Warning: this article contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer #34!
The multiverse of Buffy the Vampire Slayer officially has a name! For years, there's been chatter about the possibility of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, but Disney doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry. It's fallen to Boom! Studios' Buffy comics to show how to reboot the franchise, by unveiling its own version of the multiverse. Technically Buffy has always had other dimensions, but the comics have woven this idea into the heart of the fantasy series, revealing Hellmouths can be used to access parallel worlds.
Multiverses are all the rage right now, but Buffy's is a terrifying one; she's been facing a monstrous being called the Worldeater who consumes entire dimensions and claims he's doing so for their own benefit, because without his intervention realities would collide. Fortunately, Buffy isn't without allies. With Anya and Willow figuring out how to traverse dimensions and recruit Slayers from other worlds, Buffy has assembled her own Guardians of the Multiverse.
The story builds to a head in Buffy the Vampire Slayer #34 by Jeremy Lambet and Marianna Ignazzi, with the Slayers finally defeating the Worldeater - a being who has destroyed countless Earths, but has now met his match. In the wake of the victory, Buffy finally gives this multiverse its official name; she calls it "the Slayerverse." It's seemingly an amusing pun on Marvel's Spider-Verse, perfectly reflecting the influence comic book superhero stories have always had on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer saga.
The interesting question is whether the Slayerverse is stable. It's tempting to discount the Worldeater's claims as self-justification, but in reality he could well be telling the truth. Multiverses aren't necessarily inherently stable, and the Worldeater could well have been serving a crucial purpose in keeping the dimensions from colliding. If that is indeed the case, then Buffy and the Scoobies could soon be living in a world that's gone insane. The multiversal adventures have likely only just begun.
There are, of course, massive implications for the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise in other media. There hasn't been much news about the Buffy revival, but the Slayerverse means a reboot can exist alongside the classic series without erasing it. A new TV series could even ultimately build up to a multiversal crossover, akin to Spider-Man: No Way Home, incorporating legacy characters into the story.
Wherever the story goes from here, it's a smart move to use the idea of a multiverse to allow fans to fully invest in new versions of these characters without abandoning the iconic versions they first grew to love. Comic fans will also be happy to note that officially naming and acknowledging the Slayerverse in the comics makes it less likely this version of Buffy's story will itself be forgotten or overwritten when other media does eventually catch up with its own new depictions. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics will hopefully prove to be essential setup, leaving a lasting impression on the Slayer's lore.