Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Spike’s Transformation Over The Years (In Pictures)

Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Joss Whedon wanted a “punk rock vampire” to stand apart from the sepulchral grandeur of The Master and other traditional bloodsuckers, so Spike was born and a television icon was created. Over six seasons of Buffy (and one season of Angel), Spike’s appearance evolved over time, but he always maintained his swaggering charm and undeniable charisma.

Though vampires may not age like humans, they’re capable of personal growth, and just as the rest of the characters in the series matured, so did Spike. Fashion was important to him, but his clothing choices also reflected character development, and his specific transformation from villain to hero can be seen in the way his character presented himself over the years.

10 Season 2 – The Big Bad

According to a 2019 interview with James Marsters for The Telly Show, Spike was only ever supposed to appear for a few episodes as Drusilla’s “boy toy.” After Angel and Buffy slept together and Angel became Angelus again, however, he needed a Big Bad to prove just how evil he truly was. Spike was therefore built up in that capacity to be the villain in Season 2 whom Angelus could kill to appear truly diabolical and break Buffy’s heart.

Of course, as fans know, Spike became a fan favorite and so survived, allowing Marsters to continue to play his most famous character for many more years. Spike made quite a first appearance, sporting his signature black trench coat, a bright red undershirt, peroxide blonde hair, and black fingernail polish.

9 Season 3 – Pining For Dru (And Little Marshmallows)

Spike only appears in one episode in Season 3, looking much as he did in Season 2, only this time a drunken mess pining over Drusilla. It’s the first time he’s seen as less dangerous and more docile, revealing later in a sympathetic speech that of all the vampires seen in the series, Spike’s capacity for love and loss is the most salient.

With some coaxing on his part, Buffy’s mother invites him into her house, and he’s seen in a much more domestic setting — much like he will be later in the series as part of the Scooby Gang. At this point, it’s clear that Spike will be more comic relief than Big Bad (“You got any of those little marshmallows?”).

8 Season 4 – Series Regular

According to Marsters in the same interview for The Telly Show, after the loss of Cordelia in Season 3 to Angel a vacancy appeared for a character that could “tell Buffy she was stupid,” and Buffy herself (Sarah Michelle Gellar) made the recommendation that he be the one to fill it. Spike became a more regular — if irritating — presence.

When the paramilitary group known as the Initiative captures him and plants a special chip in his head that prevents him from harming any non-demons, Spike goes from threat to begrudging ally of the Scoobies. He’s part of some hilariously entertaining storylines, even if he spends most of his time tied up in various characters’ homes, miserable about being such a pathetic vampire (hence the Hawaiian shirt).

7 Season 5 – How Spike Got His Coat

In the important Season 5 episode “Fool For Love,” Buffy seeks Spike out specifically because he’s killed two Slayers in his unlife and she needs to know her weaknesses if she’s going to take down a god like Glory. As they discuss the particulars of his victories, fans are treated to a series of flashbacks exploring his changing aesthetic over 100 plus years.

First, he’s seen as William the Bloody, a sensitive human 18th-century poet who’s mocked mercilessly. Later, when he assumes the mantle of “Spike” after he’s sired by Drusilla, he kills his first Slayer during the Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Then, he’s seen looking like a ’70s punk while fighting his second Slayer on the subway in New York City. After he kills her, he claims her leather trench coat as his own, and thus his iconic look is born.

6 Season 5 – Trying To Get A Slayer’s Attention

Season 5 is a turning point for Spike and Buffy’s relationship in a variety of unexpected ways. Buffy and Dawn have lost their mother, and Spike steps in when they need him most. Because he helps protect Dawn from Glory by not revealing her true identity as the Key, Spike earns Buffy’s respect, but not enough to become her new romantic partner.

More than try to help Buffy as a member of the Scooby Gang, Spike has tried to make himself appealing to the Slayer once he realizes just how much in love with her he is. While he still wears his signature leather jacket, he also incorporates neutral garments underneath it, making him appear less foreboding and more approachable.

5 Season 6 – The Return Of The Red Shirt

Buffy returns to life for what proves to be the second time in Season 6, though she is a shadow of her former self. Aimless, conflicted, and closed off from her friends, she finds solace in Spike’s arms. He brings out a darker, more dangerous side — she thinks, perhaps, the side of her that dug itself out of her own grave.

But because nothing about Spike and Buffy’s relationship is simple or even healthy, they remain as adversarial as they do romantic. It’s perhaps for this reason that Spike wears a red button-up shirt several times during the season, mimicking what he wore during his first appearance when they were enemies.

4 Season 6 – A Darker Shade Of Black

Season 6 was a dark season for many characters. Buffy struggled to find her place in the corporeal world, Willow turned to dark magic after Tara’s death, and Spike became so obsessed with keeping Buffy’s love that he resorted to sexual assault in his delirium.

For the majority of the season he, like Willow and Buffy, wore a muted palette of blacks and grays. And while he was not often without his signature trench coat, black jeans, and his black boots, he did occasionally sport some sort of necklace or jewelry.

3 Season 7 – Some Serious Bedhead

After Spike returns to Sunnydale with a soul, he’s wracked with guilt over his decades of killing. His suffering is compounded by the fact that the First Evil possesses him and uses him as a weapon. Ashamed of what he’s become, Buffy finds him wandering the abandoned halls of old Sunnydale High, confused and alone. He begs Buffy to stake him.

With his platinum hair grown out and tussled, he barely resembles his former self, and the Slayer can’t help but take pity on him. She brings him into her home and nurses him back to health so that he can fight by her side in the impending battle.

2 Season 7 – A True Hero

Spike takes a step towards redeeming himself in the eyes of Buffy and the Scoobies by being a true hero in Season 7, fighting alongside them against the First Evil and ultimately sacrificing himself to close the Hellmouth. With his act of selflessness, he saves not just Sunnydale, but the entire world.

The final season of the series saw a return to form for many characters, displaying the best versions of themselves in the face of adversity. Naturally, the ensemble of Spike the hero includes a black tee shirt, black jeans, and of course his trusty leather coat.

1 Angel – A New Beginning

The end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn’t prove the end for Spike, and the scamp got resurrected over on its spin-off Angel for its fifth and final season. Spike had previously appeared in Season 1 when he went to LA to search for the Gem of Amarra but ended up going back to Sunnydale empty-handed. This time, the Hellmouth amulet granted him life but not a body (at least at first).

Spike looked the same as he did in the final episode of Buffy, with the same all-black ensemble and black leather trench coat. His favorite coat was later destroyed in Season 5, but he found an identical one to replace it, ensuring he still looked like a badass when facing the apocalypse incited by the Senior Partners.

About The Author

Kayleena Pierce-Bohen
(1342 Articles Published)

Kayleena has been raised on Star Wars and Indiana Jones from the crib. A film buff, she has a Western collection of 250+ titles and counting that she’s particularly proud of. When she isn’t writing for ScreenRant, CBR, or The Gamer, she’s working on her fiction novel, lifting weights, going to synthwave concerts, or cosplaying. With degrees in anthropology and archaeology, she plans to continue pretending to be Lara Croft as long as she can.

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