Can be from any kind of media.
For me it’s Margot from The Magicians (which is interesting because in the books she is anything but) and Jesse Faden from Control.
Ellen Ripley. She will wreck your shit and yeet you into space.
Sarah Connor
Adding my vote for Ellen Ripley.
There are others that come to mind from more obscure movies I’ve watched more recently, like the women in Grandma (2015), Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), and even Men (2022), also non-fictional women like those in Kokomo City (2023). There are so many more I can picture in my mind but can’t put my finger on the movie and or am just shit with names so I can’t think of them right now, but might come back to update.
Literally the first name that popped into my head when I saw the question. There are plenty of other good choices, but she has to be near the top of any list.
Incidentally… am I having federation issues? This is the only comment I see mentioning Ripley. I see 11 comments currently…
Incidentally… am I having federation issues? This is the only comment I see mentioning Ripley. I see 11 comments currently…
I see 36 comments, mine and 3 others mention Ripley, so yeah, probably a federation issue.
Ellen Ripley. Under pressure she steps up and does what needs doing. Whether that means operating a loader, comforting a child or making monsters extinct.
Linda Hamilton - Terminator
I had to say something different, because I would have said Ripley first.
From T2. Sarah Conner from the first movie barely has enough sense to keep herself alive, but boy did she take her short comings seriously between movies.
True. I was speaking generically, but yeah, she was quite fragile in the first.
+1 for each of those, and i’ll add clarice starling, uhura, michael burnham, Evelyn Quan Wang (everything everywhere all at once), helen lyle (candyman)
Xena
Buffy. I was the right age (or maybe a bit too young) when it aired and it was the first female-led show that I fell in love with.
Caska from Berserk
Can’t believe princess Leia hasn’t been mentioned yet.
“What the hell are you doing?” “Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute flyboy!”
Lol
Lana ″LANAAAAAAAAAA″ Kane from Archer
Captain Janeway
Captain Janeway from Voyager ❤️
She’s strong, but is anybody who loves coffee that much truly independent?
She’ll independently recycle your matter into more coffee.
I’m addicted to coffee so I understand her very much.
I was a young child in a Trekkie house when that show aired. I think that helped me think of women in authority as just a normal thing.
I also wrote Janeway. Why did I have to scroll so far down to find another?
Leela from Futurama
Ellen Ripley from the Alien series.
Alt: Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?