Heroes is unusual for a science fiction show in that it -- like Battlestar Galactica -- attracts a lot of female fans. In honor of that, I thought it would be fun to do a poll on the "tough chick" archetype that has appeared in popular media in recent decades. I'm sure there are a ton of worthy female action heroes that didn't make the list, but I tried to include all the major ones, the popular ones, and the significant ones.

My apologies if I left one of your favorites off the list. Please use the "Other" option and mention the name in your post.

• Eowyn
  Eowyn isn't the first female action hero. There were plenty of female action heroes in real life and in literature before her, but Eowyn is very significant in a lot of ways. I consider her the literary grandmother of the modern "tough chick" archetype as it exists now.
  
  Lord of the Rings exploded in popularity in the U.S. right around the time the feminist movement was at its height, right when lots of baby boomer women were questioning rigid gender roles. Furthermore, Lord of the Rings rose in popularity at just the right time to influence the generation of writers who went on to create many of the "tough chick" characters we see in movies and TV today.
  
  Plus, her declaration "I am no man!" just before slaying the biggest and baddest ring wraith is an iconic moment from an influential book.
  
  
• Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor
  They deserve to be mentioned together, not just because they both come from James Cameron movies, but because they include something most female action heroines don't: a motherhood subtext. There is something visceral and almost primitive about the idea of a mother protecting her young. It also provides a context for female violence that does not consciously imitate male action heroes.
  
  Sarah is fighting to protect her literal child. Ellen is fighting to protect a symbolic child (this is more clear if you watch the special edition), and furthermore her adversary the alien queen is also fighting to protect and revenge her offspring. Both mothers believe they must kill the other's offspring for their own to survive.
  
  If Eowyn is the literary grandmother of the modern female action heroine, Ellen and Sarah are co-mothers. A lot of the "tough chick" characters that followed were directly inspired by Ellen and Sarah even if few of them picked up the motherhood subtext.
  
  
• Nikita
  Nikita is included mostly for timing. La Femme Nikita was released early enough to be considered an influence on the modern archetype.
  
  
• Trinity
  Trinity is certainly an icon. Not only is the Matrix franchise hugely popular, but she is in some of the finest choreographed action sequences to ever grace film (at least when compared to other big budget movies). What's different about this character is that she fights for love as much as anything else.
  
  
• Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
  I love Kara because she represents a sub-archetype that is unusual even among male action heroes: the troubled hero. Eowyn fights for her people, Sarah and Ellen fight for their offspring, Trinity fights for her love, but Kara fights because she's messed up in the head and fighting is a way to channel her self hate as well as enable her self-destructive tendencies. She is a pyre who burns everything she touches on or off the battlefield.
  
  
• The Bride
  The Bride doesn't interest me all that much as a character because the sub-archetype is already too common with male action heroes: she fights for revenge. Still, the Kill Bill movies were awfully popular, so here she is.
  
  
• Lara Croft
  In a way, she's here to represent the horde of action heroines from video games, but unfortunately, she also represents a populous and unfortunate sub-archetype. This kind of female action hero exists for the sole purpose of titillating the basest instincts in a male audience. Call this the T&A&G sub-archetype (t*ts and *ss and guns), which Lara arguably started. I blame Lara for Barb Wire (where's the barfing smiley?).
  
  
• Motoko Kusanagi
  Motoko is here to represent both anime heroines and the cyberpunk genre, but I consider her an icon in her own right. She is a walking can of whoop *ss capable of more raw destruction than any other woman on this list with the possible exception of Wonder Woman.
  
  In battle she is cold, hard, ruthless, unrelenting, and brutally efficient. Beneath that exterior is a woman full of philosophical angst: she has undergone such extensive cybernetic modification at such an early age that she doubts her own humanity.
  
  She is also quite a tragic figure. She still carries a torch for a childhood crush. The love of her life turns out to be a terrorist whom she fights against despite acknowledging that his cause was just. Someone else kills him, and she is unable to save him. In the end, she is killed by her own government, but lives on to become a disembodied spirit on the Internet.
  
  
• Elektra
  Please think of the comic book version, and not those horrible movies. She's mostly here to represent the comic book genre. She is another troubled hero with emotional problems, but unlike Kara, Elektra routinely crosses the line between heroine and villain.
  
  
• Wonder Woman
  I've always considered this character pretty silly, but Wonder Woman has been a part of popular culture longer than anyone else on this list except for Eowyn.
  
  
• Jen Yu
  Any fan of marial arts movies will tell you that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is hardly the best of the genre, but it is one of the most popular, so Jen Yu is here representing female action heroes from Asian movies (and there are a ton of them).

There are just a ton of characters I would have loved to include on this list, but there was only so much space and some of them are really obscure. Martha Washington from "Give Me Liberty" (and other comic books) represents a series of black female action heroes from comic book legend Frank Miller. Arguably some of these characters were inspired by his then-wife Lynn Varley. Angela Basset's character from "Strange Days" still haunts me. Strange Days was great for the way it turned gender roles on their head, but sadly most people are unfamiliar with it as they are unfamiliar with Martha Washington or Casey McKenna.

OK, that's strange. The totals say three people voted, but I only see one vote up there (for Buffy). The votes I did earlier seem to be gone, and it sounds like one other person is missing their votes as well. Is something going wrong with the board scripts?

Motoko Kusanagi is the best...she can beat Slyar and Jessica at the same time..but I prefere the Stand Alone Complex one

I think it's because I edited the original post. Somehow that wiped the existing votes. Ah well.

Niki/Jessica Sanders (Heroes)
Hana "Wireless" Gitelman (Heroes)
Eowyn (Lord of the Rings)
Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
The Bride (Kill Bill)
Elektra (Daredevil)
Max Guevara (Dark Angel)
Wonder Woman (Wonder Woman)

I like all of the above. I like them either for the characters themselves or the actresses playing them.

And I'll add one more: Selene from the Underworld movies.

Trinity and Buffy were my choices.

If it were only heroes characters I would choose Candace and Claire!

They don't really seem like action types, and besides I already had two Heroes characters on the list.

Selene was kind of borderline for me. I suppose I could have included her, as well as Emma Peel, or Charlie's Angels.

YOU FORGOT TO ADD CLAIRE BENNET!

She's not exactly an action hero... yet.

Miss Parker from The Pretender was mega-cool.

"Doesn't anybody ever really DIE anymore?!"

Never saw it. Sorry.

While I love Niki Sanders, Buffy is just way to cool to not get my vote. The girl kicked demon but every single week, made it look easy, and still managed to have a social life lol. Sarah Michelle Gellar never got the recognition she truly deserved for playing the part, Buffy was just awesome. Niki would have been my second choice.

Could you add princess Leia to the polls?

Not a hero, but Michele Pfiefer as Catwoman! Meow!!!

It would nullify all existing votes, and people would not be able to re-cast their votes.

That's if I wanted to. I really don't consider Leia a "tough chick" action hero. Padme maybe, but not Leia.

Other = Rogue, from the X-Men (all versions- comic/cartoon/movie) = great tragic hero.

And I'll add one more: Selene from the Underworld movies.



I aggree, I love badda$$ hot chicks, so that's how I vote.

The problem with that is that there are forty bazillion female action heroes from the comics, and I couldn't possibly include them all. I almost didn't include Elektra, but I figured people recognize her from the movie (however awful it was).

My Others are:Hallie Berry's Catwoman & Storm both are hot, sexy & full of attitude.
Rogue & Jean Grey from the X-Men & Selene from the Underworld movies. All bad to bone- to the break of dawn!!

Wow, someone actually liked the Catwoman movie?