Now, let’s re-read Whedon’s statement, and, instead of thinking about a physical match between the two, think of their strength as CHARACTERS. In all honesty, Angel’s character could kick Edward’s into oblivion. Angel’s a badass. He’s dark. Gorgeous. Edward just kind of reminds me of… A wet noodle. He can’t ever make up his mind. Physical strength aside, Angel is just so much better than Edward.

And the two series as a whole? Not even a close one, there. Buffy’s strong, independent, and makes it quite clear that she doesn’t always need Angel’s help. Bella’s just… Again, a wet noodle. There really is no competition.

My comparison is against the Edward in the books and Angel in the TV series (not sure what Robert Pattinson has to do with it seeing as no one brought up David Boreanaz).

By virtue of the Jossverse vampires having to be vulnerable to a Slayer attack they possess weaknesses that the Cullens DON’T possess. They are also not as physically impervious as the Twilight vampires.

As someone said above, the Jossverse vampires’ weaknesses would even up the advantage given by Angel’s battle experience. And still, all you need is a decapitation, direct sunlight, crosses/holy water/religious mages, or a piece of wood to the heart.

If a Slayer can beat Angel, given that Edward’s faster, and more physically impervious, so can Edward. It’s that simple. Edward would beat Buffy in a fight because he can’t be dusted, and he doesn’t physically tire. Sparkles are purely superficial. But if you want to mention that: he’d beat the both and look prettier doing it.

Getting on to the question at hand, it’s interesting that the people claiming Angel would win don’t seem to site anything more then general ‘badassery’ as a reason.

Sure, Angelus was a very devious killer but he used that largely against humans. He does have extensive weapons and battle experience – hundreds of years worth – but that’s about it. In terms of weaknesses/disadvantages, he has a LOT that Edward (or any of the Cullens) don’t have: he can be destroyed by direct sunight, he is deflected by crosses, scalded by holy water, and most pertinently will be dusted by a stake through the heart. He also has to be invited before he can enter a property or car. Add to this that the removal of any body part is permanent and irreversible, and cannot be re-attached.

Now on the other hand you have Edward: the sun, crosses, holy water, religious mages have NO EFFECT on him; removal of limbs, even the removal of the head can be reattached; only really vulnerable to fire and that’s if he can be dismembered first. He’s also – from what had been depicted visually and stated in the books – extremely fast (fastest of all the Cullens), blink and you’ll miss it fast. Angel has never been depicted as moving that quickly, because even more pertinently, if he did move that fast it would also be depicted that the Slayer moves equally fast or faster. This has NEVER happened. The Slayer can be trained by a Watcher – a human – and while her reflexes are very fast they’re nowhere near as fast as the Twilight vampires. Remember, Buffy had to merge with essence of the Original Slayer and her friends to beat Adam, and Edward and Adam – in terms of physical imperviousness – I’d still say Edward (diamond being harder than any known metal) edges him out. Again, if you want to retcon that to say both the Slayer and Jossverse vampires can move at the speed that the Cullens can then there are other advantages that Edward has: namely, he’s a mind reader, and has diamond hard skin.

It can be argued that Edward wouldn’t be able to read Angel’s mind, as Buffy couldn’t in Earshot. Apparently casting no reflection extends to thoughts too. But even so Edward being as hard as diamonds, literally and being as fast as he is, gives him a distinct advantage over Angel, who only has to be staked or thrown into the sun to be destroyed. Sum up the vulnerabilities Angel has that Edward just doesn’t and that’s the key to the likely winner.

You’d be reaching of you said it rendered them even based on that but even if it did, frankly, in a fight all Edward would have to do is reach into Angel’s chest and rip out his heart or just rip off his head and there you have a pile of dust.

Angel by virtue of the universe he’s in has to be vulnerable to a Slayer’s attack in ways that Edward being in his universe just ISN’T.

Edward does more than sparkle, in fact, the REASON he’s sparkles is more to the point. Or let me put it this way, Edward has physical attributes that render him stronger than a Slayer; Buffy has put down Angel on more than one occasion so it’s more than likely that Edward would, if he and Angel were anything more than complete works of FICTION.

So you can say that Angel would kick Edward’s ass but that would require Edward to stand there doing nothing but sparkling. I really doubt that.

But, the real question in all this is: is Joss Whedon really so needy that he has to continually proclaim his creations better than everyone else? I’d like to hope not, but history says otherwise.