Malcolm Merlyn (Arrow) takes on Sunnydale

[Radical Jack]

malcolm merlyn.jpg



Scenario:

Instead of dying in the Glades, Merlyn's wife is killed by a vampire in Sunnydale. Enraged, he goes off to Nanda Parbat, trained by Ra's Al Ghul, and returns to take his revenge on the monsters and demons in the city. He starts out in episode 1 of the series with all his wealth, resources and skills he's showcased on Arrow. In this scenario Buffy never arrives to Sunnydale. How far does Merlyn get?

[Surtur]

Well The Master never is released. Thing is, sooner or later a supernatural nasty is going to straight up kill Malcolm. Even with his resources he is woefully unprepared for some of the things in Sunnydale and he has no access to Giles or any of the magical texts Giles has.

I will say a vampire killing the wife makes SO much more sense though. Now we won't have to deal with silly notions of "this woman is attacked and shit and then calls and leaves her hubby a friggin voicemail instead of calling for help". At least the vampires will kill her and not give her chances to make stupid choices more or less so years later we can have a dramatic scene where Malcolm plays this message he has kept for nearly a decade on his damn phone.

[Radical Jack]

Well The Master never is released. Thing is, sooner or later a supernatural nasty is going to straight up kill Malcolm. Even with his resources he is woefully unprepared for some of the things in Sunnydale and he has no access to Giles or any of the magical texts Giles has.

I will say a vampire killing the wife makes SO much more sense though. Now we won't have to deal with silly notions of "this woman is attacked and shit and then calls and leaves her hubby a friggin voicemail instead of calling for help". At least the vampires will kill her and not give her chances to make stupid choices more or less so years later we can have a dramatic scene where Malcolm plays this message he has kept for nearly a decade on his damn phone.

Lol, true. But I'm wondering if he may be tempted to destroy Sunnydale like he planned to due with the Glades, viewing it too evil and corrupt to survive. Especially if he learns about the Mayor.

[StupidMoniker]

Likely he dies in season one from witches, large groups of vampires, superstrong demons that only die if you remove their heart, people's nightmares coming to life, demon possessed robots that completely no sell slayer jump kicks, etc. If he manages to get past all of that, everyone turning into their costume or the invasion of the body snatchers will get him in season two. If by some miracle he makes it to the end of season three, the mayor ascends and kills him along with everyone else in Sunnydale.

[Surtur]

Maybe, but then again the Hellmouth has a weird effect on people. He might end up working with the Mayor.

[FrenchGemini]

Lol, true. But I'm wondering if he may be tempted to destroy Sunnydale like he planned to due with the Glades, viewing it too evil and corrupt to survive. Especially if he learns about the Mayor.

Malcolm as he was on Arrow had a tendency to go "there are criminals in the Glades=The Glades are EVIL!" so yeah, I'd imagine that if you replace criminals with vampires and Glades with Sunnydale, he'd probably think that in your scenario. The question becomes, is there anything that could survive an earthquake in Sunnydale? Note that I am not familiar with the Buffyverse, so if my question seems stupid, please don't laugh (too much).

[Surtur]

Malcolm as he was on Arrow had a tendency to go "there are criminals in the Glades=The Glades are EVIL!" so yeah, I'd imagine that if you replace criminals with vampires and Glades with Sunnydale, he'd probably think that in your scenario. The question becomes, is there anything that could survive an earthquake in Sunnydale? Note that I am not familiar with the Buffyverse, so if my question seems stupid, please don't laugh (too much).

There is a whole wide variety that could survive it. The Earthquake certainly won't kill any of them vampires unless it happens in such a way that it drives a stake into them or something. Or if a piece of debris falls perfectly and decapitates them. Most of the vamps should be fine.

Though my problem is where is he getting the earthquake machine? It isn't a standard part of his resources. Who, in Sunnydale, will build this dude an earthquake machine? Seriously drawing a blank. You'd need people like the Trio, who weren't even a group until late in the series.

[Radical Jack]

Likely he dies in season one from witches, large groups of vampires, superstrong demons that only die if you remove their heart, people's nightmares coming to life, demon possessed robots that completely no sell slayer jump kicks, etc. If he manages to get past all of that, everyone turning into their costume or the invasion of the body snatchers will get him in season two. If by some miracle he makes it to the end of season three, the mayor ascends and kills him along with everyone else in Sunnydale.

True, unprepared he goes down hard to alot of magic users and other heavy hitters, but with his resources is it probable he reaches out to supernatural experts to aid him in his demonic jihad? He did manipulate and use memebers of Starling Cities' elite in helping him achieve his goals on Arrow, perhaps he coerces or pays mystics that can aid him in Sunnydale?

[Siriel]

There aren't really that many 'mystics' in Sunnydale (that aren't crazy/blatantly evil), and most of the magic users in the Buffyverse aren't all that great anyway.

The only magic users (not demons) who operate on an actually impressive level of power in Sunnydale that I can remember are:

1 - Willow. (Not even going to learn that magic exists in this scenario, most likely.)
2 - Ethan Rayne. (Never going to show up without Giles being around.)
3 - The Trio, mostly Jonathan. (Highly likely to die before he actually learns magic.)
4 - Rack. (Hangs out in a place that only magic users can find.)

[Surtur]

2 - Ethan Rayne. (Never going to show up without Giles being around.)

Why not? I didn't think the halloween shenanigans or the evil candy had anything to do with Giles.

[Siriel]

Why not? I didn't think the halloween shenanigans or the evil candy had anything to do with Giles.

I confused Ethan's motivation in that episode with later ones, probably.

[Carabas]

If Buffy never arrives in Sunnydale... Well, we know from The Wish exactly what that version is like.

The Master is free, the Masquerade is shattered, at least locally. Vamp-Willow and Vamp-Xander are the Master's main enforcers. And also something about automated blood-sucking...

As for earthquake machines, Sunnydale is not too far from L.A., I reckon a lot of buildings there are built with quakes in mind.

Merlyn's of course going to be a the biggest hero Sunnydale has ever seen in this story, and eventually team up with Buffy when she eventually shows up (she kinda has to, sooner or later, or whichever Slayer follows after her, orders from the Watcher's Council).
Merlyn does specialise in a weapon that is tremendously effective against vampires, so he really can do some damage to the undead population.

The season 1 cliffhager of course would be that Mrs. Merlyn isn't dead but undead.

[Surtur]

If Buffy never arrives in Sunnydale... Well, we know from The Wish exactly what that version is like.

The Master is free, the Masquerade is shattered, at least locally. Vamp-Willow and Vamp-Xander are the Master's main enforcers. And also something about automated blood-sucking...

That always bugged me. The Master needed to drink the blood of the Slayer to be freed so..how the hell was he freed if Buffy never showed up?

[MichaelC]

Sunnydale is drowning in plot-devices. With no slayer, he eventually found a different plot-device that worked, I'd imagine.

[Surtur]

Sunnydale is drowning in plot-devices. With no slayer, he eventually found a different plot-device that worked, I'd imagine.

Thing is, wasn't dude trapped for like..decades? Plenty of time to find a plot device if they are that easy to come by. Don't know why he'd suddenly stumble upon one after decades.