42 Action Heroines, Ranked by Lesbianism

We’re two action movie-loving lesbians with a simple desire: MORE LESBIANS IN ACTION MOVIES!!!! In honor of the release of Alien: Romulus last weekend, Drew and I were reflecting on our community’s love for and claiming of Ellen Ripley as one of our own. As a result, we decided to put together a list of action heroines ranked by lesbianism.

Now, here at Autostraddle, we tend to do a lot of silly little lists. A lot of important, necessary lists, too. But this one falls pretty far on the silly side of the list spectrum. That said, even when it comes to our jokiest lists, we like rules, we like to a design a system. Drew and I cycled through a few different iterations of this list before finally solidifying some of those “rules,” which also led to some devastating cuts.

First of all, we’re sticking to film. That means you won’t find any characters from television on this list, and we also didn’t take into consideration the events and storylines of any television series even for the characters who appear in film/TV. Peggy Carter, for example, may have made the cut if we took her series into consideration!

While there are a few canonically queer characters on this list (and rightfully, they receive top billing), there aren’t that many! Ranking canonically queer action heroines would be like a seven-minute-long exercise. (Refer back to the first sentence of this introduction.) In an attempt to expand the scope to include more than just the handful of canonically queer characters but also without it becoming too unwieldy, we settled on featuring action heroines who are at least queer-coded in some way, characters we felt we could make a compelling case for their queerness, even if the evidence came down to just, like, have you seen her shoes? Iconic action heroines from film history, as a result, were cut. Pam Grier’s Foxy Brown, The Hunger Games‘ Katniss Everdeen, there were many characters we felt were too heterosexual to ultimately make it. Uhura from Star Trek was in an early version of the list, but while the Star Trek universe is full of sapphic energy film iterations of Uhura are just so straight, and most of the franchise’s queerness is found in the television series.

It was particularly challenging to differentiate between our own personal thirst for characters and whether we think they’re actually queer-coded. We came to the conclusion that just because we were horny for a character and we are gay does not, sadly, make them gay or queer-coded by the transitive property. RIP to Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski in Edge of Tomorrow…I fought so hard for you. Also, while it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate between heroes/villains (is this a gay problem?), we tried to be specific in that regard, too (so, for example, no characters from one of my favorite action movies of all time, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon made it on, because I deemed the most queer-coded character to technically be one of its villains).

No amount of rule-making can transform this list from the subjective to the objective, so we expect many to disagree with us on multiple levels, including the specific order, our evidence, and exclusions we’ve made. That’s okay! In the spirit of action movies, fight us (in the comments)! We encourage respectful sparring.

42. Barbarella, Barbarella

Barbarella is too horny for men for me to argue she should top this list of lesbianism, but she’s horny enough for women (and creatures and machines) to still make this list.

41. Elektra, Elektra

It’s unclear whether or not Elektra gets any enjoyment out of her kiss of death. Personally, I see a little glint in her eye.

40. Salt, Salt

This is a movie with so many twists and turns it’s not clear exactly who Evelyn Salt is working for by the end. And so it’s also not clear how genuine her feelings are for her boyfriend who plays a pivotal part in the film. Add bisexual Angelina Jolie who always feels gayer to me than her post-90s public persona, and I feel confident suggesting that Salt at least has dyke potential.

39. Dr. Jo Harding, Twister

We had a lot of back and forth on this one. Is she queer-coded or is she just a lot of dykes’ roots? I have decided to deem her love of twisters queer. She loves something we’re meant to fear, and isn’t that queer in and of itself? She also looks gay af in that tank top, let’s be real.

38. Chani, Dune

Zendaya and Timothée Chalamet’s lack of sexual chemistry results in a dynamic where Chani and Paul feel more like buds. I want to know what she had going on with the other Freman before he showed up.

37. Princess Leia, Star Wars

She’s a late-in-life lesbian in a relationship with Amilyn Holdo —we’ve been over this before.

36. Éowyn, Lord of the Rings

Oh, like the world isn’t full of lesbians who were in love with Aragorn?!

35. Elastigirl, The Incredibles

I would argue that the queerest thing about her is her superpower of being able to elongate ANY APPENDAGE. Lesbian sex and elasticity go hand in hand.

34. Selene, Underworld

There are a lot of action heroes who are orphans, and sometimes it’s like “they’re giving queer” when really what they’re giving is “orphan.” Selene is perhaps giving both. Also she has basically the same haircut as her love interest, a hallmark of queer dating. Also, all vampires are queer.

33. Ellie Sattler

The outfit alone. Gay. Paleobotany? Also gay. Are straight people even allowed to talk about dinosaurs? I don’t think so.

32. Ingrid Cortez, Spy Kids

Ingrid and Gregorio Cortez have a similar vibe to Morticia and Gomez Addams in the sense that they’re bi4bi but also kinda dyke4fag.

31. Belle, Widows

Have you seen Cynthia Erivo as Belle in Widows? Have you seen Cynthia Erivo RUN as Belle in Widows? That’s gay running. I do wish this were a movie about four women entering into a quad relationship AND doing crime together instead of just doing crime together, but alas.

30. Storm, X-Men

While comic book Storm has plenty of love interests, the movie version of the character is mostly invested in friendships and building queer community (recruiting mutants). Now, stay with me here, I have just conducted some lite research to conclude that the moon does impact the weather…if the moon is a lesbian, perhaps Storm is, too.

29. Æon Flux, Æon Flux

You mean the character with such gay vibes that we had a Mandela effect memory of Charlize making out with a woman?

28. Letty Ortiz, Fast & Furious

Letty has multiple homoerotic fight scenes throughout the franchise, but my biggest argument for her lesbianism is that her life partner Dominic Toretto is a butch.

27. Evelyn Wang, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Straight in the main universe, but hot dog fingers Evelyn has her ranking.

26. Johanna Mason, The Hunger Games

We eliminated Katniss from the conversation rather swiftly, deeming her almost upsettingly straight given that archery itself is gay but her very much not. Johanna on the other hand? That hair. That winged eyeliner. That general demeanor. Gay. Bonus points for being played by pansexual actor Jena Malone.

25. Sarah Connor

Listen, it would be so easy to just say ARMS and move on, but let’s dig a little deeper. Sure, in the first film, Sarah Connor is just a gal falling into a robot murder situation and into love with a man from the future, but in T2, she’s just a single mom locked up in a mental institution because SOCIETY doesn’t UNDERSTAND her, doing pull-ups, and trying to get back to her gay son (yes, John Connor is also queer-coded in my professional opinion in T2).

24. Rogue, X-Men

Kissing boys was so wrong for her that her boyfriend ended up in a coma. Also, an outsider even among fellow mutants? She’s somehow even more queer-coded than mutants already are.

23. Ripley

From her androgynous style to her distrust of authority to alien impregnation to whatever the hell her clone’s whole deal with Winona Ryder was in Alien: Resurrection, that’s a gay.

22. Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

I mean lesbians have successfully claimed Lara as one of our own over the past 23 years, no? The daddy issues, the tank top, the Angelina Jolie of it all. She never seems all that invested in any of the men they position as potential love interests — comphet, anyone?

21. The Marvels

This includes Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau. Though it’s all subtextual, the queer subtext behind each of these characters collectively boosts them higher up on this list. As frustrating as the MCU’s lack of explicit queer content can be…….these three radiate lesbianism. Monica was raised by two women and has seemingly absorbed the nontraditional views on family. Can’t we all see Kamala’s hero worship of Captain Marvel and immediately recognize our younger dyke selves idolizing famous women or, hell, even our English teachers?! As for Carol, she was fully living with Maria while they raised a daughter (Monica) together, even if the script sometimes tried to couch that with weirdly clunky statements about them being JUST FRIENDS. Not buying it! And then later in the MCU timeline, we also have her having a very flirty vibe with Valkyrie AND a “marriage of convenience” — her words! — with a twinky prince who can only communicate in song…iconic lavender arrangement.

20. Lady Snowblood, Lady Snowblood

Anyone whose entire existence is dedicated to avenging her mother/carrying on the generational trauma of her mother is a lesbian.

19. Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova, Black Widow

Have we all seen what Natasha Romanoff looks like as a young girl in the opening sequence of the Black Widow movie? That’s a baby dyke. Also her whole thing with Hawkeye feels like two closeted queer besties connecting over latent queerness. Florence Pugh’s Yelena, Black Widow’s sister, also gets a shoutout here, because that girl loves her vest with many pockets more than any straight woman possibly could.

18. Hanna, Hanna

Fighting mommi villain Cate Blanchett is a metaphor for teen assassin Hanna fighting her inner lesbianism.

17. Niobe, The Matrix

While the original trilogy didn’t make an argument for her lesbianism other than the queer vibes of just about every character, Resurrections heavily implies she’s now with plant expert Freya.

16. Furiosa, Mad Max

Leading a violent revolution to liberate women cannot be a job for a straight woman, I’m sorry. Shaved head, black warpaint, multiple belts — the aesthetic is clearly queer. But Furiosa’s whole vibe is oriented against the heteropatriarchy.

15. Women of Black Panther

This includes Okoye, Nakia, Shuri, Riri, Ayo, and Aneka. I’m hesitant to give too much queer credit to Black Panther for reasons outlined eloquently by former editor-in-chief Carmen Phillips. Also gay scenes were literally CUT from Wakanda Forever. But it’s difficult to deny traces of queerness left behind, even after cuts. Okoye’s marriage to a man seems to be more like a “marriage of convenience” than anything romantic, and it’s a shame Marvel went out of their way to define Okoye and Ayo’s relationship in the first film as merely a friendship. Also quitting your spy job to become a schoolteacher living solo after your husband dies…there are hints of late-in-life lesbian discovery with Nakia. Shuri/Riri were vibing in Wakanda Forever, clearly. And then Ayo and Aneka are textually in a relationship, even if the movie cut most of the direct acknowledgement of that. Marvel characters appear throughout this list, something we struggled with given the MCU’s hazy and often disappointing track record on queer characters. But even if Marvel tries to erase it, the women of Wakanda subtextually embody a queer Afrofuturism and belong in the top half of this list.

14. Ilsa Faust, Mission Impossible

Strangely drawn to Tom Cruise but not in a sexual way? Lesbian.

13. Alice, Resident Evil

Alice never had as much chemistry with her male love interests throughout the series as she did with all the female characters she flirts with. Also so many of these films are just Paul W.S. Anderson being like my wife is so hot and while, yes, he is a man, that still amps up the lesbian vibes of the series IMO.

12. Catwoman

A character that is both into leather and cats. I don’t care who she’s romantically paired with in the movies, Catwoman is lesbian culture.

11. Ria Khan, Polite Society

The queer subtext of this film screams so loudly that it’s shocking it wasn’t made into overt text? Ria Khan wants to be a stuntwoman when she grows up, writes long letters to her stuntwoman hero, is obsessed with her friends, encourages her sister to live a nontraditional life, and wants to destroy her sister’s boyfriend. If that isn’t a baby dyke, I don’t know what is!

10. Trini, Power Rangers

Power Rangers have always been gay, but the 2017 film made that explicit with Becky G’s Trini.

9. Hershe Las Palmas, Escape from L.A.

I just feel like iconic transsexual character Hershe Las Palmas is also a dyke.

8. Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Deadpool

Deadpool 2 casually established Negasonic Teenage Warhead has a girlfriend, and she has the alternative lifestyle haircut to match.

7. Valkyrie, Thor

While the MCU tends to deal the most meager of scraps in terms of establishing a character as canonically queer, Valkyrie does indeed have a dead ex-girlfriend and enough sapphic rage to power a universe.

6. Sam, Wingwomen

Have you seen this French action movie on Netflix? YOU SHOULD. Manon Bresch plays Sam (gay name) who joins our action heroine trio after the death of her wife and who at one point has a bar makeout with a woman.

5. Lorraine, Atomic Blonde

Obviously Charlize Theron’s gunslinging, coat-stunting Lorraine ranks pretty high. It’s rare enough to get a queer character in an action movie, but one who gets a GAY SEX SCENE?

4. Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Canonically bisexual, a hacker, dedicated to revenge against men who hurt her and other women, come on. Also I’m pretty sure sex with Daniel Craig is confirmed lesbian behavior thanks to Rachel Weisz.

3. Amy Bradshaw, D.E.B.S.

The best character in this film is the villain, but still.

2. Trinity, The Matrix

If Neo is a trans lesbian (she is) then that makes his soulmate Trinity a lesbian, too. Welcome to the real world, where the subtext has simply become text.

1. All of the Charlie’s Angels

While it all remains subtextual, between Charlie’s Angels (2000), Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003), and Charlie’s Angels (2019), there’s significant evidence to suggest that one of the prerequisites for becoming an Angel is at least dabbling in lesbianism. Kristen Stewart’s mere presence in the 2019 film (and her character’s ambiguous sexuality) earn the group points, sure, but it’s actually Full Throttle that really pushes things over the edge. This is a film so full of lesbian innuendo that I’m consistently surprised it doesn’t have a more cult icon status in the dyke community. Natalie (Cameron Diaz) and Madison (Demi Moore) almost kiss, and the almost of it all is actually even more intoxicating than if they’d actually kissed. There’s also a ton of subtext swirling around Dylan (Drew Barrymore), ALL of the women appear in love with Madison, and when Alex (Lucy Liu) introduces the other girls to her father, it absolutely seems like she’s trying to cover up her queer threeway relationship. I could go on and on, and in fact, maybe I will in a future essay.