Top 20 Times Female Movie Characters Went Beast Mode
#20: Letty Ortiz’s Bodyguard Brawl “Furious 7” (2015)
During the mission to recover a hacking device called the God's eye, Letty is confronted by security. After taking out a handful of guards by herself, she faces off against an intimidating woman named Kara. Letty’s opponent is a bigger fighter with professional bodyguard training. So, she has to dig deep to win. Letty uses improvised weapons and her environment to level the playing field. She ends their clash by throwing herself and Kara off a balcony. Although her fight may have been overshadowed by the crazy stunts in the rest of the movie, her victory over Kara showed that Letty cannot be underestimated.
#19: Cataleya Restrepo Gets Her Long-Awaited Revenge “Colombiana” (2011)
When Cataleya was a girl, the vicious Don Luis ordered his henchmen to kill her parents. After spending years training to become an assassin, she gets an opportunity to get her revenge. She tracks Don Luis to a house where he is surrounded by numerous armed goons. But the amount of enemies doesn’t matter to Cattleya. After firing an RPG missile into Don Luis’ house, she stalks and hunts every single henchman down like an apex predator. During her rampage of revenge, towels and toothbrushes become deadly weapons in her hands. Cataleya doesn't stop until Don Luis meets a terrible fate. Her overwhelming home invasion finally brought her tale of vengeance to a close.
#18: Hanna Escapes a C.I.A. Facility “Hanna” (2011)
While most kids spend their childhoods in school, Hanna spent her formative years learning how to become a living weapon. The CIA learned how dangerous she was when they brought her to a secret facility for questioning. The fifteen-year-old Hanna distracts the agents by crying before making her great escape. She guns down any trained CIA operatives who get in her way with lightning fast efficiency. Hanna’s speed, cunning and brutality strike fear in the hearts of more than a few adults. Despite the CIA's superior resources and numbers, she manages to escape their hideout without a scratch. We honestly don't think there's a facility in the world that could hold Hanna.
#17: Trinity’s Terrific Introduction “The Matrix” (1999)
One of the best sci-fi movies of all time opens with a legendary heroine doing what she does best. While the rebellious Trinity is on a phone call, she realizes that the authorities have been listening in. When officers come to arrest her, she refuses to go quietly. Trinity takes down all of the cops in the blink of an eye. And when reinforcements try to take her in, she leads them on a wild and thrilling case. The agents and cops on her tail have to pull out all the stops to try and keep up with her. But Trinity was way too out of their league. Her insane speed and fighting techniques ensured she escaped to hack another day.
#16: Black Widow Clears a Path “Iron Man 2” (2010)
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Although “Iron Man 2” was mostly about Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, A.K.A. the Black Widow, nearly stole the movie with one amazing scene. When Ivan Vanko takes control of numerous drones and Rhodey’s War Machine suit, Natasha and Happy Hogan go to stop him. Black Widow wastes no time getting to work when she arrives at Vanko’s hideout. She dispatches the guards standing in between her and the villain with a combination of gadgets and her insane fighting prowess. By the time Happy finishes knocking out one guard, Natasha has left a hallway full of injured men in her wake. This dynamic and exciting scene showed exactly why she was Avengers material.
#15: Harley Quinn Picks Someone Up from the Police Station “Birds of Prey” (2020)
A recently emancipated Harley Quinn must break a thief out of a police station to save her own skin. But instead of posting bail, she decides to take a more aggressive approach. Harley takes a bunch of officers down with her aptly named fun gun. After they're out of the way, she uses acrobatic moves to land devastating blows on angry prisoners. Harley caps off the prison break by using a bat to wail on a bunch of armed gangsters. Despite the importance of the mission, she seems to have a lot of fun taking down everyone who gets in her way. The Carefree Attitude Harley shows while beating up dozens of guys proves she's one of the most dangerous people in Gotham.
#14: Mrs. Weasley Destroys Bellatrix “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” (2011)
Throughout the Harry Potter franchise, Molly Weasley is portrayed as a kind and caring witch. But she transforms into a ruthless warrior in the final movie of the series. During the first half of the Battle of Hogwarts, Molly’s son Fred is killed in battle. So, she absolutely loses her mind when her daughter Ginny is targeted by a Death Eater named Bellatrix Lestrange. Molly immediately unleashes an onslaught of powerful spells against the evil witch. Her last spell is so powerful that it literally blows the Death Eater to pieces. There was an important lesson learned at Hogwarts that day. If you mess with Molly's children, she will show you no mercy.
#13: Captain Marvel Goes “Super Saiyan” “Captain Marvel” (2019)
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Pilot and warrior Carol Danvers showed audiences that she had considerable power throughout her solo film. But she ascended to an entirely new level in the film's climax. After Carol gains access to her full powers, she becomes utterly unstoppable. She’s able to take out formidable Kree soldiers in just a few blows. She also becomes powerful enough to blow up missiles and punch through spaceships. Carol's newfound strength is so intimidating that big bad Ronan the Accuser retreats as soon as she threatens him. The most impressive part of Carol's literal glow-up is that we don't know if we’ve seen the final form of her power. She could legitimately be the strongest character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
#12: Hit-Girl in the Hallway “Kick-Ass” (2010)
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If they gave out awards for deadliest movie preteen of all time, Hit-Girl would be a contender for the gold medal. She routinely takes out enemies more than twice her size over the course of the movie. But her greatest feat takes place in a hallway. When a group of armed thugs in a corridor stand between her and revenge, Hit-Girl readies her weapons and gets to work. She stabs and shoots and her way through the thugs while dodging bullets and reloading her guns in the most badass way possible. Hit-Girl leaves her enemies so shook that they almost use a bazooka just to take her out. Although she’s just a kid, her lethal skills are more than enough to frighten adults.
#11: Evelyn Salt Eliminates Her Former Allies “Salt” (2010)
Everyone who meets Evelyn Salt has trouble figuring out where her true alliances lie. But the one thing we know for sure is that you don't want to get on her bad side. A group of Russian Sleeper Agents learned that the hard way when she arrived on their barge. Although Salt grew up alongside some of the agents, she doesn’t hesitate to kill a literal boatful of them after they end her husband’s life. She dispatches her armed allies with grenades, guns and even a bottle of vodka. It’s over so quick that the agents barely have time to register what happened. It’s a shame this Angelina Jolie vehicle never got a sequel. We’d love to see Salt in more legendary scenes like this.
#10: Hela Conquers Asgard “Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)
Shortly after King Odin dies, his daughter Hela tries to take over Asgard. But the Asgardians won't let her take the throne without a fight. Unfortunately for them, Hela is powerful enough to take their entire army by herself. She easily decimates warships and countless amounts of soldiers without even breaking a sweat. Hela’s also tough enough to get run through with a sword and treat it like a minor inconvenience. When the dust settles, an entire army of Asgardian soldiers lays dead at her feet. Hela’s raw display of power cemented her as the biggest threat that Asgard had ever faced.
#9: Éowyn Defeats the Witch-king “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)
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Most Middle-earth warriors rightly feared the Witch-King. This powerful servant of Sauron could not be killed by the hands of a man. He seemed unbeatable… until Éowyn met him in battle. While defending her wounded uncle, she slices off the head of the Witch-King’s fell beast. Although he retaliates with a series of severe blows, she finally gets an opening. The witch-king initially thinks he's safe. But Éowyn lets him know that he's not fighting a man before plunging her sword into his face. Éowyn’s badass feat struck a huge blow to the forces of evil while giving us one of the most epic moments of the entire franchise.
#8: Laura Cuts Down the Mercenaries “Logan” (2017)
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Did you ever wonder what would happen if you gave a young girl all of Wolverine’s powers? A scene in “Logan” shows that you get a deadly pint-sized powerhouse. When a group of mercenaries tries to capture a young mutant named Laura, she shows them that she's every bit as ferocious as Logan. She slices and stabs enemies with her adamantium claws. And since she heals extremely quickly, their bullets and weapons can't do any permanent damage. Even Logan is momentarily stunned at how brutal and deadly she is. The bad guys were lucky Laura decided to drive away with Wolverine and Professor X. If she had continued to fight, there might not have been a mercenary left alive.
#7: Yu Shu Lien & Yu Jiaolong [aka Jen Yu]’s Intense Duel “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)
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Shu Lien and Jialong are both incredible fighters and swordswomen. But during their climatic duel, Jialong has one big advantage. She wields the Green Destiny, a sword that cut through nearly anything. Despite the huge disadvantage, Shu Lien rushes into battle. She uses a variety of different weapons present around the room to match the might of the Green Destiny. At the same time, Jialong has to push her abilities to the limits to keep up with the talented Shu Lien. Neither fighter holds anything back in the breathtaking duel. In the end, Shu Lien carves out a narrow victory. But Jialong’s ferocity and skill didn’t make the win easy.
#6: River Tam Takes Down the Reavers “Serenity” (2005)
Reavers are a violent group of humans that strike fear into everyone in the ‘Verse. This brutal gang was willing and ready to put a permanent end to the Serenity crew. Luckily, River was there. She locks herself in a room with the approaching Reavers to keep them from her injured crew. Once they're safe, River picks up a few weapons and starts slaying Reavers. She becomes a whirlwind of blades and death until every single enemy is permanently down for the count. Although she's out of breath by the end of the battle, it doesn't appear that she's injured. In River’s battle against the Reavers, she was an untouchable force of nature.
#5: Sarah Connor Escapes from a Mental Hospital “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991)
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In the years after she was nearly killed by a futuristic robot called a Terminator, Sarah Connor put herself through intensive training. Unfortunately, she was placed in a mental hospital after people found out what she was preparing for. Sarah still got a chance to put her combat skills to use in one stunning scene. After being strapped to a bed in a mental hospital, she breaks out of her restraints with just a paperclip. Sarah uses whatever weapons she can get a hold of to take out the guards. Although they try to threaten and ambush her, none of the hospital staff can stop her from getting to the exit. Sarah's awesome escape attempt showed she was more than ready to fight Terminators.
#4: Lorraine Broughton’s Exhausting Fight “Atomic Blonde” (2017)
Since Charlize Theron has played so many badass heroines, it was hard to choose just one for this list. It was tempting to showcase a fantastic Furiosa moment or an awesome Andy scene from “The Old Guard”. But we ultimately had to go with an awesome “Atomic Blonde” sequence. While Theron’s Lorraine is defending a defector, she’s attacked by numerous thugs. Throughout a long scene edited to appear like one continuous take, she takes down every enemy that steps to her. What makes this scene so badass is that Lorraine gets more exhausted as the scene goes on. The fact that she pushes past her pain and body’s limits until every enemy is down made this Theron set-piece stand out above the rest.
#3: Ellen Ripley Topples a Queen “Aliens” (1986)
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After flying away from a settlement crawling with aliens, Ripley and her fellow survivors thought they could finally rest. Unfortunately, there was a stowaway on their ship. A furious alien queen tries to kill the remaining survivors. But Ripley refuses to let her allies die. She jumps into an exosuit, calls the creature out and dukes it out with the alien queen. Ripley doesn’t let up until she personally makes sure that the creature has been sent flying out of the airlock into the cold vacuum of space. Although the alien queen thought she’d be able to kill the exhausted survivors, she sorely underestimated how badass Ripley is.
#2: Diana Prince Crosses No Man’s Land “Wonder Woman” (2017)
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An Allied battalion had lost all hope of advancing towards German forces. But Wonder Woman refused to let them give up. Although her allies tried to hold her back, she stepped forward into No Man’s Land. Diana blocks a hail of bullets and an explosive mortar sent by German soldiers. At one point her shield is being hit with so much artillery fire that she can't even move. But she never quits. Diana's bold decision to go into No Man’s Land inspires her allies to persevere, push forward and free an entire village of people. Her heroic actions also had the added bonus of creating the arguably best scene in the DC Cinematic Universe so far.
#1: The Bride Decimates the Crazy 88 “Kill Bill: Volume 1” (2003)
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The Bride desperately wanted to get her revenge against the talented swordswoman, O-Ren Ishii. But the two couldn't cross swords right away. Before they fought, O-Ren ordered the members of the Crazy 88 army to kill the Bride. Unfortunately, the Yakuza group never stood a chance. The bride slices through the gang with skill, swiftness and precision. Despite being severely outnumbered, she never yields for a moment. The Bride only stops when she’s ensured that every member of the Crazy 88 is no longer willing to fight. She accomplished this phenomenal feat without any backup or superpowers. The bride’s incredible takedown of the Crazy 88 stands as one of the best examples of a heroine going beast mode.
