20 Of The Coolest Female Robots In Science Fiction

Image courtesy A24 Films/Universal Pictures

19. Ava (Ex Machina)

If the sexism of Metropolis bothers you, then follow it up with 2015’s Ex Machina. It addresses the sci-fi sexism entwined with female robots head-on. While it is undeniably brutal, it’s also a powerful exploration of artificial intelligence, gender, and power.

In Ex Machina, computer programmer Caleb wins a one-week visit to the home of his company’s reclusive founder, Nathan Bateman. Nathan runs Blue Book, a massive software company and search engine. He’s mined Blue Book for data to help him build a revolutionary artificial intelligence. The result of that intelligence is Ava, an overtly feminine robot confined to an apartment in Nathan’s underground complex.

Caleb must conduct a series of Turing tests to determine if Ava is truly sentient. Of course, he falls in love with her. How couldn’t he? Ava has a beautiful face and a shapely, if obviously mechanical, body.

Ava apparently wants to use Nathan as well. She says that Nathan plans to destroy her when she is no longer useful. Soon after, Caleb discovers horrifying footage of Nathan’s experiments with earlier gynoids. Many of them have been disassembled and are hidden away in Nathan’s quarters. So, Caleb decides that he must save the damsel in distress and take her away from her futuristic castle.

Of course, that’s not all that’s going on. Without spoiling it too much, I can tell you that Ava proves to be far more intelligent than either Nathan or Caleb had anticipated. Watching her navigate through the desires of the men who seek to control her is, ultimately, highly satisfying (if violent).