WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26 by Jeremy Lambert, Marianna Ignazzi, Raul Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire, on sale now
The modern reboot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has slowly opened up an entire multiverse of vampires, slayers, and monsters for Buffy and her allies to confront. But their greatest threat might be the other residents of Sunnydale.
As revealed in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #26, several of Buffy's allies have seemingly allied themselves with the Mayor of Sunnydale Richard Wilkins and the Watcher's Council, setting up a dark inverse of the core Scoobies at the worst possible time.
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Things have become increasingly dangerous in Sunnydale as of late -- and considering the town is home to plenty of threats thanks to the Hellmouth within the city limits, that's saying something. But ever since the death of a corrupted Xander at the hands of Faith and the Scoobies' brief multiversal adventure, tensions are high in Sunnydale, with multiple vampires trying to gain power and Slayers like Kendra and Faith pushed to the brink of exhaustion. While Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Anya have been trying to focus on the multiverse, other figures have been circling one another and taking on new responsibilities. This includes Faith, who finds herself drawn away from that group and more towards Mayor Wilkens following an encounter with him in the previous issue.
The Mayor is revealed to have quietly recruited numerous others, including Robin Wood (Faith's Watcher), as well as Wesley into his confidence. He's even seemingly recruited Cordelia Chase, who serves as an assistant to him at night and provides assistance -- and is seemingly unaware of the true stakes of the situation. Upon having Robin, Wesley, and Faith altogether, Wilkens speaks to the group about their place in Sunnydale. It turns out that he's been in further contact with the Watcher's Council and has been informed that Giles has been relieved of his duties as a Watcher, leaving the position open for Wesley to take over. Wilkens has also been given the freedom to offer anything to his "A-Team" to help them reestablish control over Sunnydale, with Wilkens wanting Faith, Robin and Wesley as be that group.
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This is worrisome for numerous reasons, in particular for introducing chaos into the Scoobies dynamics just as universal level threats have begun to surface. This could divide the Scoobies and their allies at a crucial time, with the entire multiverse seemingly in danger. The fact that it's Wilkens behind these moves also bodes poorly, as his history in the previous Buffy the Vampire Slayer makes him a possible threat even in this new timeline. In the original canon, the Mayor was ultimately the villain of the show's third season. An outwardly affable figure, the Mayor was secretly a powerful man who'd been seeking ascension into a pure demonic form -- and all the power that came with it.
His previous version threatened plenty of lives across Sunnydale and was crucial to the corruption of Faith, turning her against the rest of her friends and setting her up to become one of Buffy's toughest challenges. Although the Mayor was eventually defeated, he came close to victory in the original series. It's possible that he's responsible for breaking the Faith of this world too. Now, with an entire team of Scoobies at his disposal, there's a question of what the Mayor is planning to do with them -- and how much damage they could really bring to Sunnydale in the process, even while trying to save it.