Tom Lamont 

The 10 best female action heroes – in pictures

Two fistfuls of badass ladies precede Scarlett Johansson, whose Black Widow takes to the screen in Avengers Assemble next week
  
  


Superheroes: Claire Bennet from Heroes
Claire Bennet
Before the US drama Heroes turned into a confusing, meandering mess (cancelled in 2010), it was for one series brilliant TV. In this tale of handsome global citizens who discover they’ve got special abilities, 16-year-old Claire (Hayden Panettiere, above) was the best character. Early on we saw her mangle a hand in a rubbish shredder and watch, with perfect teenage impassivity, as her body magically healed itself. She went on to use her power exactly as any 21st-century kid would: she videoed herself jumping off an 80ft-high building. Later, she employed her talents more benevolently, saving a civilian from a fire
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman
A wartime creation still going strong, Wonder Woman has appeared in thousands of DC Comics since debuting in 1941. An Amazonian warrior who first dressed in a star-speckled skirt (later adopting hotpants), she wields a golden lasso and can deflect bullets with her wristbands. Unimpressed? That tiara on her head can be lobbed about as a weapon, and she’s very strong. The hero was beguilingly played by Lynda Carter (above) in a 70s TV serial, but recent attempts to shape WW for modern telly by putting her in jeans were less successful, 2011’s filmed revival binned before broadcast
Photograph: Rex Features
Superheroes: Elektra, Marvel comics
Elektra
Created by comics legend Frank Miller, Elektra is an assassin who wears blood-red clothes, fights with a pair of lengthy ninja daggers, and moves faster than the eye can see. In short, a badass – though ignore the 2005 spin-off film about her starring Jennifer Garner, which made the character seem about as interesting and threatening as a magician’s assistant. Elektra is met at her best on the page, whether Miller’s legend-making 80s original work for the Daredevil comic series or in the various Elektra titles published by Marvel Comics through the 90s and 00s
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: Kick-Ass - 2010
Hit Girl
Controversial use of the c-word by this 11-year-old superhero in Matthew Vaughn’s 2010 film Kick-Ass (based on Mark Millar’s comic series of the same name) distracts from a terrifically complex character. Hit Girl, played by Chloe Moretz (above) in Vaughn’s film, has been raised by her semi-crazed father to be a violent superhero; one of her creators has drawn parallels with sporty kids groomed to be athletes from age zero, knowing no other life. As a result, Hit Girl is an expert knife-fighter and marksman, creepily cynical and knowing, despite her age. A bold, fascinating creation
Photograph: Rex Features
Superheroes: Elastigirl, The Incredibles
Elastigirl
Elastigirl (secret identity: Helen Parr) is the linchpin of Pixar’s The Incredibles, about a family of superannuated superheroes. Her husband, Bob, pines for his days as world-saver Mr Incredible, but they’re gone; he’s been forced to retire. Wiser, calmer Helen has accepted her post-hero life as a civilian ... until her family are threatened by a villain called Syndrome, at which point she resummons her stretchy superpower and jets out to save them. “Get a grip,” she tells her kids after a near-escape, a practised mum as well as a costumed crusader, “or I will ground you for a month.”
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: The Powderpuff girls
The Powerpuff Girls
Made up of a flying trio of five-year-olds, Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles were the animated stars of a popular Cartoon Network series that ran from 1998 to 2005. Blossom was the Powerpuff Girls’ leader, Buttercup the brawn and Bubbles the team ditz; together they protected their hometown of Townsville from various over-the-top villains. The Girls’ colourful, bug-eyed appearance masks the fact that this was often a very shrewdly scripted show, with lots of Pixar-ish nods to an adult audience. One episode managed to reference 65 Beatles songs in its 22-minute run-time
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: Supergirl
Supergirl
By the way (DC Comics informed readers in the late 50s), Superman has a cousin. She has the same powers, the same weaknesses, but she’s young, blonde and wears a skirt – surprise! A creaky introduction, yet Supergirl came to be well-loved. Comic-book publishers have long been brazen when it comes to cloning male heroes to create female counterparts. Batman begat Batwoman and Batgirl in the 50s and 60s; there were various Spiderwomen and a Spidergirl in the 70s, 80s and 90s. Supergirl was an early clone and arguably the best – even if a 1984 film version was a catastrophe
Photograph: Allstar
Superheroes: Cheetara from ThunderCats
Cheetara
Key character in 80s Saturday-morning cartoon ThunderCats, about a gang of muscly, weapon-wielding cat people who drove around in a tank beating up baddies. Cheetara was half-woman, half-cheetah, which meant she was fast, agile and spotty. She also had a “sixth sense” that let her see into the future (and help writers out of plot holes). How we longed for Cheetara’s quiet love for Tygra, the team’s science wiz, to be expressed! It never happened. When the series was revived in 2011, this once-lithe character was redrawn to be massively buxom. A statement about our times, no doubt
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Buffy
It took writer-director Joss Whedon a couple of goes and a 1992 film, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, to get his creation off the ground before he found success with this karate-kicking wise-cracker in a TV series launched in 1997. The premise was appealing: high-schooler Buffy Summers discovered she was the principal human defence against suburbia-infesting vampires. Buffy fought, slayed and fell in love with hunky vamps. It ran for seven series with Sarah Michelle Gellar (above) in the title role, leading the way (for better or worse) for the current deluge of films and TV shows about vampire-human relations
Photograph: PR
Superheroes: Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
The Pink Ranger
A member of multi-coloured superhero quintet the Power Rangers (their live-action show Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers a small-screen staple in the 90s), the Pink Ranger was the acrobatic one, useful with a flying kick. Off duty, out of her superhero crash helmet and pink PVC, she was a toothy Californian gymnast called Kimberly. When the actor who played the Pink Ranger, Amy Jo Johnson, decided to quit the job in 1995, the tumbling sideline proved a useful out, and Kimberly gave up the superhero gig to become a pro gymnast. She was missed
Photograph: ZUMA Press, Inc/Alamy
 

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