Although far from the first action heroine of note, Lieutenant Ellen Ripley is one of the strongest action movie characters in all respects. Going from an officer of the space freighter Nostromo in Alien (1979), to a reluctant but almost superhuman alien-killing machine in Aliens (1986), to losing the battle against them in Alien3 (1992), and then being resurrected with the help of their DNA in Alien: Resurrection (1997), Ripley's journey has been incredible, and may not even be over yet. I recently read an article that said Ripley changed the role of women in action movies for ever, but whether that's true or not, I at least am of the opinion that Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley is the reason why the Alien franchise has become such a success, no matter how much I love the monsters and the stories.
Sarah Connor
The reason we all love Sarah Connor from the Terminator franchise is, similar to why we love Ripley from Alien, because of her amazing character arc. In her first appearance in Terminator (1984) she's a damsel in distress with a stupid haircut, basically just a waitress and a victim, who grows into a terrorist, simply put, in her second appearance in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1992), and lastly takes on the role of a savvy and strong young warrior in Terminator Genisys (2015). In between, she's brought down to earth in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, where the focus is more on her as a single parent trying to protect her teenage son, John. You could argue that the character's journey is not a consistent one, that she has been reimagined as alternative versions in all her appearances after Linda Hamilton's embodiment, portrayed by different actresses (Lena Headey and Emilia Clarke), but you would find it hard to convince me that Sarah Connor is not one of the foremost female action characters in pop culture.
Imperator Furiosa
Despite being the only character on this list to have only one film to their name, Charlize Theron's dystopian warrior from Mad Max: Fury Road is already one of the most unforgettable action movie heroines ever realized, what with her mechanical arm and oily sooty war face, as powerful with a gun as she is with a truck. In many ways, she is the main protagonist of the movie, since the film is really about how she helps a group of sex slaves escape the tyranny of Immortan Joe, the warlord in this post-apocalyptic desert, and along the way is aided by another runaway prisoner, who just happens to be Max Rockatansky, the original protagonist of the Mad Max franchise. We can only hope that if we're lucky enough to get more road warrior movies, she'll be a part of them too. Otherwise, she totally deserves a franchise of her own. Either way, she is already, and will be for some time, a cosplay and fan favourite.
Alice
Most fans of the games were probably surprised to find the (first) film adaptation of Resident Evil, released 2002, to be lacking any of the games' characters, instead being introduced to a superhuman amazon fighter by the name of Alice, a role Milla Jovovich was kinda born to play. I for one was sure surprised. What was a cunning move by the film's producers to avoid any close comparisons with the video games, by inventing an entirely new protagonist of their own, turned out to have a huge impact on the film series' success. By the second film, the original video game characters join the struggle against Umbrella, but by then Alice has already managed to cement her place as an action movie legend.
Katniss Everdeen
I'm personally not a fan of The Hunger Games franchise, in fact I find it derivative and pretentious, but I agree with the fans of the franchise's heroine, who in Jennifer Lawrence capable hands truly stands out in popular culture as a cool action movie character. Not having ever seen any of the films (apart from the first one) or read the books, there really isn't much more I can say about her, nor do I believe there is any more to be said in general, but in conclusion it is interesting to note that even the original author Suzanne Collins has been quoted as saying that the casting of J-Law is spot on and that she has all the qualities Collins imagined for the character. There have been a lot of attempts to cash in on the success of The Hunger Games by creating even more derivative copies (The Host, Divergent, The Mortal Instruments, The 5th Wave, et al.), but none have really matched it, and that I think is simply because audiences do not respond to young-adult dystopian sci-fi as a genre as much as they respond to Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen.
Lara Croft
If I'm allowed to make a gender comparison here, Lara Croft is kind of a female counterpart to Indiana Jones, in that she is an archaeologist who is good at fighting bad guys. There, the similarities end. That is because she is much more of a badass than he is, which is of course primarily because they represent different eras and different values. It's been particularly interesting to see the maturity of the representation of Lara Croft, from having been more or less simply a teenage male fantasy, to becoming much more of a rounded character in Angelina Jolie's film adaptations, to the more realistic, less sexualized modern video game version, an evolution that is indicative of a decrease in video game sexism. Although the character has been criticized as a role model, all in all, Lara Croft is an iconic character, and easily one of the most recognizable and legendary video game characters after Super Mario.
Princess Leia
Despite the fact that she doesn't do all that much fighting or shooting, and that Star Wars is not really classified as action movies, I don't think a list of action heroines could be complete without Princess Leia Organa. Carrie Fisher brings a lot of her own sassy personality to the character, and from the first moment of the very first part in the epic Star Wars franchise, she is wielding a gun and already playing a leading role in the rebellion. She later becomes a general, and even when she is a kidnapped princess that needs to be rescued by the young knights Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, she is absolutely not a victim. She even kills her dungeon master Jabba the Hut, brutally, using the chain that she is leashed to him with, in Return of the Jedi (1983). No wonder that she has been hailed as a feminist icon and a model for adventure movie heroines of all kinds.
Black Widow
Created in the 1960's as a typical Cold War villain, a dangerous Russian spy antagonist who turns good, defects to the US and helps Iron Man and Spider Man, amongst others, Natasha Romanova a.k.a. Black Widow, is perhaps the most iconic female comic book and superhero movie character after Wonder Woman and Catwoman. The great thing about her is that she is able to hold her own with some seriously super powerful characters, even the Hulk, despite not having any supernatural abilities of her own, apart from an enhanced stamina and fighting skills. Even in Scar-Jo's small frame, she comes across as really strong and reliable, thanks to some good filmmaking. The fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has not given her at least one movie of her own is a disgrace, there is enough there to explore on its own, particularly when you consider how far back the Winter Soldier program that created her goes. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but...maybe she's kind of underappreciated by Hollywood.
Buffy Summers
Buffy is a female cult character worthy of the title, one that confirmed the genius of Joss Whedon, whose iconic franchise Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a classic revered by tens of millions. The most remarkable thing about her, which is so typical of Whedon, is that she's really just a normal high school girl with a remarkable destiny, which is of course the whole point of the story. The fact that she is a kick-ass vampire killer is not the main thing about her, it's the humour and the normality in absurd and supernatural situations which is both the reason for the show's success and the character's likeability. Since her inception, Buffy Summers has appeared on film and television, in video games and comic books. Across the board, in other words. She has consistently been ranked as one of the greatest female characters on TV, and the concept of a cheerleader who is destined to become a hunter is one that predates the vaguely similar hit show Supernatural, which would not exist without Buffy, by at least twenty years. I would just like to add that even though Joss Whedon himself hated it and disowned it, I like the first film version from 1992, despite how different and stupid it is by comparison, it's still quite entertaining. But then again, I'm not a hardcore fan as such, and I can understand how that can be considered offensive by those who are.
Trinity
In the first part of the Matrix trilogy, Trinity is the one who contacts Neo and introduces him to Morpheus and the truth about the world, and also the first one we see do those legendary stunts and slow motion fights. That is how we meet Trinity, so of course she should be on this list as simply one of the greatest action movie heroines ever made. Portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss, she brings the "saviour" Neo to life on two different occasions in the first film, first by assisting in the "awakening" of Neo from the Matrix, and then in the end, by actually bringing him back from the brink of death by expressing her love for and strong connection with him. Despite The Matrix's mixed popularity since its release, the name Trinity is said to have increased in popularity among children born after 1999, so there can be little doubt of her impact as an iconic character.
