50 influential fictional women in nerd history

Ellen Ripley

There is a reason that many people name their kids after Ripley. Alien, a movie that would scare even the bravest among us out of going to space, brought us one of the greatest female characters of all time. Sorry to spoil the plot of the movie, but basically a group of scientists are in space when an alien takes over their ship.

The important part is that while the men of the crew die, one woman stands victorious, and that is Ellen Ripley. It is just so cool to see Ripley taking on the alien in the end and not one of the men. What is interesting about Ripley is that she shows growth throughout the films in a way that many male characters would.

The problem with female characters who are “badass” is that a lot of the time, they don’t show growth and are, arguably, one-note. With Ellen, she goes from a naïve woman in space to this amazing woman taking on an alien race time and time again. She actually has development and shows that this experience has affected her in a way that was never seen before on screen, especially in the opening part of Aliens, the first sequel.

And really, who doesn’t want to be like Ripley? She’s awesome!