In response to Entertainment Weekly’s All Time 20 Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture, Jezebel wants to know who your pop culture heroines are.
Entertainment Weekly has compiled a list of the “20 All Time Coolest Heroes In Pop Culture,” of which only 5 are women: Sydney Bristow, Ellen Ripley, Nancy Drew, Foxy Brown, and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.
The Jezebel ladies suggest “Veronica Sawyer, Xena, Lydia Deets, Coraline, Hermione Granger, Claire Huxtable, Veronica Mars, Wonder Woman, Harriet the Spy, Matilda, and, of course, Eowyn.”
Since this is a comics blog, I’ve got to add to that list from comics. I’m going with Megan McKeenan from Local, Death and Delirium from Sandman, Evie Hammond from V for Vendetta, Tulip from Preacher, and of course, Tank Girl.
Who are your favorites?
March 29th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Major Kira from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. One of the great heroines ever, from one of the great, underrated TV shows ever.
I’d also add Dana Scully, Black Canary, Princess Leia, Emma Peel, and Lyra Belacqua (His Dark Materials trilogy… The books, not the subpar Golden Compass movie). I’m sure I’ll come up with more given time.
March 29th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Leeloo Minai Lekarariba-Laminai-Tchai Ekbat De Sebat aka Leeloo aka the fifth element.
March 29th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Kara. Frakking. Thrace.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Oh, and I probably should’ve put Jadzia Dax from DS9 on the list too… I liked her almost as much as I did Kira. I just hated how they killed her off, and how her demise kinda messed things up on the show after that. I think that infuriated me as much as Xena’s hideous death pissed off fans of that show.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Alanna of Trebond, Big Barda, and Katina “Katchoo” Choovankski!
March 29th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Agnes Quill and Serenity Rose from SLG.
March 29th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
How about some animated heroines? Katara and Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and of course The Powerpuff Girls! Loved both of those shows.
March 29th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
And Leela from Futurama!
March 29th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
What, no love for Lara Croft anymore?
March 29th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Isn’t Hermione decidedly uncool?
March 29th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Babs Gordon, Kitty Pryde, Atom Eve, Scrap from Dynamo 5, the ladies of Nextwave, Black Widow, the Pirate Queen of Pinghai Bay, Deena Pilgrim, Filthy Assistants!, the Rumor, 355, Anna Mercury, Mina Murray, Helen Killer, Ultra… anyway there’s lots.
But mostly I was upset that Batman was #18 and Darth Vader wasn’t #1 in their villain list. I mean… seriously?
March 29th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
In what insane universe is a wet washcloth like Sydney Bristow a great pop culture hero?
March 30th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Any such list that ignores Miss Piggy is broken.
March 30th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Caught The Incredibles again last night on TV… Can’t forget Elastigirl!
March 30th, 2009 at 6:53 am
Oh, and no… Hermione is most certainly NOT “uncool.” By the time you get to the later HP books she’s every bit as heroic as Harry himself.
March 30th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Among those that haven’t been mentioned yet… Granny Weatherwax. Nancy Blackett. WordGirl. Saturn Girl. Babs Bunny. Mulan. Escalla Brightflower. Slappy Squirrel.
March 30th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Any list of the 20 greatest heroines in pop culture that does not include Emma Peel is mistaken on a core level. Claire Huxtable? Who’s idea was that?
March 31st, 2009 at 5:26 pm
LOL… I never even looked at the list (I will now). Claire Huxtable?? Umm… Ohhh-Kay then.
@ Matthew: I just thought of Mulan today and was going to add her, but you beat me to it. Great movie! Even the direct-to-DVD sequel wasn’t bad. Nice alternative to the usual Disney princess-y crap.
And Word Girl… Love it! My daughter’s outgrown the show, but I watched it with her. It was a hoot, in much the same way Powerpuff Girls was (just with more learning and less smashing).
May 8th, 2012 at 2:31 am
Thank you for the sensible critique. Me and my neighbor were just preparing to do a little research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great information being shared freely out there.