Red Sonja Movie Reboot: 10 Things We Need To See

By 1985, Arnold Schwarzenegger had already portrayed Conan twice in 1982's Conan the Barbarian and 1984's Conan the Destroyer. The plan had originally been for him to portray Conan a third time in Red Sonja, but this was ruled out by rights issues, leading to his role being rewritten as Kalidor, who's pretty much Conan in all but name.

While Kalidor very much plays second fiddle to Sonja, the movie's credits give Schwarzenegger top billing over Nielsen. On the one hand, that's little surprise given he was a bankable star and she was an unknown; yet at the same time, it's also a sad reflection of the lack of faith that the film could be sold on a female lead alone.

Many would argue it's much the same story with female-led films today; even Wonder Woman, which hinged heavily on Gal Gadot's support from Chris Pine's World War I hero Steve Trevor, and his similarly manly pals.

However, if there's ever a heroine who most definitely doesn't need help from a man, it's Red Sonja. She doesn't necessarily have to ride totally solo, but if it's a team scenario she's the one who should call the shots.