Angel and Peak Buffy the Vampire Slayer Fame was unexpectedly canonized as a novel. Angel and Spike both craved Buffy Summers' affection, proving to be one of the many reasons they hated each other. They constantly fought over women and who was the best vampire. However, this hatred did not stop the desire of fans who wanted to see the two vampires with souls together.
Such a romance was already implied in the real series, but was fully confirmed in the canonical sequels to Joss Whedon's comics. Buffy the Vampire Slayerwhich were released after Buffy's seventh season and Angel fifth season. In Angel #26 by Brian Lynch, Stephen Mooney, Tom Smith, Scorpion Studios and Robbie Robbins, the official Buffyverse canon finally legitimizes a love affair between Angel and Spikealbeit in a Hollywood film with Nicolas Cage in the title role.
Outside of an unexpected big-screen lip lock, the comics add fuel to the complicated chemistry between Buffy the Vampire Slayer favorite friends.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Your favorite enemies, Angel and Spike, finally become an item
In an in-universe film adaptation
The fifth season finale "Not Fade Away" Angel served as a conclusion Buffy the Vampire Slayer general universe, as the surviving members of Angel Investigations attack a horde of monsters during the apocalypse. After the cut to black, the story continues in the comics. While Buffy had a continuation of season eight, Angel had After the Fallfocusing on the Los Angeles apocalypse that happened at the endsending Los Angeles to Hell. Angel saves the world, but on a public scale that attracts attention from all sides of the Earth, even Hollywood.
Angel #26 marks the first part of the "Boys and Their Toys" arc, which is a sort of epilogue to the After the Fall plot. Now, Angel and his allies have become celebrities, being featured at science fiction conventions and adapted for the big screen. Hollywood very loosely adapts the Los Angeles ordeal with Last Angel in Hell, starring Cage as Angel and Lost Jorge Garcia as Charles Gunn. Spike (or "Sara") is written in the film as an amalgamation of Spike and DarlaAngel's father. "They could have got one fact right", Angel moans as he watches Angel and Spike kiss on screen. "Just one."
Does the show ever allude to Angel and Spike being together?
There is always"That time"
The idea of bringing Angel and Spike together dates back to their dynamics on the real television showoriginally played by David Boreanaz and James Marsters. Angel debuted in Buffy the Vampire Slayer "Welcome to the Hellmouth" debut episode, while Spike first appeared in Season 2's "School Hard." It wasn't long before the two vampires appeared on screen together for the first time, with "School Hard" establishing Angel as Spike's father (later retconned to his grandfather). They spent most of the second season together, with the revived Angelus having an affair with Spike's lover Drusilla.
Save for Spike's brief supporting roles in Buffy's third season (before becoming a recurring character in season 4) and Angel first season (before becoming series regulars in season 5), Angel and Spike spent years apart. After Angel left Buffy to star in her self-titled spinoff, Spike became Buffy's new love interest. After Marsters joined the cast of Angel, the two characters fought frequently, sharing tension over their pasts. Some interpret their chemistry as a brotherhood, while others interpret a romantic or sexual relationship. In the episode "Power Play", Spike stated that he and Angel were never close - "except that one time."
How a throwaway line validated Angel x Spike shippers
And woven into comics
To say that those campaigning for a relationship between Spike and Angel (or “Spangel,” as some online fans affectionately call them) have latched onto this throwaway line would be an understatement. After all, it makes sense, in theory. Alongside Darla and Drusilla, Spike and Angel spent centuries together side by side as part of the Whirlwind vampire gang. The comics have already established that the members of the Whirlwind weren't shy about exploring their weirdness with other people, even giant spiders. It's very possible that Angel and Spike "hooked up" at least once during their time together.
The throwaway line was a small enough implication that it didn't explicitly confirm a sexual relationship between the two as canon, but the comics allow the writers to at least play with that idea a little.
The throwaway line was a small enough implication that it didn't explicitly confirm a sexual relationship between the two as canon, but the comics allow the writers to at least play with that idea a little. Even though the suitors in the panel aren't actually Angel and Spike, it's hard not to see the Last Angel in Hell excerpt from "Angel" and "Spike" kissing and not seeing it as a wink and a nudge to readers who want to see the canonization of this relationship. This is not the only time that Angel #26 plays with Angel and Spike's unique bond.
Angel and Spike are more alike than they think
And comics know this
Customers at Science Fiction Convention Exhibition Last Angel in Hell undergo a transformation, as dark magic forces each cosplayer to transform into whatever costume or mask they pretend to be. Since Spike is wearing an angel mask, he becomes a clone of the angel. Like Angel, Spike laments being an evil vampire turned good, making it his mission to do good to atone for his sins - which isn't entirely inaccurate to Spike's real story. Angel's friend Groosalugg even mentions the similarities, referring to this version of Spike as "Spangel", another notable wink and nudge for fans reading.
When Spike returns to normal, he reiterates Angel's feeling that they are nothing alike, but readers know they are two sides of the same coin. Although Angel is more reserved and Spike is quite bombastic, they both have identical redemption arcs that lead them to enforce justice. That's why it's so easy to compare them and even easier to play with the idea of them being romantic with each other. While the notion that they have ever been or will ever be in a real relationship is left up to the viewer's interpretation, their appearances in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel Show your chemistry.
Angel #26 and #27 are now available from IDW Publishing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a television series created by Joss Whedon, focusing on Buffy Summers, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, a young woman chosen to battle vampires, demons, and other supernatural forces while navigating the complexities of teenage life.