Forbes recently issued their 2007 list of the world’s 100 most powerful women. This, of course, begged the question: who are the most powerful female characters in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television?
We started with a list of women from science fiction, fantasy, horror and comic books and considered several factors. Who has the greatest power? Who had the widest range of influence within their universe as well as our own? Who persevered in the face of adversity? Who broke barriers and stereotypes?
When all else was equal, it came down to who would win in a fight.
There is a catch for the comic book gals: they need to have extended their realm of influence beyond comic books to the tv or movie screen, or have that jump in development.
And now, the 100 most powerful female characters. . .
| #100 to #81 | #80 to #61 | #60 to #41 | #40 to #21 | Top 20 |
| 100. Princess Buttercup – She may have been a damsel in distress, but she showed some resolve when she planned to kill herself on her wedding night, which was a better alternative to Prince Humperdink. |  |
| 99. Aelita: Queen of Mars – You’d think a figurehead who overthrows the ruling party and installs herself as the single ruling entity would be pretty powerful. And she is, for a whole two minutes, until she’s killed by an Earth Man she fell in love with through a telescope. |  |
| 98. Cally Tyrol (Battlestar Galactica) – She got thrown into open space WITHOUT A SPACESUIT and survived. How hardy do you have to be for that? |  |
| 97. Danielle Rousseau (Lost) – This French woman has managed to stay alive on Craphole Island for sixteen years, all while avoiding the various sinister factions like the Others and the Other Others. |  |
| 96. Doctor Helena Russell (Space: 1999) – As Chief Medical Officer of Moonbase Alpha, Dr. Russell has to use her medical and scientific smarts to treat the crew after the moonbase is thrown out of Earth’s orbit and into unknown space. Now, if the previous guy in charge of Moonbase Alpha had just listened to her and reported the nuclear waste dump leakage, that whole situation could have been avoided. |  |
| 95. Barbarella – About the best thing Barbarella has going for her is a shag spaceship and awesome costumes. Otherwise, she pretty much stumbles from one situation to another and is only successful in her mission because she ran into people willing to help her out. But, she’s obviously enjoying herself. It’s nice to see a happy heroine once in a while. |  |
| 94. Nancy Archer (Attack of The 50 Foot Woman) – An unfortunate run-in with diamond-coveting aliens exposes Nancy to a strange radiation that causes her to grow to the height of fifty feet. She uses her newfound height and proportianal strength to take down her husband’s lover, and carries off her husband, just before they’re both electrocuted. |  |
| 93. Electra Woman and Dyna Girl – They’re magazine reporters by day, but when the CrimeScope detects crime, the two power up their Electracoms and zip off in the Electracar to face off against such villains as The Empress of Evil, The Spider-Lady or Glitter Rock. |  |
| 92. The women of Angel One (Star Trek: TNG) – It’s a WHOLE PLANET run by women. Finally. Wait! Who’s that over there with his manly, hairy chest? Commander Riker of the Enterprise, of course, and he shall make you change your ways and accept men as your equal *SWOOON* Okay, who wrote this crap? |  |
| 91. Laurie Strode (Halloween) – A babysitting bookworm, Strode surprised her hometown of Haddonfield by surviving multiple attacks from her brother, Michael Myers. She later assumed a new identity as Kari Tate, headmistress of a private boarding school, only to be stalked again and ultimately, killed by him. She put up a hell of a fight, though. |  |
| 90. Dr. Zira (Planet of the Apes) – Dr. Zira made great strides as a psychologist, veterinarian and human specialist. Seeing the obvious intelligence of the astronaut George Taylor, she helps him escape the planet of the apes. Zira is an opinionated liberal, which gets her into trouble with the ruling apes |  |
| 89. Tasha Yar (Star Trek: TNG) – The first female Security Chief on the Enterprise. Tasha Yar’s entire life was difficult – from a childhood spent escaping rape-gangs on her homeworld of Turkana IV (where her bestest, only friend was a cute, cuddly kitten – awwwww), until her death in the line of duty, and again until her second death when her alternative universe self was killed by her four-year-old daughter’s stubborness. Oh yeah, she also did it with Data. |  |
| 88. B’Elanna Torres (Star Trek: Voyager) – Chief Engineer of the USS Voyager? Not bad for a Starfleet Academy dropout and former Maquis rebel. She may have been higher on the list, but she kind of hates who she is, to the point that she wanted to have her son’s Klingon forehead ridges genetically erased before birth. |  |
| 87. Kira Nerys (Star Trek: DS9)- A former terrorist, Kira joined the Bajoran militia and was assigned to Deep Space Nine at the rank of Major. Major what? Major annoying. But, she was still a positive influence on the station. She just always struck me as having an inflated sense of her own importance. |  |
| 86. Ann Darrow (King Kong) – This struggling actress gets caught up in the crappiest role of a lifetime and offered to the beast King Kong. The 21st century version of Darrow showed little fear of Kong and became his only ally in a world that wanted to exploit and destroy him. Carl Denham said her beauty killed the beast, but I’m pretty sure it was the airplane gunfire that did it. Beauty isn’t a projectile. |  |
| 85. Veronica Mars – Plucky girl detective cut from the same type of cloth as Buffy, but without the vampires. Or the ability to survive past three seasons. |  |
| 84. Mary Jane Watson - Model. Actress. Doesn’t mind doing Spidey’s laundry every once in a while. Sure, it may seem like she needs saving an awful lot, but at the end of the day, Mary Jane is the one little bit of normalcy in Peter Parker’s otherwise hectic life. Knowing what kinds of danger face her as long as she stays with Peter doesn’t seem to faze this gal one bit. |  |
| 83. Dorothy Gale (The Wizard of Oz) – The book Dorothy is spunky and plucky, while Judy Garland is more of a little girl lost who has difficulty standing up to anyone. But, she does take what little she has to work with in Oz and reveals the Wizard to be a fraud and kills the Wicked Witch of the West. |  |
| 82. Grendel’s Mother (Beowulf) – A descendant of Cain, she’s a much stronger and destructive adversary than her son. After her attack on Heorot, Grendel’s mother dragged Beowulf into her lair and would easily have killed him, but he got lucky and grabbed a sword from her armory. Grendel’s mother has traditionally been portrayed as a monstrous hag, which for Robert Zemeckis’ movie adaptation, has been translated to Angelina Jolie with a tail. |  |
| 81. Moya (Farscape) – She’s a sentient spaceship with incredible defensive capabilities. And how do we know she’s a lady? She has a baby spaceship, duh. |  |
| #100 to #81 | #80 to #61 | #60 to #41 | #40 to #21 | Top 20 |
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i’m suprised not to see beatrix kido from kill bill here.
Im not offending you in saying your list sucks, i know its hard to look into 70 years of film and television, but i just want to point some characters you just forgot to look into
-The Bride, Kill Bill(got shot, survived, killed everybody who she hates, then kills bill and got her daughter back)
-O ‘Ren Ishi-Kill Bill(The boss of bosses in The japanese Maffia in Kill Bill, she chops a guy’s head in the middle of a meeting, how extremely cool!!)
-Chi-chi-Dragonball Series(I may look Stupid, but she’s the one who can make Goku scared, Gohan do his homework, Goten turn into SSJ, and forcing Goku and Piccolo to study driving)
-Charlies Angels-Charlies Angels(bit cliche, but ey, they where annoyingly good)
-Dolores Umbridge-Harry Potter Series(A qoute from the legendary Stephen King: greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter…, well if that doesnt convince you, then i am a vegetable)
-Arwen-Lord of the Rings(I dont know why, Shes just cool!)
-Elizabeth Swan-Pirates of the Caribbean(hot, mean, vile, hot, strong, hot, smart.)
-Sam, Alex and Clover-Totally Spies(drawing versions of charlies angels)
-Cruella DeVile-101 Dalmatians(she’s just soo damn cruel she has t be in the list)
just like
-Malivicent, The queen, Izma, Ursula and all the other main antagonist in a Disney movie
Or
-Yasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, Belle, Ariel and all the other main antagonists or supporting lead’s in a Disney movie
Again for this comment, i aint attacking you that your lists sucks, but if you make a list about a genre spanding so long in history, you will always forget some of the big names.
ow i almost forgot:
Dora The Explorer, Pls, only if its just 100, she must be in every list because she’s such a cult icon in my neighboorhood.
The list was limited to 100 and we're pulling from 80 years of genre entertainment. Naturally, your favorites may not make the list.
Awesome list! Where was this when I was coming up with my top 10 females of sci-fi? (Although my entire list is here except for the Bride from Kill Bill).
Hey, that’s some great information you got there. Archer Episode 2 is coming soon!
i was suprised leeloo from the fifth element didn't make the cut! she's pretty badass!
To be sure with your post. Which is definitely not something I usually do! I like reading a post that could make one rattle their scalp. Also, thanks for allowing myself to comment!
'to the point that she wanted to have her son’s Klingon forehead ridges genetically erased before birth.'
Daughter* B'Elanna had a daughter, not a son.
What about Zev/Xev Bellringer from Lexx?!