Buffy the Vampire Slayer is undeniably one of the most iconic television shows in TV history, and it has been home to it’s fair share of iconic TV ships as well. But it’s hard to deny that there is no Buffy the Vampire Slayer ship that is more memorable and more beloved than the relationship between the show’s heroine, Buffy Summers, and her star-crossed lover, Angel. The story between a vampire hunting for his own redemption and a literal vampire hunter was a romance tale for the ages, and it’s not a romance that anyone who saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer is ever going to forget.
Even though Buffy has been over for more than a decade now, there are plenty of fans who are still devoted to the relationship between Buffy and Angel, also known as Bangel. And here are 10 Bangel memes that still kill us with laughter.
Not A Very High Bar
To be clear, we are not the ones dragging Twilight and the love story of Edward Cullen and Bella Swan. The meme did that. But with that said, yes, it seems pretty painfully obvious that the love story of Buffy and Angel still has Bella and Edward beaten by a mile, even two decades later.
Star-crossed lovers are such a classic romance trope for a reason, but how could the love story between a teenage vampire and his high school crush compare with the life or death, literally world ending drama that made up the bulk of Buffy and Angel’s relationship?
A Girl’s Gotta Do What A Girl’s Gotta Do
See, that’s one of the things that is so wonderful about Buffy though. Buffy Summers loved Angel more than she has ever loved any man in her life, and she likely would have laid down her own life to save Angel if that’s what it took, but at her heart Buffy is still a hero.
She will do what needs to be done in order to protect the world, even if it’s giving up someone that she loves more than herself. And luckily for Buff, Angel eventually came back, and although it was a rocky road to recovery everything worked out better than she could have expected in the end.
Take It As A Compliment?
Joss Whedon has oft explained that the whole Angel losing his soul and becoming Angelus thing was supposed to be a supernatural metaphor for the all too familiar teenage girl experience, where she falls for a guy who she thinks is Prince Charming but ultimately turns into a bit of an ass.
And the whole caveat of Angel’s curse being lifted if he experienced a moment of pure happiness was a brutal and brilliant twist that crushed the hearts of Bangel fans everywhere. But in the end, maybe Buffy can at least take comfort in the fact that Angel’s love for her was that real.
Crushing Hearts For Decades Now
When it was announced that Angel would be becoming the lead character in his very own spinoff series, the super fans of Buffy and Angel’s relationship obviously had a Chernobyl-level nuclear meltdown.
And luckily Angel proved itself to be more than worth the separation of Buffy and Angel, but jeez, did Joss Whedon really have to make everyone fall in love with Bangel only to have them split up after everything they fought through to stay together? Getting your audience invested enough that you can actually break their hearts is an impressive achievement, but just because you can do something that doesn’t mean you should.
We Didn’t See It Coming Either
When Angel first showed up in Buffy’s life, all mysterious and dreamy eyed, it was clear that he was going to be the best kind of trouble for Buffy. But it was a genuine shock when Buffy and the rest of the audience realized that this dark and handsome stranger was actually a vampire, someone Buffy was chosen to kill and who was presumably an evil demon.
Angel is clearly a vampire unlike any other, but we can certainly relate to Willow’s shock and awe when she was informed that Angel was actually a member of the evil lumpy faced crew.
No, He’s Not
It’s totally normal for teenage girls to feel insecure in their new relationships, but it’s amazing that Buffy never seemed to realize how important and unusual she was in Angel’s life.
As we would all come to find out later, up until Angel was set on his path to help the slayer he was basically a hobo subsisting on rat blood and spending every day and night self-flagellating about his history of evil deeds. And if his devotion to Buffy wasn’t enough, the dude literally lost his soul because Buffy made him so dang happy. If that’s not true love, who knows what is.
Rude!
Everyone knows that memes are just a joke, but for real, is this meme kidding? Angel might have the face of a literal angel, but even that visage isn’t enough to excuse this abysmal pick-up line.
He deserves some props for being totally honest and upfront about his personal issues, but no girl wants to know that she’s about to get dissed and dismissed by the most evil vampire to ever evil in what should be some blissful morning after interactions. Poor Buffy probably would have wanted a heads up beforehand, but this isn’t really the kind of opening line that is going to lead to many hookups.
Of Course Buffy Needs No Man
One of the many things that is so beautiful about Buffy and Angel’s relationship in Buffy the Vampire Slayer is that their romance takes the traditional damsel in distress being saved by her lover trope and flips it on it’s end.
Edward might spend most of his time rescuing Bella from danger, but Buffy is the kind of girl who likes to rescue herself, and more often than not she’s actually the one who is rushing into danger to save her boyfriend. And who doesn’t love that Angel is secure enough in his own masculinity that he actually seems to love that Buffy is his hero.
A Classic Blunder
When it comes to Buffy the vampire slayer falling in love with the worst vampire in the world who has been mystically cursed with a soul, it seems like the joke is really on both of them in the end.
Buffy had the unfortunate experience of falling in love with a vampire who went completely nuts because he was so in love with her, and Angel had to face the reality that he could never really be the man in Buffy’s life, because while she would always grow, change, and mature, he was stuck as he is forever (at least until the Shanshu prophecy intervened).
We Can Relate
There have been plenty of power couples in TV history that will go down as some of the most iconic and memorable pairings of all time, but regardless of who anyone shipped on Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel, it’s undeniable that there isn’t a TV couple in the world that could beat Bangel. And why, you may ask?
Well, what other fictional couple are such badass and amazing characters that they literally became the leads of their very own shows? Buffy and Angel are legitimate icons on their own, and as a couple together they are virtually unstoppable and totally unforgettable.
