2. Ellen Ripley (Alien Movies)
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is quite simply one of the best female protagonists of all time. In 1979, when the first
Alien movie was released, Ripley's inclusion was heralded for challenging gender roles, particularly in the science fiction, action and horror genres, and gave worldwide recognition to Weaver. It remains her most famous role to date. Ripley was a Warrant Officer for the Weyland-Yutani corporation, working on the USCSS Nostromo, when the ship investigated a curious transmission coming from a derelict alien spacecraft. When the investigation was being carried out, an alien parasite attached itself to one of her colleagues, ultimately killing him and bursting out of his body, before growing to full size very quickly and killing whoever it encountered aboard the Nostromo. Ripley would ultimately fight it off, but the alien species - known as Xenomorphs - would haunt her for the rest of her life. However, she repeatedly smacked the aliens down, even when they attacked in numbers. They killed countless others - including hardened killers and space marines, but not Ripley - making her someone you do not want to mess with.