The world of superheroes is a vast web of continuities, but crossovers do happen, bringing separate universes together despite the odds. But perhaps one of the most wild, or most twisted, depending on how you look at it, almost came from mega-writer Joss Whedon back in 2013 where, given their last names’ similarity, Scott Summers almost referenced a possible cousin… who fantasized she slew vampires.
While traditionally Scott, also known as Cyclops the original field leader of the mutant band of outlaws known as the X-Men, has been known for his plethora of possible brothers, including Adam ‘X-Treme’ and Vulcan, the connection has never been drawn to a cousin named “Buffy” except on the cutting room floor. Buffy Summers, better known as the heroine of television, film and comics known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was created by Whedon, who, at one point, was the writer of Marvel’s most popular X-book “Astonishing X-Men” in 2004.
Whedon, made the astonishing admission that at one point he considered referencing his demon-hunting heroine as a cousin to the eyebeam-firing X-Man during his run on the series. Fresh off the release of the first Avengers movie and then at work on the second, Whedon was making an appearance at an open panel at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2013 when a fan asked him about his creative process concerning an episode of Buffy, specifically Season 6's "Normal Again."
During the episode, Buffy finds herself in a mental institution after having been cursed with hallucinations by a demon.
For me it became fascinating because it was about the creative process to an extent. Positing the idea that she had created this world meant that we could examine the world we had created and we could talk about it in a ‘fourth wall’ way, but not in an obnoxious ‘fourth wall’ way… Like ‘how does this make sense?’ which not only is fun for the show where some things don’t make so much sense but also for, you know, that sort of existential moment in your life where you’re like ‘really’? This is my family? This is what I look like? This is what we eat? This is just all very weird and I don’t understand how we got here.’
He then, in admittedly tongue-in-cheek manner, quickly related a scrapped, but certainly fun, Easter egg he considered leaving for fans in reference to the story.
I did try to put in a line when I was doing the X-Men for Scott Summers to say that he had a cousin who was in a mental institution who thought she fought demons, but I couldn’t justify-- I couldn’t come up with a conversation to slip it in.
While superficially touching, as the idea the two popular heroes might not only live in the same universe, but be of the same family is surely a nice idea, the revelation, were it canonical, is tinged a bit with Whedon’s trademark sardonicism. If Buffy and Scott actually were cousins, then technically Buffy’s fear-induced hallucinations would be correct, and she would’ve never been a slayer: she would’ve been a schizophrenic mental patient who could’ve possibly killed scores of innocent people in the name of “fighting vampires.”
While certainly a little too close to the "Martha" incident to take seriously in our current pop culture environment, and also given the current Buffy comic series are published exclusively by Dark Horse and IDW, its doubtful that Buffy and her possible cousin will ever have a true crossover. Then again, with the clout Whedon pulls in the industry given his film credits, maybe such a team-up could occur if he ever returned to comic writing. Hopefully it wouldn't involve Buffy being interred, but that might be too much to hope for.
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April 26, 2020 at 05:51AM
