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)
Everybody remembers Ripley, but Aliens was a solid gender equality movie… filmed way back in 1986. Remember Vasquez and Ferro? Totally believable, flawed and likeable badasses. I find today’s characters to be way too perfect to be believable. Wonder Woman is a good example. I find her annoying.
“Hey Vasquez… Have you ever been mistaken for a man?”
“No. Have you?”
Top ten movie zinger for me. Delivered perfectly. Loved her character so much.
Vasquez was the cause of some very confusing and interesting feelings to little kid me…
No I don’t remember this and looking it up, I can’t find any answers either. Just name the movie instead of being cute about it.
Maybe read that comment a little closer there.
Interesting tidbit: Actress that played Vasquez also did Sarah Conner’s mom…
Close but not quite. John Connor’s foster mom.
I appreciate the correction. Looks like I need more electrolytes this morning!
I thought you meant she did her mom, not portrayed her.
This blew my mind a bit so here’s a pic for others…
Vasquez actress in Titanic:
this is blowing my mind
I just read an interview of James Cameron where he says they actually cut off her hair which was down to her waist at the time. He told her:
“Your hair will grow back. Vasquez will live forever.”
And she really does. What a character.
That’s a fascinating little nugget!
Take your pick.
Who is that on the right?
Inara
Aah same actress as Deadpool’s significant other. Morena Baccarin I think? Absolute smokeshow.
She was also in the last few seasons of Stargate SG1.
Joss Whedon: Believe me, I did.
Oh nooooooooooo
Can I unresearch this - dang you J Wheed
I’m going to pretend I didn’t read this
Where is the love for Chrisjen Avasarala? The UN General Secretary
Queen of the Earthfrom The Expanse lore? The Space Iron Lady!I admire her more than other traditional depiction of bad ass action stars who are either a man or a woman. I realised I admire mental acuity more than raw strength. Avasarala is Machiavellian but a pragmatist, and ready to get her hands dirty if needs be in spite of her privileged upbringing. Her main drawbacks though is that she is too willing to get her hands dirty, especially at the first episode when she personally oversaw the torture of a Belter in a blacksite. She was also willing to use her family image to gain political sympathy. But one could argue it’s for the greater good, not that I am excusing both of her egregious and questionable actions. As I said, she is a pragmatist after all and looks at the bigger picture and have long term scope. She was right about slowly colonising the New Worlds. Avasarala is an anti-hero but she’s right in more ways than none.
Avasarala and (TV) Drummer were absolute badasses.
“Let’s go hydrate… with some beers” is said too much in my household.
“i know you love sticking your dick in everything, but try not to fuck this one”
top 20 one liners for me. she was one of my favorites in that series.
“do not put your dick in it, it’s fucked enough already”
“Where are you going with this?” - “wherever I god damn like”
It’s not only the quotes, the delivery is just perfect
Avasarala is absolutely the top, Bobby is IMO a close second though. (Going by the books)
In the show at least I prefer Camina, Cara Gee really made her shine
I can’t stand the actor’s gross smokers voice, but she was an awesome character and her voice actually kind of fit with it. It’s harsh and untempered, just like the character.
WHEREVER I GOD DAMN LIKE! 🙂
I would idolize Avasarala if it wasn’t for S1E1.
This meme forgot that Katniss Everdden was the first female lead in an action movie.
Literally every example OP gave predates the hunger games.
Not according to Jennifer Lawrence, “I remember when I was doing ‘Hunger Games,’ nobody had ever put a woman in the lead of an action movie because it wouldn’t work — we were told girls and boys can both identify with a male lead, but boys cannot identify with a female lead.”
She said that but she was wrong lol Off the top of my head both the Terminator and Alien series had lead female action hero’s
Also I don’t mean to be pedantic, I can’t tell if this is a stealth /s discussion or not
I believe Artyom was being sarcastic, and making fun of Jennifer Lawrence for making such a blatantly incorrect statement
Thank you for defending my honor random internet stranger, I salute you.
Tomb Raider movie
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a pretty straightforward action movie from 1996 starring Geena Davis in the lead. Samuel L. Jackson co-stars.
Working backward from there:
La Femme Nikita (1990) and the American remake Point of No Return (1994)
Foxy Brown (1974) and Coffy (1973) are offerings from the blaxploitation angle.
Beatrice Kiddo from Kill Bill
From cartoons: Pinkie Pie, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle
IRL: Maria Skłodowska-Curie, Ada Lovelace, Svetlana Tihanovskaya.
Michelle Yeoh
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That girl is legendary. Je suis allé revoir l’extrait après avoir lu ce commentaire. edit: episode 2, 11:30-13:45. That’s how Bang Wool ascended to the Beolgoopo’s Sashimi of legend.
Also, Jang Man-wol from Hotel Del Luna.
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Il y a bcp de femme forte en général. Mais souvent on ne peut pas les qualités de badass parce qu’il y a un côté force physique / sexy/charismatique au personnage qu’on retrouve moins dans les personnages écrits pour un public féminin.
Do Rahe dans Be Arrogant rentre dedans, la sexualisation en moins.
Pareil pour Kang Yunhe dans Modern Farmer pourtant joué par la superbe Lee Honey.Côté Jdrama, il y a Sangenya Machi dans Your Hause Is My Business Nami dans Caution, Hazardous Wife ou Yamaguchi Kumiko dans Gokusen.
Bon, Gokusen, c’est un cas à part, mais pour les autres, se sont des rôles de femmes fortes et belles mais la beauté n’est pas sexualisée.
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Where’s my trekkies at? We got Janeway, Jadzia Dax, Belana Torres, Kira Nerys, Seven of Nine, Tasha Yar, Guinan, Ensign Ro… and a lot more I’m not remembering right now.
Crystal, played by Betty Gilpin in the movie The Hunt (2020)
Well, they might just not have seen Kung Fu Hustle
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.
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.
In a similar vein, Evelyn Wang from Everything Everywhere All At Once… She may not start out badass, but oh boy does that change
To be fair, Sarah Connor was more of a badass once she could do chin ups.
I didn’t choose the skux life, the skux life chose me
