whedon stated that the maze of red curtains on the stage in Willow's dream are not a direct homage to Twin Peaks, as some have posited, but rather represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara, and are a sexual metaphor as well.

Whedon set out to acknowledge Willow's and Tara's affection without making it the primary focus of the show.

Television series executive producer Marti Noxon later reflected that this story might have been produced by the studio in order to frighten Whedon into taking the reins of the project.

The character proved popular with fans, and since 2003, Joss Whedon has attempted to continue Giles ' story through a spin-off, Ripper ; as of 2009, Whedon has submitted a 90-minute script to the BBC, but rights issues have so far prevented the series moving into development.

" The cancellation of the show was the inspiration for Wesley's death ; Whedon gave Denisof the option of keeping the character alive, but Denisof believed killing the character was right for the story, " It was very upsetting to read.

" Fray next appears as a main character in the 2008 Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight crossover story arc, " Time of Your Life ", by Whedon and Moline.

The penultimate episode, " Primeval ", had concluded the Initiative storyline, but Whedon felt the season's overall story arc had not been as cohesive as it could have been, and therefore chose to create an episode to act as a " grace note " to the season, an episode which would comment on each of the four main characters and what they had just been through.

Whedon notes that while he already has decided that Cordelia and Connor were going to have sex, the story had to be changed and move faster because Charisma Carpenter became pregnant.

" Since Whedon suspected this season would be the last, Carpenter says, " we didn't want to just leave Cordelia in a coma .. this would be a very big story left untold.

Angel: After the Fall is the canonical continuation of the Angel story, written by Brian Lynch with executive oversight from Joss Whedon.

Although the television series ended with season seven, series creator Joss Whedon devised a comic book series that continued the story beyond the seventh season.

Cover and short story ( 12 pages ) written by Joss Whedon, about a female medieval vampire hunter.

Whedon explains that the story behind the season / episode he wanted to get across to viewers was more important than the continuity.

Whedon has said of Reavers, " Every story needs a monster.

Rejecting all the scripts and storylines that were developed over a decade of failed production attempts, Singer developed the story for the film with DeSanto in a week and then worked on the script with writers Ed Solomon, Christopher McQuarrie, Joss Whedon, and finally David Hayter ( who had started out as Singer's driver ).

It was written by Brett Matthews with Joss Whedon credited for story, illustrated by Will Conrad, and colored by Laura Martin.