Joss Whedon: 'Kitty Pryde was the mother of Buffy'

Joss Whedon has said that Kitty Pryde was the inspiration for Buffy Summers.

The Avengers director has revealed the influence that the X-Man had on his creation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer lead character.



"That was the nerd fantasy fulfilled," Whedon told Wired regarding his run on Astonishing X-Men.

"I don't feel like I ever have to have another one like that. Just being able to bring back Kitty Pryde, to give Kitty a journey.

"Kitty was the mother of Buffy, as much as anybody."

Whedon wrote the opening four arcs of Marvel Comics' current volume of Astonishing X-Men in a run between 2004 and 2008.

Buffy has since graduated to an ongoing comics series following the end of the seven-season television show in 2003, with Whedon currently acting as executive producer on Season Nine.

Pryde was introduced as the first of a new generation of younger X-Men by Chris Claremont in 1980, and played a central role in Whedon's Astonishing X-Men run.