Twenty years ago, Buffy the Vampire Slayer forever changed the landscape of television. The TV show's origin is as legendary as its legacy. After creator Joss Whedon watched the film version of Buffy get staked by critics and audiences, he pitched his idea to TV executives. They took a chance on his series when a genre show, especially one starring a strong female, was a risky investment. The show's premiere, which was scheduled for mid-season, didn't bode well, either. But critics took notice, and loyal fans spread the word about their favorite new TV series.

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer lasted for seven seasons, which saw one villain after another meet the business end of Buffy's stake, or sword, or hammer, or... you get the idea. Some of those villains were ugly as the sin that wrought them. Balthazar, for example, was a disgusting pile of flesh who sat in a vat of his own yuck. Then there was the wig lady, who had a demon living in her head in "Doublemeat Palace," which would turn anyone into a vegan. Luckily for fans, lots of BtVS evildoers were hot as the fires of hell. Some of the villains on this list walked the line between good and evil, but every one of them turned up the heat.

15 MISS FRENCH

Poor Xander. In some ways, he was to Buffy the Vampire Slayer what Butters was to South Park. If there was a trap to fall into, he fell. If there was a curse going around, he got it. His sweet nature and longing for female companionship often made him the victim of terrible circumstances.

When Miss French took over Dr. Gregory's biology class in "Teacher's Pet," Xander surprised no one when he succumbed to her charms. Miss French, who was actually a giant praying mantis, knew she had found countless potential victims in her class of teenage boys. Her seductive ways were too powerful for Xander, and football hunk Blayne, to resist. Even more embarrassing than being dragged off to be fed on by an insect woman, however, was finding out that she only chose virgins to mate with. Talk about adding insult to injury!

14 VERUCA

Willow and Oz were the couple on Buffy the Vampire Slayer who seemed destined to grow old together. From the moment Oz almost ran her over on Halloween night, he knew the smart, but awkward, red-head was the girl for him. The two of them fell in love, and not even the fact that Oz turned out to be a werewolf could tear them apart.

Enter Veruca. Willow and Oz faced terrible odds of staying together for the simple fact that they were now in college. (Everyone knows that college is the place to spread your wings, so to speak.) Add in the fact that Veruca was a sexy singer who seemed to get Oz in a way Willow never would, and Willow's chances looked slim. The last nail in the Willow-Oz coffin was Veruca's wolfy-ness. Oz may have killed her in the end, but not before falling for her.

13 RACK

Buffy the Vampire Slayer made it clear that using magic, especially dark magic, comes with a price. More than once, the Scooby gang found themselves fighting the consequences of their magical actions. The most terrible example of this rule was Dark Willow's story arc in Season 6.

After Tara was killed, Willow was understandably wrecked. She had dabbled in dark magic before, but in her grief, dark magic became an addiction. Rack was the warlock who fed her addiction, as well as the rest of Sunnydale's dark magic junkies. His cavalier swagger and unconventionally attractive face were appealing, but his ability to send his junkies into another realm was what made him irresistible. Willow fell deeper and deeper into her dark magic addiction, eventually draining Rack of his magical energy, just to get a fix.

12 Vampire Willow and Vampire Xander

"The Wish" was the kind of episode that was, well, a wish-come-true for die-hard fans. Seriously, it was like fan fiction come to life. Vengeance demon Anya grants Cordelia her fondest wish: that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale. However, Cordelia, and everyone else, get more than they bargained for.

Without Buffy around, in this alternate universe, the vampires are in control of Sunnydale. Their leader is none other than the Master. In this timeline, Willow is one of his lieutenants and the opposite of her usual self. She's confident, cunning, evil and, above all, looks shockingly good in a leather corset. She and her mate, Vampire Xander, heat up the room every time they get together. Their idea of foreplay is torturing Angel, "the puppy." Although they were both killed, Vampire Willow was so popular with fans Whedon brought her back in "Doppelgangland."

11 JUSTIN

What's more attractive to a young, teenage girl than a jock who's a bad boy? Dawn may have been the Key, and the world's only hope at stopping Glory, but she was also full of hormones and rebellion. Not many high school girls could resist a good-looking dude in a letterman's jacket. In "All the Way," Dawn was no exception.

On Halloween night, after Xander announced his engagement with Anya, Dawn lied (gasp!) to Buffy about going to her friend Janice's house. Instead, the sneaky girl met up with Janice and two hunks, including her date for the night, Justin. Like most handsome guys in Sunnydale, Justin turned out to be a vampire. (Did the girl learn nothing from her sister's nightly escapades?) Dawn didn't realize he had fangs, though, until the two of them were locking lips. Too bad for Justin, Buffy showed up and he and his buddy went poof.

10 DRACULA

When Buffy the Vampire Slayer premiered, Buffy had eyes for only one vampire. She and Angel were Sunnydale's hottest unrequited romance for two seasons. After Angel died, came back to life, then moved to L.A. (which is kind of like losing your soul all over again), Buffy moved on to find love with a mere mortal, Riley. However, on one fateful night, she met the vampire to beat all other vampires.

In the Season 5 opener, Buffy felt a mysterious pull that led her to an encounter with Dracula. She was star-struck! His sexy charm enthralled not only Buffy, but also her mother and Xander, and even Anya, back in the day. His sex appeal was so powerful that Buffy even let him bite her. Of course, her Slayer instincts eventually took over and she dusted him. Twice.

9 PRINCIPAL WOOD

After Angel, after Riley, after Spike, Buffy seemed destined to be alone. Could a Slayer truly find happiness in a romantic relationship? Then Sunnydale High installed a new principal, the smoking-hot Robin Wood. He and Buffy got along well, enjoying flirty banter and exchanging come-hither glances. Buffy remained suspicious of him and his interest in the Hellmouth, until he showed his true nature during a vampire ambush while they were on a date.

Or did he? Principal Wood actually had a secret within his secret. Although he was swoon-worthy, he hid his real agenda from Buffy. He was in Sunnydale to find and stake the vampire who killed his mother, who had been a Slayer. After Buffy found out Wood was there to kill Spike, the romance ended.

8 GLORY

Evil can take many seductive forms, and some of the most powerful and the most effective villains are stunningly gorgeous. Glory, a.k.a. Glorificus, the villain of Season 5, was all of the above. Dressed in a blood-red dress, with lipstick to match, Glory was worshiped by disciples who were as enchanted by her beauty as her power. They did her horrible, bloody bidding, no questions asked.

Although Glory was lovely to look at, she retained much of the power she had in the hell dimension. She was super-strong and nearly indestructible. Buffy and her friends used a combination of the Buffybot, magical weapons and brute force to beat her back into her other human form: Ben. Although Ben was cute, he was no Glory. When Buffy couldn't bring herself to kill him, Giles dispatched him.

7 DARLA

Darla was the world's introduction to what Buffy the Vampire Slayer was all about. Looking cute and comely in her school-girl outfit in the series' opening scene, Darla lured a high school boy into a dark corner, before revealing her vampy face and devouring him. Welcome to the Hellmouth!

As the series continued, Darla was revealed to have played a much bigger role in the story's creation. Hundreds of years ago, she also seduced Angel, the vampire who set up two seasons of episodes, as well as his own series. Her blonde beauty and her breathy charm were world-famous, apparently. Whether she was wearing corsets and garters, or a pullover and a plaid skirt, she used her feminine wiles to prey upon men for centuries.

6 ANYA

Anyanka, a vengeance demon, came to Sunnydale because it was located, most fortuitously, above the Hellmouth. She knew that at Sunnydale High she would find plenty of girls looking to make a wish to get revenge against ex-boyfriends and reviled rivals. However, after Giles smashed the center of her power, she was stuck attending high school as a teenage girl.

Although her abrasive nature repelled some of the Scooby gang, eventually, Xander fell in love with Anya. They enjoyed a frenzied, heated affair, which led to his marriage proposal. Sadly, Xander left her at the alter, which sent her back into the vengeance business. Although they eventually made their peace, they never resumed a formal relationship. Of course, their attraction was so strong, they did manage to hook up a few times.

5 LISSA

Remember when we mentioned that Xander had a habit of making himself everyone's "butt monkey?" Seven seasons into Buffy the Vampire, Xander still hadn't learned to be suspicious when a beautiful woman seemed overly interested in him. His run-ins with Miss French, Cordelia, Anya, and even Dracula, didn't teach him to be wary. When the demon Lissa came along, he was as naive as ever.

Lissa was a demon who decided to ally herself with the First Evil. She wanted to be on the winning side of evil when the Hellmouth swallowed the Earth. She agreed to open the Seal of Danzalthar, but she needed a victim to bleed for the ritual to work. Enter Xander. On their first date, she lured him to Sunnydale High with promises of the usual kind, only to stab him. Only when Buffy killed her did Xander see her true demon form.

4 JENNY CALENDAR

Betrayal was a common theme in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, because no pain is greater than when the person you love turns out to be someone else entirely. While Sunnydale's teenagers seemed to corner the market on back-stabbing, the grown-ups served up a healthy does of betrayal too.

Jenny Calendar was the computer science teacher at Sunnydale High. To Giles, she was the cat's meow. She seemed to have it all, brains, looks and a side gig as a technopagan. After getting thrown together time and again fighting evil beings in Sunnydale, the two of them fell in love. However, Jenny revealed she was actually Janna of the Kalderash Clan, who was responsible for cursing Angel. No amount of hotness could excuse her lies. However, they reconciled briefly, right before she was killed by Angelus.

3 SPIKE

Sunnydale was forever changed after Spike and Drusilla rolled into Sunnydale. They brought with them a whole new level of danger, psychosis and lust. They looked more like serpents than snakes, the way they writhed around each other. Their romance ended, however, when Spike allied himself with Buffy.

Sexy Spike had no trouble finding female affection. He and Harmony kicked it for a while, before he finally gave into his feelings for Buffy. One would think a Slayer would never fall for a vampire, but Buffy did. His sexual prowess, and her depression after being resurrected, were too much for her and she gave in to his advances. Nothing is sexier than unconditional love, of course. When Spike sacrificed himself to save Sunnydale, Buffy finally told Spike she loved him. In true Spike fashion, he replied, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it."

2 ANGEL

'Shippers will fight until the end of eternity over who's hotter, Angel or Spike. On this list, Angel is hotter. Spike may have redeemed himself by the end of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but Angel sought redemption for centuries before Spike even showed up. The only thing more irresistible than a bad boy, is a bad boy trying to be good.

Angel's knight-in-shining-armor behavior, as well as his brooding good looks, drew Buffy to him early on. Even after he turned back into Angelus, and demonstrated his truly horrible nature, she held onto the belief that the real Angel lived inside him. Of course, she was right. She never really let go of her love for Angel, which was evident the few times he visited Sunnydale, or she visited L.A. Yeah, that's right. Angel was so hot, he even got his own series.

1 FAITH

Faith easily earned the top spot on this list of hottest Buffy the Vampire Slayer villains. She shocked the Scooby gang when she showed up in Sunnydale. First, because she was a Slayer. Second, because she made no bones about enjoying her power, and didn't even attempt to hide her nature. She oozed sexy confidence, and turned up the temperature in the Bronze.

Faith was so sexy, she attracted men and women alike, even when they knew better. Her talk of that "good down-low tickle" tempted Buffy off her straight-and-narrow path. Later, she bedded Xander (Xander!). She also let her little light shine when she switched bodies with Buffy, giving Riley a night he would never forget (neither would Buffy!). Faith was good, then evil, then good again. Throughout all of her ups and downs, however, she was always hot.

Did we miss someone? Who do you think was the hottest villain on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Tell us in the comments!