WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Angel #6 by Joss Whedon, Bryan Edward Hill, Gleb Melnikov and Roman Titov, available now.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot universe has introduced a slew of new takes on the various heroes and villains of the Buffyverse, including radically different versions of established characters. One of the biggest deviations was the transformation of the Master, the first big villains Buffy ever encountered. In this new series, it's Drusilla who is trying to open up the Hellmouth.

But even though it seemed as if the Master had been more or less removed from the series, a character who appears to be a radically reimagined version of the original Master has made his first appearance in the new comic.

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The Master

Buffy The Master

The Master was the very first Big Bad in the Buffyverse. He was revealed to be an ancient vampire, one of the oldest still remaining in the world. He was the one who sired Darla, turning her into a vampire. This in turn eventually led to Angel, Drusilla and Spike becoming vampires. While the Master has tremendous powers, he's been weakened after spending decades trapped in the ruins of a church underground.

Unable to escape, he spends most of the first season of the show trying to amass enough power to escape. Although he briefly killed Buffy when they confronted one another (leading to Kendra being called as a Slayer as well), Xander quickly revived her with CPR. This gave her the ability to surprise the Master while he was in the process of opening the Hellmouth, giving her the chance to kill him once and for all.

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A Figure From The Past

In this new continuity, the Master does not have the importance he possessed in the original series. Indeed, Drusilla has largely taken over his role in trying to open up the Hellmouth and going by the title Mistress. The Master is instead recast as a completely different-looking character. He's given an origin as a man from Italy who was born centuries ago. Named Okasa, the warrior became much more than just a monster when he was made into a vampire.

The demon Lilith reveals these origins to Charles Gunn via a telepathic blast of exposition, along with the revelation that this new version of the character actually has a connection with Gunn. Gunn was introduced in the previous issue of Angel as a modern-day vampire hunter. His origins featured him and his cousin being lured into a car by a vampire while fleeing the police on foot. Although Gunn escaped, his cousin did not. And Lilith reveals that this vampire was indeed the Master. This was hinted at during Gunn's flashback in the previous issue, where his assailant's vampiric face appears to have the distinct lines across his face that were a distinguishing feature of the Master.

It's unknown if the character still has the connection he originally did with the other major vampires of the series. He doesn't even appear to be in Sunnydale. There's no indication of what the character did across his multiple centuries of life, or where he ended up throughout the world. He could still end up having a tie to the other vampires. But with the character and his origins being revealed during the events of the "Hellmouth" crossover, it's apparent that he has some important role to play in the future of the series and the universe.

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