Best Characters on Joss Whedon's "Angel"

Another character originally introduced on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Wesley began as an uptight, humorless, bumbling, hapless Watcher and was only a minor character. With his move to "Angel," though, Wesley eventually evolved into a major character with a depth of character, humor, intelligence, and skill that made the show one of the best on television.

Although originally a character on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Cordelia became a main character on "Angel." Throughout her time on "Angel," Cordelia grew and developed from a shallow, flighty, spoiled girl to an intelligent and caring woman. Joss Whedon handled this character development very well, and Cordelia ended up being one of his best characters.

Originally a character on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Spike became a regular on the last season of "Angel." His cantankerous nature and snappy one-liners made him a perfect foil for Angel and brought much-needed humor to an otherwise fairly dark final season.

The title character of the show, Angel has a wealth of history and is a fascinating character. Tortured by remorse because he has been given back his soul after decades of wreaking havoc and evil on the world, Angel tries to balance the cosmic scales even though he knows he never can. One of the more interesting aspects of this character is also the curse that he lives under in which he loses his soul if he ever experiences true happiness. Known as Angelus, this soul-less version of Angel is also one of the best characters on the show.

In the episode "Smile Time," Angel gets turned into a puppet while investigating an evil children's show that steals their souls through the television. The puppet version of Angel maintained his mannerisms and facial expressions (including his face transforming into a vampire face), which was hilarious and adorable at the same time. The character and plot were the most inventive thing I'd seen on television in a long time.