How many on-screen badass women can you name?
(I’ll update the list periodically.)
Badass On-Screen Women
- Landlady (Kung Fu Hustle)
- Ellen Ripley (Alien, Aliens, Alien3, Alien: Resurrection)
- Sarah Connor (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator: Dark Fate)
- Zoë Washburne (Firefly, Serenity)
- Kaylee Frye (Firefly, Serenity)
- Inara (Firefly, Serenity)
- Private Vasquez (Aliens)
- Xena (Xena: Warrior Princess)
- Chrisjen Avasarala (The Expanse)
- Naomi Nagata (The Expanse)
- Roberta ‘Bobbie’ W. Draper (The Expanse)
- Camina Drummer (The Expanse)
- Yu Shu Lien (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)
- Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
- The Bride (Kill Bill, Kill Bill: Vol. 2)
- Trinity (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions)
- PrinceessLeia (Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi)
Misu from the blue eye samurai .
I wanted to mention ger but didnt know of animated characters counted. That is an excellent show
Agent May.
(Don’t call her The Cavalry, she hates that.)
Might want to add River Tam from Serenity as well.
Buffy
Joss Whedon does love writing strong women (no comment about anything off screen )
Agreed on both counts.
Let’s not forget Echo, November and Whiskey from Dollhouse.
Selene from Underworld.
While my Trekkie side offers Michael Burnham (Discovery), Kira and Dax (DS9), Seven of Nine (Voyager), Una and La’an and Nurse Chapel (Strange New Worlds). I’m surely forgetting a bunch.
How about Arya Stark and Brienne of Tarth (Game of Thrones)?
Ruth Wilson in Luther…
Ruth Wilson played that character SO well. Chilling.
Samantha Carter Stargate series
I would say that all the women in Kill Bill are bad ass. Some just align differently than others.
I mean… Sofie’s just kind of a glorified personal assistant who folds immediately.
Yeah. I was thinking of all the vipers and go-go.
Sofie shouldn’t count in my statement.
Crystal, played by Betty Gilpin in the movie The Hunt (2020)
Every female character in The Expanse. There simply were no non-badasses in that show🙃
Naomi rescued herself by jumping unprotected across an entire expanse of vacuum and then rigged a signal to communicate with her friends, not even from scraps, but from literally nothing.
Fucking genius badass. Hence my username.
Camina Drummer, Bobbie Draper, Chrisjen Avasarala. Top tier character writing.
Rewatching this again right now for basically this exact reason
I don’t see Gunpowder Milkshake or Killing Eve here…
How could I forget about Lesley?
Those wrinkled stockings!
When she passed, the heart and soul that was shown as all the characters gave her a send off - no need for acting that episode.
Who is this and what’s it from?
I think it’s Mandy, played by Diane Morgan.
She did knock off her arch enemy using voodoo, marry a russian hitman and be the first woman on Mars, pretty badass that!
AKA Philomena Cunk
not in this series but yeah, same actress.
Yes I see all these, but how many had a private, white slimline telephone?
Hello, Mrs. Bucket!
It’s pronounced bouqueeet!
Ah, bucket.
Don’t mind me, I’m just here to mention princess Mononoke and lady Eboshi from the same movie, I would list a few but there’s too many comments to parse so I just looked for those thinking they might not have been mentioned.
Also basically every single main character in Spirited Away. The luck dragon might be male, and several supporting characters are, but the main protagonist, antagonist, and teacher character are all girls/women
And there is nothing self-serving or self-glorifying about their actions. They simply see that a job has to be done and they do it.
Diana Rigg from The Avengers. Also from the best Bond movie of all time. Also from Game of Thrones, I suppose, although I’ve never watched that.
