They hail from the distant corners of outer space to the swampy wilds of Louisiana, from comic-book universes to updated fairy tales. They stand their ground against monsters both mythical and human. And they are first and foremost female.
Hollywood has made major strides this year in building a better female action hero for the 21st century with a wide array of choices.
USA TODAY provides an overview after the cut
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Stewie: Ooh, Lois, someone's wearing their ovaries on the outside.
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Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games
Played by: Jennifer Lawrence
Profile: Self-sacrificing, fearless and beautiful in spite of herself, this coal miner's daughter must call upon all her survival skills — including the use of a bow and arrow — as she competes in a deadly contest in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem.
Secret weapon: Katniss is more fully rounded and realistic than many females in movies thanks to her rich source material — a well-written book series — and spot-on casting.
Weakness: The temptation to allow the romantic elements to overshadow her personal growth in future movies.
What Lawrence says: "She's a normal 16-year-old girl thrown into this situation, who becomes a hero by default, who becomes a symbol. That hits home for a lot of people."
What producer Nina Jacobson says: "Katniss does not set out to be an action hero. She becomes a revolutionary."
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Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanoff) in The Avengers
Played by: Scarlett Johansson
Profile: The Russian spy shuts down any attackers with her Olympian-level acrobatic skills. Yet when the mild-mannered Bruce Banner suddenly transforms into the raging Hulk and goes after her, she displays a very human and revealing vulnerability.
Secret weapon: Foes and allies alike tend to underestimate this powerhouse, who uses the guise of being a femme fatale to disarm and charm her opponents.
Weakness: As a lone female among a bunch of hyper-competitive male crime-fighters, Black Widow is too often muscled onto the sidelines of the story. Plus, she is forced to don the bane of many a she-hero: a leather catsuit.
What director Joss Whedon says: The creator of one of the most worshiped female heroes ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told Wired magazine he insisted that the Black Widow be included in the film so it wouldn't feel like "a gay cruise."
What Johansson says: She told an Australian publication that she felt on equal ground with the guys. "She's not in the cast simply to be a romantic foil or eye candy. She's there to fight, so I never felt like I was the only girl. We all have our various skills and it feels equal."
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Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus
Played by: Noomi Rapace
Profile: This archaeologist is a contradiction: A woman of science who professes a belief in God. Both sides of her ideology are put to the test when on a space expedition she becomes impregnated with an alien creature and must perform a cesarean Caesarean section on herself via a surgical machine. Minutes later, she goes into battle mode to fend off intergalactic attackers.
Secret weapon: In stark contrast to the chilly hard-nosed female in charge of the mission, Shaw is a kinder, gentler — ultimately — more resilient warrior whose horrific pregnancy links her to Sigourney Weaver's maternal conflicts as Ripley in the original series of Alien films.
Weakness: Any woman who has given birth even in normal circumstances realizes the unlikelihood that Shaw could so quickly recover from the experience.
Rapace says: "I'm not sure I see my character as an action hero. I just wanted audiences to feel my character's pain. That's the great thing about Ridley (Scott, the director). He doesn't want you to prove anything, whether you are an actor or an actress. He just wants you to be a natural character."
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Merida in Brave
Voiced by: Kelly Macdonald
Profile: A fairy-tale princess turned upside down, this obstinate and opinionated Scottish lass' journey of self- discovery isn't about finding true love or even becoming a warrior despite her superior bow-and-arrow skills. It is about learning that Mother actually does know best and her love runs the deepest.
Secret weapon: Her wild and curly red hair is emblematic of the willful Merida's non-conformist nature and lively spirit as she more than lives up to the title of her movie by not giving up on her dreams but owning up to her mistakes. And her refusal to be forced into an arranged marriage is admirable.
Weakness: Her charismatic character's reasoning is sometimes undermined by the shaky logic of the script.
Co-director Mark Andrews says: "The character is extremely confident, inspiring and independent. The audience wants to back any kind of character like that."
Co-director Brenda Chapman, who based Merida on her daughter: "I tried to give Merida a more athletic body. Thicker arms. When the wind blows, you can tell she has gymnast-like legs. I'm hoping someday we can bust that open and let women be who they are and not what they are expected to be."
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Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman
Played by: Kristen Stewart
Profile: Betrayed by her evil stepmother and held prisoner for most of her childhood, the princess escapes and embraces her destiny as a savior of her kingdom with a strength derived more from her innate goodness than physical fortitude.
Secret weapon: While she puts on armor and leads the charge against the queen's army, Snow White remains a very female force of nature rather than a weapon-wielding tomboy. And while she is torn between the huntsman and a prince, her duty trumps any romantic action.
Weakness: Her rallying speech to the troops falls far short of the gold standard for such motivational war cries: the famous speech from Shakespeare's Henry V.
Stewart says: "Snow White is strong yet still a female. She is essentially me. Steady and female and strong."
Director Rupert Sanders says: "I never had her do anything that she realistically would not be able to do. She uses her sword to protect herself."
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Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in The Dark Knight Rises
Played by: Anne Hathaway
Profile: The slinky cat burglar is an opportunist at heart, but her flirtatious connection to Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego, Batman, persuades her to join the good guys.
Secret weapon: Selena is an enigma with no back story yet brings the movie alive even when she isn't taking down opponents. She best defines the film's central conflict when she purrs to Batman: "You and your friends better batten down the hatches. There's a storm coming. … You're going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."
Weakness: Hathaway's version must withstand comparison to other interpretations , from the campy renditions by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt on the Batman TV series in the '60s to Halle Berry's catastrophic performance in 2004's Catwoman film. And, yes, her leather catsuit.
Hathaway says: "She's not a sex object. It was so much fun getting to create a character that was multidimensional and lived in the superhero realm."
Director Chris Nolan says: "I was hesitant to have a Catwoman. She always seemed too fanciful." But after writer David Goyer made her a full-time criminal, "we were able to crack the character. We wanted her to have more of an edge."
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Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Played by: Quvenzhané Wallis
Profile: The littlest and fiercest female on the list can be found in this post-Katrina fantasy drama told from a 6-year-old girl's perspective. Living in a ramshackle community of outsiders, Hushpuppy's sickly father, Wink, applies tough love to prepare his motherless child for the upheavals ahead.
Secret weapon: While there is more than a little tomboy in those dirty boots that she stomps around in, Hushpuppy has found a way to survive by casting herself as a heroine of her own epic journey, all the while craving the company of women to fill the gap left by her absent mother.
Weakness: The magical elements of Hushpuppy's story both elevate and sometimes muddy the narrative.
Director Ben Zeitlin says: "Her strength doesn't come from bullying or any mean-spirited place. It's a strength that comes from an incredibly true heart."
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Hollywood has made major strides this year in building a better female action hero for the 21st century with a wide array of choices.
USA TODAY provides an overview after the cut
Stewie: Ooh, Lois, someone's wearing their ovaries on the outside.
Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games
Played by: Jennifer Lawrence
Profile: Self-sacrificing, fearless and beautiful in spite of herself, this coal miner's daughter must call upon all her survival skills — including the use of a bow and arrow — as she competes in a deadly contest in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem.
Secret weapon: Katniss is more fully rounded and realistic than many females in movies thanks to her rich source material — a well-written book series — and spot-on casting.
Weakness: The temptation to allow the romantic elements to overshadow her personal growth in future movies.
What Lawrence says: "She's a normal 16-year-old girl thrown into this situation, who becomes a hero by default, who becomes a symbol. That hits home for a lot of people."
What producer Nina Jacobson says: "Katniss does not set out to be an action hero. She becomes a revolutionary."
Black Widow (aka Natasha Romanoff) in The Avengers
Played by: Scarlett Johansson
Profile: The Russian spy shuts down any attackers with her Olympian-level acrobatic skills. Yet when the mild-mannered Bruce Banner suddenly transforms into the raging Hulk and goes after her, she displays a very human and revealing vulnerability.
Secret weapon: Foes and allies alike tend to underestimate this powerhouse, who uses the guise of being a femme fatale to disarm and charm her opponents.
Weakness: As a lone female among a bunch of hyper-competitive male crime-fighters, Black Widow is too often muscled onto the sidelines of the story. Plus, she is forced to don the bane of many a she-hero: a leather catsuit.
What director Joss Whedon says: The creator of one of the most worshiped female heroes ever, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, told Wired magazine he insisted that the Black Widow be included in the film so it wouldn't feel like "a gay cruise."
What Johansson says: She told an Australian publication that she felt on equal ground with the guys. "She's not in the cast simply to be a romantic foil or eye candy. She's there to fight, so I never felt like I was the only girl. We all have our various skills and it feels equal."
Dr. Elizabeth Shaw in Prometheus
Played by: Noomi Rapace
Profile: This archaeologist is a contradiction: A woman of science who professes a belief in God. Both sides of her ideology are put to the test when on a space expedition she becomes impregnated with an alien creature and must perform a cesarean Caesarean section on herself via a surgical machine. Minutes later, she goes into battle mode to fend off intergalactic attackers.
Secret weapon: In stark contrast to the chilly hard-nosed female in charge of the mission, Shaw is a kinder, gentler — ultimately — more resilient warrior whose horrific pregnancy links her to Sigourney Weaver's maternal conflicts as Ripley in the original series of Alien films.
Weakness: Any woman who has given birth even in normal circumstances realizes the unlikelihood that Shaw could so quickly recover from the experience.
Rapace says: "I'm not sure I see my character as an action hero. I just wanted audiences to feel my character's pain. That's the great thing about Ridley (Scott, the director). He doesn't want you to prove anything, whether you are an actor or an actress. He just wants you to be a natural character."
Merida in Brave
Voiced by: Kelly Macdonald
Profile: A fairy-tale princess turned upside down, this obstinate and opinionated Scottish lass' journey of self- discovery isn't about finding true love or even becoming a warrior despite her superior bow-and-arrow skills. It is about learning that Mother actually does know best and her love runs the deepest.
Secret weapon: Her wild and curly red hair is emblematic of the willful Merida's non-conformist nature and lively spirit as she more than lives up to the title of her movie by not giving up on her dreams but owning up to her mistakes. And her refusal to be forced into an arranged marriage is admirable.
Weakness: Her charismatic character's reasoning is sometimes undermined by the shaky logic of the script.
Co-director Mark Andrews says: "The character is extremely confident, inspiring and independent. The audience wants to back any kind of character like that."
Co-director Brenda Chapman, who based Merida on her daughter: "I tried to give Merida a more athletic body. Thicker arms. When the wind blows, you can tell she has gymnast-like legs. I'm hoping someday we can bust that open and let women be who they are and not what they are expected to be."
Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman
Played by: Kristen Stewart
Profile: Betrayed by her evil stepmother and held prisoner for most of her childhood, the princess escapes and embraces her destiny as a savior of her kingdom with a strength derived more from her innate goodness than physical fortitude.
Secret weapon: While she puts on armor and leads the charge against the queen's army, Snow White remains a very female force of nature rather than a weapon-wielding tomboy. And while she is torn between the huntsman and a prince, her duty trumps any romantic action.
Weakness: Her rallying speech to the troops falls far short of the gold standard for such motivational war cries: the famous speech from Shakespeare's Henry V.
Stewart says: "Snow White is strong yet still a female. She is essentially me. Steady and female and strong."
Director Rupert Sanders says: "I never had her do anything that she realistically would not be able to do. She uses her sword to protect herself."
Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) in The Dark Knight Rises
Played by: Anne Hathaway
Profile: The slinky cat burglar is an opportunist at heart, but her flirtatious connection to Bruce Wayne and his alter-ego, Batman, persuades her to join the good guys.
Secret weapon: Selena is an enigma with no back story yet brings the movie alive even when she isn't taking down opponents. She best defines the film's central conflict when she purrs to Batman: "You and your friends better batten down the hatches. There's a storm coming. … You're going to wonder how you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."
Weakness: Hathaway's version must withstand comparison to other interpretations , from the campy renditions by Julie Newmar and Eartha Kitt on the Batman TV series in the '60s to Halle Berry's catastrophic performance in 2004's Catwoman film. And, yes, her leather catsuit.
Hathaway says: "She's not a sex object. It was so much fun getting to create a character that was multidimensional and lived in the superhero realm."
Director Chris Nolan says: "I was hesitant to have a Catwoman. She always seemed too fanciful." But after writer David Goyer made her a full-time criminal, "we were able to crack the character. We wanted her to have more of an edge."
Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Played by: Quvenzhané Wallis
Profile: The littlest and fiercest female on the list can be found in this post-Katrina fantasy drama told from a 6-year-old girl's perspective. Living in a ramshackle community of outsiders, Hushpuppy's sickly father, Wink, applies tough love to prepare his motherless child for the upheavals ahead.
Secret weapon: While there is more than a little tomboy in those dirty boots that she stomps around in, Hushpuppy has found a way to survive by casting herself as a heroine of her own epic journey, all the while craving the company of women to fill the gap left by her absent mother.
Weakness: The magical elements of Hushpuppy's story both elevate and sometimes muddy the narrative.
Director Ben Zeitlin says: "Her strength doesn't come from bullying or any mean-spirited place. It's a strength that comes from an incredibly true heart."
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