Movie Villainess 101 Rank #41

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

Movie

The Marine 6: Close Quarters (2018)

This WWE-produced franchise has a high inclusion rate for female villains. Six Marine films were made altogether, and four have a bad girl in the cast. For the last outing, we finally got a woman as the main antagonist. If Becky Lynch beating up men isn’t enough, there’s a second female who also gets a lengthy fight scene.

Fresh ideas are scarce, so why not use the obvious template for a lone action hero? You guessed it: Die Hard. Jake Carter (Mike “The Miz” Mizanin) is trapped in an abandoned brewery with a criminal gang holding the innocent Sarah (Louisa Connolly-Burnham) hostage. The villainess’ father is on trial for – um, bad stuff that’s not really explained in any detail – so Maddy threatens to kill Sarah unless her juror father rigs the verdict. Too bad Jake Carter is paying an old war veteran a visit when he hears screams from upstairs.

The villains lock the building down, so it’s up to Jake and his former commanding officer Luke Trapper (WWE star Shawn Michaels) to protect Sarah. Cue the usual fisticuffs, shootouts and an air vent escape. The veteran provides assistance, but he obviously dies heroically, as minor characters do in these films. More shocking is the villainess killing Jake before the movie’s done. Yes, the main character. Which grants Maddy a higher placing than would otherwise be the case.

Villainesses

Maddy Hayes (Becky Lynch), Katrina (Anna Demetriou)

The henchwoman Kat first seems to be a non-action role. She relays footage of Sarah to her father and attends court as a “friendly” reminder to comply. This proves an effective tactic, but it’s in the second half of the film when things get more interesting. She returns to the brewery and leads a group of baddies on a hunt for the heroes. By now they’ve escaped the building and entered a tunnel system. An excellent setting for an ambush, and the gothic Kat looks creepy holding a chemical flare.

The hero party (down to Jake, Luke, and Sarah) openly displays distrust when Kat plays innocent, but foolishly follows her down the tunnel. Then she gets caught in a lie. While Jake fights a brute, Kat garrotes Luke with a wire cord she keeps handy for such occasions. The henchwoman is difficult to shake off, and instead of the expected quick fight, we get a drawn-out struggle. There are cutaway shots of Jake, but nothing too intrusive. Eventually, Luke uses his superior strength and slams Kat to the ground.

In the opening half, Maddy murders a civilian showing the ex-marines around, and one of her own men for failure (despite following her orders not to use weapons). The brutal knife executions establish Maddy’s authority as the primary villain and her preference for close-quarters combat, perhaps an allusion to the title.

Maddy is an imposing authority figure with her fiery hair and leather jacket, and her mostly male crew is too intimidated to challenge her. When Jake is wounded during the tunnel shootout, the mooks know to leave the killing blow to the villainess. Maddy uses her knife to finish the hero, throwing it into his chest. This brings his heroic escapades to an end and leaves Luke with a death to avenge.

The new protagonist wastes no time tracking down Maddy and her thugs, who’ve kidnapped Sarah once more. The henchmen put up little resistance, leading to a confrontation on a boat. Maddy proves a much more challenging opponent, getting the better of the hero in the early rounds. After a couple of retorts about Jake, Luke uses a rope to ensnare Maddy and throw her overboard. The attached anchor weighs her down, and we get a lengthy shot of her drowning. Perhaps too brief a finale, but Maddy is a rare physical main villainess, and few women can claim to have killed a franchise hero.

Honourable Mentions: The Marine Series

The Marine (2006) – Angela (Abigail Bianca)

Long before female wrestlers were cast as series henchwomen, Angela was a more traditional femme fatale. The original Marine is essentially an 80s action movie brought into modern times with hero Sgt. John Triton (John Cena) is introduced on a Middle Eastern combat mission. This is a gung-ho sequence with loud explosions and nonsensical bravado – it’s clear what tone the filmmakers were aiming for.

After psychotic jewel thief Rome (Robert Patrick) pulls off a heist, his crew encounters John and his wife Kate at a gas station. There’s a psycho henchman who likes to shoot and blow up things without good reason, so Kate ends up kidnapped and John comes to her rescue. Perhaps the bad guys shouldn’t have picked a fight with a former US Marine, as he wastes no time in hunting down those responsible.

Angela plays an innocent victim during the jewellery store job, but quickly shows her true colours. There’s a sequence with gratuitous shots of her bare legs, and she’s a willing – and equally crazy – partner to Rome. Angela wastes a couple of guys: a customer at the gas station and some poor trucker she flags down. Both kills are off screen and we only see the buildup, which means Angela is eye candy, mostly.

There’s plenty of tension between Angela and Kate, which slowly builds over time, culminating in a catfight. That’s the extent of any real action, and the only encounter with John is when he tosses Angela from a truck into an oncoming coach. Her demise is rather bizarre: lots of broken glass covered in blood, which suggests a mangled corpse we never see.

The Marine 4: Moving Target (2015) – Rachel Dawes (Summer Rae)

After a solo entry with Ted Diabase Jr., all the films had Jake Carter as the chief hero. The fourth movie started the trend of female wrestlers as baddies, and Summer Rae received top billing despite having little dialogue in the movie. Perhaps the producers realised sports stars with limited acting experience work better as the silent henchwoman type.

In this movie, Jake is working for a private security firm, only to get ambushed on his opening day. The target is corporate whistleblower Olivia Tanis (Melissa Roxburgh), and somebody doesn’t want this lady talking. The movie is essentially one giant chase scene through a forest, with sections at a remote cabin safe house and police station to vary the scenery. Nowhere is safe from the mercenaries, and despite some initial distrust, Olivia realises Jake is her only hope of staying alive.

Rachel is a constant presence, shooting an assault rifle and operating a tracking device when the situation calls for it. She lasts for most of the movie and is the most prominent villain other than the main baddie, Simon Vogel, and traitor agent Ethan. The last encounter between Jake and Rachel is a brief fight, which ends with the knife-wielding villainess tossed to the ground. With a thug closing in, Jake uses her as a human shield to protect himself, and the series’ first female WWE star ends up a bullet sponge.

The Marine 5: Battleground (2017) – Murphy (Naomi)

Jake obviously didn’t like private security, since he’s now working as a paramedic with Zoe (Anna Van Hooft). This doesn’t stop him from getting into trouble, and when he rescues a wounded man in a sublevel parking garage, it’s the beginning of a very long night. Turns out the man handled a hit on a biker gang leader, and his crew are out for blood.

The few women in this film all get seen off in brutal fashion. The prologue had Maryse Ouellet Mizanin (the Miz’s real-life spouse) as a civilian trapped in a car. Despite a heroic rescue attempt, she dies on a gurney – essentially a glorified cameo. Zoe lasts approximately half the film and is reasonably helpful before the biker gang take her hostage and shoot her just for the hell of it. That’s not a smart move with Jake Carter around, and he takes out the crew. Later on, the action shifts from the parking garage to an amusement park and the streets above.

The sole female biker is Murphy, the first main villain to die at Jake’s hands. Like the other evil women in the series, she uses a knife. Murphy actually has two of them, switching to a second after Jake overpowers her. Despite less screen time, she gets a longer fight than Rachel. And a more satisfying end when Jake turns her own blade against her.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #42

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*This serial killer takes identity theft to a whole new level*

Movie

Prey of the Chameleon (1992)

Serial killer movies are nothing new, but the premise of this made-for-cable thriller is a fresh concept. Alexandra Paul stars as small-town deputy sheriff Carrie, whose ex-boyfriend J.D. (James Wilder) is involved in her personal life and investigation. When the drifter picks up a stranded woman, he does not know she’s the Chameleon: a mistress of disguise who assumes the identities of her victims.

As the police piece together the killer’s MO, FBI agent Resnick (Don Harvey) provides some background information. The murderess is Elizabeth Burrows, a woman who recently escaped a mental institution by strangling a nurse. This murder is shown in the film’s opening sequence, which begins with the topless victim having sex as Elizabeth fashions a wire coat hanger into a makeshift garrote. The strangulation is relatively lengthy and graphic, and Elizabeth smashes the nurse’s head into a mirror as the title credits roll.

Carrie and J.D. had an unhappy previous relationship. Their bond doesn’t improve after she discovers his involvement with Patricia Harper (the housewife Elizabeth has murdered and now become). When they’re not discussing the case, Carrie and Resnick flirt, but this doesn’t go anywhere. The FBI man is absent for the final sequence, where Carrie and J.D. put aside their differences to take down the psycho impersonator.

Villainess

Elizabeth Burrows (Daphne Zuniga)

After a steamy night in bed, things get weird when the blonde “Patricia” dyes her hair black and wears J.D.’s clothes. He smokes a cigarette, and so does she. This creeps him out, but not enough to ditch the brunette copycat – he’s enjoying sex with her far too much.

On a drive through the desert, Elizabeth discovers J.D.’s revolver in the glove box, which he gladly shows off. Maybe he shouldn’t have, because the psycho woman holds up a gas station and has the attendant drop his pants. No sexual attraction, but it gives Elizabeth the chance to get away. Carrie learns of the robbery soon after, and she and Resnick are already aware of J.D.’s involvement thanks to a bartender’s eyewitness statement.

Things get worse for J.D. when Elizabeth disguises herself as a man, trims her hair, and tapes bandages around her chest to flatten her profile. Add sunglasses and a cowboy hat, and she’s a decent (though not great) male impersonator. J.D. stumbles in on her and gets knocked out, but unlike her female victims, the murderess keeps this one alive. Elizabeth hides the unconscious man in a car trunk at a secluded junkyard. There is a guard dog, but the poor animal gets a bullet for barking too loudly.

Elizabeth graduates to armed robbery and murder when she rips off a bank and shoots two guards. Based on camera footage and body movements, Carrie and the FBI wrongly identify J.D. as the gunman. By now, Elizabeth has taken a female hostage, whom she seduces and kills off-screen. An FBI agent comes calling, but he hasn’t been briefed on the Chameleon. He believes the woman’s story about the bank robber being upstairs, which allows Elizabeth an easy backstab kill. To be fair, Zuniga is convincing in switching personalities.

J.D. escapes and returns to the small town where it all started. Carrie is already there and – not believing her boyfriend’s wild tale – handcuffs him to a radiator. His story checks out in the end, but then Elizabeth arrives and targets another victim: Carrie. The women have an argument as the policewoman digs a grave at gunpoint, while J.D. desperately tries to free himself.

Elizabeth makes Carrie undress and somehow changes into her uniform (completely implausible given her victim is awake and unrestrained). The victim does the old “throw dirt in the face” trick, and a catfight follows. Carrie gains the advantage, and J.D. races to the rescue, only to attack the wrong woman just as she’s about to shoot. Elizabeth knocks out the would-be hero, then we get a second struggle, which ends when Carrie turns the gun on the psycho.

Honourable Mentions: Mistresses of Disguise

Sofia (2012) (aka Assassin’s Bullet) – Vicky / Ursula / Sofia (Elika Portnoy)

A female assassin targets Islamic extremists in this confusing action thriller. Unsurprisingly set in the Bulgarian city of Sofia, the opening kill sets up the black-clad antagonist as a mysterious – and efficient – hitwoman who leaves no witnesses. The execution draws the attention of the American ambassador (Donald Sutherland), who asks ex-FBI agent Robert Diggs (Christian Slater) to investigate.

What follows is a muddled mess, with several women involved. These include an English language teacher named Vicky and the redhead belly dancer Ursula, who Diggs falls for. Vicky is a patient of Dr Aaron Kahn (Timothy Spall) who likes to draw sketches while he works. Corrupt police detectives sell a sniper rifle to an assassin and cover their tracks by erasing a videotape. Despite the suggestion that this might be important, they’re never seen again.

Meanwhile, the leather chick receives kill orders from a mysterious coin-spinning controller. Since the director is Isaac Fiorentine, the assassinations are the best parts of the movie. Highlights include the female sniper lining up her shot and executing a praying man, a daring raid on a compound, and an inevitable chase scene. The killer confronts Diggs in an impressive fight.

Sadly, this is preceded by an obvious reveal that Vicky, Ursula, and the assassin are all the same woman with multiple personality disorder. Given their erratic behaviour and Vicky’s recollection of a terrorist attack, this comes as no great shock. The ambassador is revealed to be the man behind the hits, but since he’s the only person with the information, that’s equally unsurprising. The movie ends with the assassin moving to Paris at the ambassador’s request, as the obsessed Kahn shadows her. Little makes sense, but the stylish and rather bizarre antagonist earns a mention.

The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990) – Jasmin (Elizabeth Gracen), Voshenko (Anna Katerina)

This movie features the final Bill Bixby / Lou Ferringo appearance as the Marvel comic character. As the title suggests, the hero dies at the end, but was slated to return. Sadly, Bixby passed away from cancer, and the project was shelved.

David Banner attempts to cure himself with the help of a sympathetic scientist, but falls foul of Eastern European spies after top-secret genetic research. The villains blackmail a reluctant agent named Jasmin – an expert thief and mistress of disguise – by threatening her captive sister, Bella. Jasmin seduces a security guard and collects his fingerprints. Then, the deceptive spy swaps clothes and removes her earrings and wig. When she exits the restroom, she looks a totally different person.

Jasmin pulls off a similar trick to get a female guard’s uniform, then later disguises herself as that same woman to access the lab. This interrupts the doctor’s attempt to cure David, accidentally starts a fire, and triggers a transformation into the Hulk. Frustrated with Jasmin’s failure, the villains decide she’s outlived her usefulness. So, for the second half of the film, she works with David and uses her skills to claim revenge on the evil spy leader Voshenko. That would be Jasmin’s sister who faked the kidnapping.

Voshenko isn’t a great villainess. She spends her little screen time issuing orders to other people, and a henchman even points the boss’ reluctance to get her hands dirty. A rushed finale has Voshenko escape on a plane, only for the Hulk to get on board and redirect her small arms fire. This results in an explosion, and – while sad music plays – the hero falls to his death on the runway below.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #43

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*An assassin is deadly when you can’t see or hear her*

Movie

See No Evil, Hear No Evil (1989)

One of several comedies starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, this entertaining romp pitted the duo against a sexy and clever hitwoman in Joan Severance’s Eve. Kevin Spacey plays the considerably less intelligent English henchman Kirgo.

Dave (Wilder) is the deaf owner of a New York news kiosk, and the blind Wally (Pryor) is his new assistant. The pair soon get into trouble – fistfights in a bar and arguments with pedestrians – but their problems get serious after Wally’s bookmaker unloads a gold coin… shortly before he’s bumped off by Eve. Wally hears the gunshot and smells the assassin’s perfume as she makes her getaway. Dave sees the killer – and her legs – from behind. Naturally, the pair get arrested at the scene, but not before Wally unknowingly collects the coin.

With two disabled main characters, the jokes could easily have backfired, but everything is good-natured and the heroes overcome their handicaps to triumph. Besides the two killers and their mysterious employer Sutherland (Anthony Zerbe), Dave and Wally must also contend with the obsessed Captain Braddock (Alan North) who’s convinced they are guilty. Fortunately, the duo has an ally in Wally’s sister Adele (Kirsten Childs). No prizes for guessing the girl ends up captured, forcing the heroes to come up with a daring rescue plan.

See No Evil, Hear No Evil was one of several action comedies I considered for a top-half ranking slot. Ultimately, this movie triumphs over its competition because of the superior humour, stylish villainess, and inventive situations.

Villainess

Eve (Joan Severance)

From the moment Eve makes her first appearance, it’s clear she’s a dangerous woman. She may not be top of the villainous hierarchy, but she is the comedy duo’s deadliest opponent. More competent than the hapless Kirgo and smarter than her employer gives her credit for. As the most interesting foe, it’s no surprise the female assassin survives while her comrades bite the dust.

After failing to acquire the coin, Eve and Kirgo soon discover that the arrested Dave and Wally have their prize and so pose as lawyers. Tipped off by Eve’s legs and perfume, the deaf / blind protagonists deduce their “attorneys” are there to kill them and make a dramatic escape. That part goes well – thanks to the inept NYPD – but the villains soon catch up.

Eve retrieves the coin and Dave persuades her to kiss him, but this villainess is not one for mercy and Kirgo is even less generous. With things looking gloomy, the duo combine their skills. Dave reads Eve’s lips while she talks on a payphone, and Wally surprises Kirgo with a punch. The heroes then go on the run – or rather, a chaotic drive – through the streets of New York City.

This car chase goes on for several minutes with assassins and police in pursuit. Somehow Wally avoids a road accident, but crashes into a garbage-laden barge. Despite eluding Eve and Captain Braddock, the heroes realise the only way to clear their names is to get the coin back. This leads to a comical sequence at a rural hotel resort where the duo impersonate foreign doctors (rather hopelessly, it must be said). Adele distracts Kirgo while Dave searches Eve’s room and Wally stands guard outside (until he’s dragged into a medical conference).

After Dave retrieves the coin once more, a towel-wrapped Eve walks in after she finishes a shower. Dave uses – let’s say unorthodox means – to improvise, and she raises her hands. He kisses the naked woman (who can blame him?) before leaving, but it doesn’t take long for the assassins to realise Adele is working with the duo.

Sutherland’s estate – the setting for the final showdown – is a mansion patrolled by a burly groundskeeper and ferocious guard dogs. Wally and Dave rescue Adele – after knocking out Eve – but they are captured. Kirgo brings Wally before Sutherland, who then reveals the “gold coin” is a room-temperature superconductor.

The foolish henchman renegotiates his cut, prompting Sutherland to switch off the lights and shoot him. It turns out the main villain is just as blind as Wally, leading to a standoff with the two men stalking each other around the room. This is a tense and original sequence, sadly cut short by Eve’s arrival.

Sutherland’s attempt to repeat the “lights out” trick ends with the henchwoman shooting him at point-blank range. Eve dashes to a waiting helicopter, but the heroes aren’t about to let her escape. Dave and a reluctant Wally slide down a conveniently placed wire to get the drop on the villainess. Then Adele arrives with the cavalry.

Honourable Mention: Ruthless Robbers

Beverly Hills Cop II (1987) – Karla Fry (Brigitte Nielsen)

This comedy sequel made my original list, but on reflection there were better examples. Things get off to an explosive start as the statuesque blonde Karla leads a jewellery store heist in Beverly Hills. After she shoots up the place – overly dressed in a white coat, high heels, and sunglasses – the villainess leaves behind an envelope labelled with a capital A.

So begin the “alphabet bandit” crimes, and letter B is delivered after an attempted hit on police Captain Andrew Bogomil. That’s Axel Foley’s friend from the first movie, so the villains have his full attention. Up against Eddie Murphy as the con artist with a badge, they don’t stand a chance.

Karla stands out because the other villains are uninteresting. Maxwell Dent (Jürgen Prochnow) is a shady businessman running an insurance scam and arms deals on the side, and Charles Cain (Dean Stockwell) is simply a fall guy. Among the jokes and various cons, which become tired and repetitive, there’s an encounter with Karla at a gun club and not much else until the next big heist. The City Deposit is probably the best robbery, with the black-clad Karla masking up while Foley and his sidekicks race to stop them.

Karla plays policewoman and wears a gas mask for the final armed robbery at Dent’s racetrack. It’s here she gets her best moment, shooting Cain and another accomplice as part of a double-cross. Sadly, the finale at an oilfield is dull, with Karla only briefly seen and Dent too easily disposed of.

The villainess gets the drop on Foley, only to be shot by a secondary character. As anticlimactic as it sounds, unfortunately. Well, at least there’s a (poor) joke at her expense and a trademark Eddie Murphy laugh.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #44

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*Generic sequel, much improved villainess*

Movie

Crackerjack 2 (1997)

Sequels often feature better female villains than the original, and that’s the case here. Crackerjack (1994) was basically Die Hard at a mountain ski resort, with Christopher Plummer doing a rather meek Hans Gruber impression as German baddie Ivan Getz. The villain and his trigger-happy mercenaries occupy an entire mountain just to get their hands on a repentant mob boss’ diamonds. Surely there’s an easier approach to getting rich.

The B-grade action movie is a complete rip-off of the 1988 classic and doesn’t pretend otherwise. Jack Wild is a lone cop with family members among the hostages, and Getz shows no concern for human life, whether it be civilians or his own men. Sole female villain Alex (Dorothy Fehr) acts tough, crushes a nut and shoots some innocent guy, but her involvement is standing around while Getz does the talking. In the end, Alex gets a “blink and miss it” death when she’s blown away without so much as a one-liner.

Thankfully, the villainess in Crackerjack 2 is far superior. The film has a trashy, cookie-cutter plot, but at least there’s something going for it. While the second film appears to be a train-set Die Hard clone (it was titled Hostage Train in the US), the action mostly takes place in a sealed-off tunnel. Convenient when you need nondescript concrete rooms to hide a low budget.

Thomas Ian Griffith must have been unavailable for the sequel as the main character is now played by Judge Reinhold. If you’re wondering who that is, he was Eddie Murphy’s sidekick in the Beverly Hills Cop films. One assumes B-movie action regulars turned the producers down, though Reinhold is passable in all fairness.

The setup is by the numbers. The terrorist Hans Becker (Karel Roden) murdered Wild’s wife, and now plans to extort investors on the same train as Wild’s fiancée Dana Townsend. She’s played by Carol Alt – a former swimsuit model – so expect scantily clad scenes to keep the viewer’s attention until the action kicks in. Once it does, it’s revealed that Becker is not the main villain. That would be Michael Sarazzin as some guy called Smith (probably an alias, but never confirmed), who poses as an innocent passenger but abandons the ruse so soon it’s pointless.

This is a generic cut-and-paste affair. Villains are way ahead of the incompetent authorities, and only Jack Wild can save the day. Special forces attempt an airborne assault only to get blown up along with a decoy train. The baddies have an escape plan, which involves killing the hostages. For comic relief, there’s a model train enthusiast who exists solely to provide information. Just like the first Crackerjack, the plot reads like a Die Hard ripoff checklist, and without Jasmine, the movie would be unbearable.

Villainess

Jasmine (Katerina Brozova)

The prologue is the expected loud action sequence that introduces the feud between Wild and Becker, and also an incompetent boss who arrests the hero for obstruction of justice. Jasmine is absent for this, but shows up for the aftermath at the villain’s hideout. The villainess claims a captured businessman was “no fun” moments before she garrotes him live on camera. The kill happens off screen, but this is already an improvement on the first Crackerjack film.

It’s a little while before Wild discovers the hideout and the man’s body (he was busy having sex with Dana and fighting off Becker’s thugs). Turns out the dead guy was supposed to meet Dana on a train, except Becker takes his place and mails the snuff video to the authorities with a fake ransom demand. Wild – with the help of a helicopter pilot friend – gets on board and ends up trapped in the tunnel system with terrified hostages and terrorists. Does any of this sound familiar?

With her introduction over, Jasmine helps Smith interrogate the investor prisoners. She’s one sadistic henchwoman who likes to pull out teeth with pliers. Plural, because Jasmine takes a tooth from the wrong side and is overjoyed at doing the whole thing again. Perhaps the investor should have taken the hint and provided his bank account details. This guy isn’t smart, however. Not only does he insult his wife when she’s threatened by Smith, but also threatens Jasmine after she drags him back to the cell. Does this idiot realise the villains don’t need him anymore? A point the henchwoman is happy to clarify by shooting him in the back.

The next investor in the hot seat is reluctant to give up his details too. Jasmine’s persuasion method this time is sexually assaulting the man’s wife / girlfriend. The hostage squirms uncomfortably as Jasmine squeezes her legs, and eventually the investor caves in. Pity for the villain’s tech guy, Krill – he was enjoying it.

Meanwhile, Wild finds his way into the hostage room, but nobody wants to escape. Perhaps they’d rather be tortured by Jasmine? Once Wild has annoyed Becker and taken out a few of his thugs, it’s high time the two met. Wild sneaks up on Becker and has him at gunpoint. Does he shoot the man who murdered his wife? Of course not! Otherwise, the hero couldn’t be captured and have a bomb taped to his chest.

Smith and Jasmine consider Becker and his thugs expendable, so they speed up the countdown and flood the tunnels with water from a reservoir. Just so Wild can obtain the disc with the investors’ financial data, Krill is sent with one man for protection. The bodyguard goes down after one punch, and the techie puts up little resistance. Smith isn’t too happy with Krill’s failure, so Jasmine gets a second strangulation kill. She clearly gets all excited and sexually aroused, but the camera cuts away to shots of Wild struggling to escape. Another mostly off-screen murder, then.

After Jasmine takes Dana hostage to trade for the disk, the others decide it’s a good time to leave. The final confrontation takes place in a shaft. Jasmine mouths off to Wild, but then it’s her turn to get shot in the back. Smith really doesn’t believe in sharing his ill-got gains.

The villainess’ death is a disappointing end to what came before. Don’t get hopes up for a good climax. Smith gets tossed down the shaft by Dana, who finally uses the self-defence training foreshadowed earlier. And the heroes survive an explosion with little more than blackened faces.

Honourable Mention: Prominent Henchwomen

Rush Hour 2 (2001) – Hu Li (Zhang Ziyi)

This action-comedy sequel pitted detective duo Lee and Carter (Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker) against Chinese triads in Hong Kong, though they were causing chaos in America by the end. Asian martial arts actors often get cast as villains in Hollywood productions, and Zhang Ziyi – of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon fame – plays the enforcer to chief baddie Ricky Tan (John Lone).

Events play out with no major surprises. A female customs agent (Roselyn Sanchez) with questionable loyalty undresses while the cops stake out her Los Angeles apartment. Hu Li shoots Tan on his yacht and apparently kills him, but the old staged assassination ploy won’t fool seasoned viewers. Why would they bother with a backstory about Tan and Lee’s former partner?

Hu Li doesn’t get any direct kills, despite having a fair chunk of screen time. Her major acts of villainy are setting off bombs in buildings, acting cold and mean, and knocking out the two heroes with high kicks. She also skewers an apple with a throwing knife, if you count that. All the encounters – mostly between Hu Li and Carter – finish with effortless victories for the villainess.

The main action set piece – where Hu Li finally does some serious fighting – is set in a Los Vegas casino. The villainess tapes a grenade in Lee’s mouth while gloatingly holding a detonator, which leads to an inventive brawl with the hero desperately trying to remove the explosive. With Carter’s help, Lee survives this messy situation and goes after the big boss while his partner takes on Hu Li. The fight is played for laughs, but Carter holds his own (mostly by accident) against a much more skilled opponent. Somehow the loud-mouthed cop wins, and Hu Li ends up impaled on a decorative spear.

If that “demise” was disappointing, then get ready for worse. Hu Li survives her injury to show up at the villain’s penthouse holding a bomb. Why would an icy, composed woman suddenly become hysterical and suicidal? A stupid plot device to add in a gigantic explosion and one final stunt sequence.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #45

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*As the title suggests, masks are a common theme*

Movie

Masquerade (2021)

Many home invasion-themed thrillers feature female antagonists, but this recent release is a standout. There are two contrasting villainesses: a sympathetic burglar and a mysterious woman who may be a criminal mastermind. Both women dress all in black and wear fencing masks for a good portion of the film, and there’s also a great (though confusing) plot twist to wrap things up.

The initial setup is simple and familiar. A young girl named Casey (Alyvia Alyn Lind) is at home with her babysitter Sofia when two masked intruders break in to steal precious paintings. The burglar in charge is male, and his nasty streak is established when he bludgeons Sofia to death while a terrified Casey watches from upstairs. The girl flees and proves a surprisingly elusive quarry to track. After a few tense moments – notably when Casey hides behind a standing mirror – the child takes refuge in the attic.

Where are Casey’s parents while all this is going on? Art broker couple Daniel (Austin Nichols) and Olivia (Mercia Monroe) are on their way home from an influential society gathering. Masks are a common theme, so this was a masquerade event of some description. A waitress named Rose kindly offered the brokers a lift, but she seems in league with the art thieves.

Despite a slow first half and limited locations, things intensify when the brokers arrive home and Rose masks up to join the party. Casey is still in danger but gaining in confidence, and things are about to get bloody – and mind-boggling – before the end.

Villainesses

Rose (Bella Thorne), Woman (Skyler Samuels)

During the opening half-hour, the masked female thief searches for Casey. The woman is more sympathetic than her male counterpart, and she shows distaste at the brutal murder of Sofia. The thief plays a deadly game of hide and seek with Casey, making threatening comments that have little impact. After the girl falls through the attic roof and gives herself away, the burglars spend another ten minutes finding the access point. Then it’s the masked woman’s job to deal with Casey while the male intruder handles the parents.

To get close to the girl, the woman agrees to a request to remove her mask. Don’t expect a great reveal here – this is a character we haven’t seen before. In fact, the female thief is never referred to by name and is simply called “woman” in the credits. She comes across as concerned and is believable when she makes a promise not to harm Casey. However, those efforts are undone when Casey hears a commotion downstairs and jumps through the weak floor to relative safety.

Once again, Casey is effective at hiding and fixes a makeshift splint for her broken ankle. The male thief is angry at his female accomplice for removing her mask, and she has a mental breakdown in the last act. Eventually, Casey finds a revolver and confronts the man while he’s stealing artwork. During the exchange that follows, the female is shot through the mask (and eye). The masked male then turns the gun on Casey and shoots her. Masquerade certainly isn’t a film for anyone squeamish.

Before all this, Rose discusses artworks (and masks) with the brokers. She drops the facade when the couple arrive home, then dons a black outfit and fencing mask of her own. Rose surprises Olivia and ties her up before confronting Daniel. This is a brutal encounter involving torture and threats. By the time the leather-clad villainess has finished with her captive, he’s a bloody wreck and capitulates to Rose’s demands to provide the safe combination.

Then comes the big reveal, which culminates in the male thief taking off his mask to reveal… a younger Daniel. Meanwhile, Rose unmasks, and the older Daniel clearly recognises her. Yes, there are two separate home invasion plots going on, and Rose is actually a grown-up Casey-Rose. This twist is a cheat, since there’s no overall framing device. Two narratives in different time periods unfold in parallel, and similar events (noises, parents attacked) happen in both timelines at just the point they need to.

In retrospect, there are clues such as the two thieves and Rose never meeting and the parents not being concerned about their daughter’s safety. That’s because their real little girl – not Casey, remember – is with a childminder who is Sofia’s sister. Who is Rose’s accomplice, and it was her she spoke with on the phone, not the art thieves.

Getting all this? If not, there’s a convenient Usual Suspects-style montage that revisits key dialogue lines that now take on a whole new meaning. Plus some extra scenes, such as Rose tracking down the brokers, plotting her revenge, and doing surveillance. As for Daniel and Olivia, their fate is left ambiguous, and we’re treated to a shot of Casey aging into Rose to clarify what the hell just happened.

Honourable Mention: Home Invasion Movies

Home Invasion (2016) – Victoria Knox (Kyra Zagorsky)

Take one guess what this movie is about. The unimaginative title doesn’t generate high expectations, but production values are reasonable for a direct to video / streaming film. There’s a decent cast to add some quality. Natasha Henstridge is Chloe, a woman trapped at home with her teenage son when three masked mercenaries come calling. Her best friend doesn’t last long, though the “start the story in the middle” opening means the poor woman gets some pre-mortem dialogue later.

Victoria’s mask is the worst of the bunch, barely covering her face. However, it’s only a temporary measure while the mercs take out the security cameras. The obvious ones, anyway. Turns out the baddies have already killed Chloe’s mysterious husband, but not before he converted the house into a private fortress with hidden surveillance. With the cops trapped across a sabotaged bridge, Chloe’s only ally is an experienced security dispatcher (Jason Patric).

The primary villain is Heflin (martial arts star Scott Adkins), who disappointingly doesn’t do much fighting. Since the main character is female, the job goes to his lieutenant, Victoria. Before the inevitable catfight with Chloe, the villainess strips down to a sleeveless leather top and patrols the rainy exterior. Victoria comes across as trigger-happy and gets the action she craves when she tosses a stun grenade to subdue the elusive Chloe. The mother / son team has a tough fight, but eventually takes Victoria down with a shovel. Being heroes, they only tie her up and don’t kill her, which means she’s not done yet.

What are these mercenaries after? An item the husband stole from Heflin and locked in a hidden safe. That’s all we ever find out. When the robbers cannot breach the security, Victoria – now free from her restraints – threatens Chloe’s son at knifepoint, hoping the wife knows the combination. That seems unlikely, but these guys aren’t that smart.

The finale has Victoria chase the boy outside, only to be run over by the car he’s driving. A bland death scene, and the main villain’s isn’t much better. Guess they weren’t going for originality.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #46

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*She likes to finish on top – literally*

Movie

The Rookie (1990)

Clint Eastwood transitioned from playing cowboys to cowboy cops in the 1970s when he starred as the iconic Dirty Harry. His five-movie stint as Inspector Callahan ended with The Dead Pool in 1988, but his character Nick Pulovski in The Rookie is identical in all but name. The title refers to his new partner, David Ackerman (Charlie Sheen), a suited, by the book detective who learns the ropes from his veteran colleague.

The buddy cop theme and Los Angeles setting are familiar, but instead of drug dealers or serial killers, the opposition is Strom (Raul Julia) and his exotic car theft ring. While the main villain is hammy, his tough-girl companion Liesl offers some welcome variety. Everything is standard to begin with: the murder of Nick’s partner, an initially frosty relationship with Ackerman that softens over time, and a slew of wisecracks. The film overuses “repeat scenarios” where the rookie finds himself in the same situation as Nick and speaks the same dialogue. This is just humorous enough not to feel tiresome.

The plot takes an unusual diversion partway through when Strom captures Nick and holds him for ransom. Ackerman gets to play the hero cop while Nick is literally tied up at the villainess’ mercy. During the third act, the badass rookie takes down a bar full of goons all by himself. His wife doesn’t appreciate the change in personality until her motorcycle-riding husband saves her from a henchman.

There are attempts at character development around Ackerman: flashbacks to a childhood accident that killed his brother, and his wealthy father’s lack of support. These are all secondary to the action, however. Memorable scenes include a trailer truck chase in the prologue, an unlikely escape by driving a car through a high window to escape an explosion, and a climactic shootout at an airport terminal. Braga’s bad girl lasts the distance, so there’s plenty for female villain fans to enjoy.

Villainess

Liesl (Sonia Braga)

Early on, Liesl is Strom’s silent partner and apparently a minor character. Pulovski quips about her driving an expensive car, with no inkling she’s part of the theft ring. She’s often in the background while Strom conducts shady business, though her hardened features, muscular tattooed arms, and intense body language hint at what’s coming.

After forty minutes, Liesl finally gets some action. By that point, Nick had used strong-arm tactics to persuade two lower-rung thugs to become snitches. That shortens their life expectancy quite a bit, and when Strom loses money, he soon identifies the mole. The villainess kickboxes the man into submission and puts a bullet in his head, though we only see her aim with the gunshot itself off-screen.

Strom and his crew raid a casino vault, desperate for cash. However, Nick and Ackerman are waiting thanks to the snitch’s listening device. The arrest goes well until Liesl challenges Ackerman by walking towards him. Too honourable for his own good, the rookie cop refuses to shoot an unarmed woman. A scuffle follows before the villainess pulls out a backup weapon, calls Ackerman an amateur, and puts three slugs in him. The rookie is wearing a bulletproof vest, but that doesn’t prevent his partner from being taken hostage.

While Ackerman is busy busting heads and following leads, Liesl shows her dominance by raping Nick. This is a full-on sexual assault that goes on for five minutes, and she threatens to cut off Nick’s private parts with a razor blade. Then, she forces herself onto him and videotapes the whole thing as a memento. Nick looks decidedly uncomfortable, an experience likely shared by many viewers. Sonia Braga comes across as a nasty piece of work, and the only person enjoying herself.

Strom isn’t happy to discover Liesl’s side activities, but she’s there for the climax. Ackerman has rescued Nick, and the two cops pursue their quarry to an airport. It’s here Liesl goes trigger-happy with a submachine gun and the villains separate.

Nick goes after the main man and eventually kills him on a baggage carousel, while Ackerman gets the chance for revenge against Liesl. After a chase through the concourse, the hero confronts the villainess and surprises her from behind. People might expect a fight scene given Liesl and Ackerman are capable fighters, but the rookie calls her an amateur and pulls the trigger. Touche.

Honourable Mentions: Dirty Harry Movies

The Enforcer (1976) – Wanda (Samantha Doane)

By the third Dirty Harry movie, the audience knew what to expect: a tough-talking hero with a .44 Magnum and disregard for authority, shootouts with criminal scum, and partners with short life expectancies. That’s worrying since Inspector Callahan has two partners this time, and both share their last moments with him. The second is a woman, Inspector Moore, played by Tyne Daly (one half of the TV cop duo Cagney & Lacey). Over the course of the film, their adversarial relationship matures into respect. That old chestnut, but this franchise is most effective when it sticks to the formula.

Striking further blows for gender equality, there are two female antagonists. Pity the villains are the weakest in the series, fake terrorists called the People’s Revolutionary Strike Force (PRSF) on a campaign of violence. Villainess #1 is a blonde beauty who lures two men into a trap, only to vanish when the main baddie kills them. This female takes part in a raid on a munitions depot, only to get shot. Half an hour into a ninety-minute movie, her contribution is already over.

Wanda – a bandana-wearing brunette – survives a lot longer. She threatens a guard into raising a bridge (and murders him, but that bit is off-screen) and attempts to bump off Harry while disguised as a nun. Thankfully, Inspector Moore is on hand to save the hero’s ass and gets to prove her capability in the Alcatraz-set climax that follows. That’s before her name is added to the high body count.

Sudden Impact (1983) – Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke)

The main villainess is arguably an anti-heroine, given she targets the sadistic psychos who raped her and put her traumatised sister in a care home. By the film’s climax, Harry sympathises with Jennifer and even sees the vigilante artist as a reflection of himself. San Francisco’s mafia hoodlums and teen gang bangers are so ticked off with Callahan they’ve gone on the offensive, so the brass send Harry to the small town of San Paulo to investigate a murder.

Things would never stay quiet with Harry around, so San Paulo becomes his new hunting ground as Jennifer’s killing spree continues. Sondra Locke is the best series antagonist since Scorpio, the deranged sniper in the original. Jennifer is a woman with a cause who relentlessly executes those responsible by shooting them twice. Once in the genitals, then the head. She shows no mercy or remorse, but remains a sympathetic character since the men (and one lesbian) she murders are so unpleasant.

Harry’s friend helps him in the investigation, but suffers the same fate as many other partners when a gang leader ambushes him. The villains try to kill Harry, but should have made sure he was dead before going after Jennifer.

The grand finale takes place at a carnival where the silhouetted hero arrives to save the girl and dispense his own brand of justice. Once the baddies are dealt with, Harry forgives Jennifer and covers for her crimes. Maybe they aren’t so different.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #47

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*This stylish badass is actually number two in the pecking order*

Movie

Half Past Dead (2002)

Steven Seagal movies aren’t renowned for being high quality. After an impressive career launch in the early 1990s, the action star faded into direct-to-video obscurity. He insists on ludicrous one-sided fights, though the baddies in this movie get in the occasional hit – possibly because they’re fighting a stunt double. Seagal sometimes makes a decent film, though, and this effort was good enough for a cinema release.

The plot is yet another Die Hard scenario, this time set in a high-security prison. Welcome to New Alcatraz, with San Francisco’s famous “Rock” reopened to house hardened criminals played by rapper actors. The bizarre cast includes Ja Rule as Nick Frazier, Kurupt as the loud-mouthed Twitch, and Tony Plana as a tough Hispanic warden. The theme tune is loud and dumb, much like the movie as a whole.

New Alcatraz’s death row inmates are offered the choice of five execution methods. A dubious policy, and first up is Lester McKenna, a train robber who stole two hundred million dollars’ worth of gold bullion. Only he knows the location and plans to take the secret to his grave. The prize would tempt any criminal, so cue an airborne assault by a commando team dubbed the 49ers.

The good guy is Sasha Petrosevitch (Seagal), an FBI agent working undercover to bring down the crime boss who murdered his wife. After his sting operation went wrong, Sasha nearly died. Given his experience, Lester requests to talk with him before his own final journey. This conveniently puts Sasha in the right place to screw up the 49ers’ plan.

For a film high on testosterone, many tough women feature. The authority figure on the outside is Agent Ellen Williams (Claudia Christian), and the 49ers’ main bargaining chip is Judge Jane McPherson (Linda Thorson). In a potential hint at a futuristic setting, the priest overseeing Lester’s execution is also female. Being a woman of God doesn’t save her from the main villain, 49er One (Morris Chestnut), who’s intent on acquiring the buried treasure at any cost.

Villainess

49er Six (Nia Peeples)

The henchwoman’s number is a misnomer, since Six is second in command and the key operative for dealing with tricky situations. She’s the first villain to show her face after the commandos parachute onto New Alcatraz. Before removing her helmet, she clears out a guard tower with an assault rifle and performs an acrobatic leap – all to pumping background music. How’s that for an introduction?

Six spearheads the attack, descending on a rope to eliminate a guard with a thigh neck snap while she sprays a second man with bullets. Nobody could ever accuse her of being window dressing, though she looks stylish with her blue eyeshadow and long black cloak. The male prison population appreciates her entrance, though one steely look is enough to make them retreat into their cells.

Seagal hardly ever fights women (one of his “rules”), so his first encounter with Six is at arm’s length through a closed door. Sasha spins her weapon around, but that’s the only physical interaction. The closest we get to a fight is a later meeting that involves a snappy dialogue exchange and a dramatic rope-swinging escape down a stairwell.

Nick – not restricted by chivalry – has a far lengthier encounter in the basement. He has the villainess at gunpoint, but can’t resist her ironic suggestion to “do this like men”. A fight follows, though it’s more accurate to call it an ass-whooping by the woman in black. Fortunately for Nick, Sasha arrives to save him.

After a helicopter crash messes up the 49ers’ escape plans, the villains switch to Plan B. That involves ransoming the judge for Lester (who’s been rescued in a dramatic raid). The prison cells are opened, and there’s a lot of shooting in the chaos that ensues. Six acts the tough girl quite a bit. She headbutts the warden, gives tense warning stares to the prisoners, and threatens the captive judge. The villainess also stands in for her boss when negotiating with the FBI.

The inmates arm themselves for an expected fight, which leads to a captive exchange in the cell block area. Naturally, the villains double-cross and switch out the judge for a female hostage, but the heroes have a plan of their own and armed felons for backup. Lester sacrifices himself and blows up the escape chopper, taking the big bad with him.

As for Six, she ends up on the receiving end of a beating by the warden. Rather than surrender, she tries to stab him, but Ellen and the FBI response team gun her down.

Honourable Mentions: Steven Seagal Movies

Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) – Fatima (Afifi)

The sequel sees Seagal return as ex-Navy SEAL Casey Ryback for this Die Hard on a train adventure. Morris Chestnut (the villain from Half Past Dead) stars as a wimpy porter named Bobby, and he has the honour of dispatching the film’s sole villainess. Before that, he receives a martial arts lesson from Ryback’s niece, but he soon has bigger things to worry about when armed mercenaries raid the train.

The evil scheme involves a far-fetched earthquake-producing satellite, and it’s hard to care given the uninspired action and mediocre villains. The female foe’s limited screen time mostly comprises standing in the background, and she disappears for whole stretches of the movie. Her most impressive contributions are torturing two military officers for passcodes – with an eye-melting needle she’s disappointed not to use – and wounding Ryback with a sniper rifle.

Drawing blood from a Seagal character (a rare feat) earns the villainess a mention. But it’s Bobby who throws Fatima from a helicopter after a brief fight. The niece will be happy he put her earlier training to good use.

Maximum Conviction (2012) – Charlotte (Aliyah O’Brien)

Another Seagal film set in a prison, a low-tech black site that houses two important female prisoners. One is CIA courier Samantha (Steph Song) who has no combat training despite her dangerous profession. The second woman is Charlotte, a much tougher CIA operative in league with the villains. The bad guys are after a microchip surgically implanted in Samantha’s body, but this plot device is given no explanation or thought. Really, it’s just an excuse for gunfire and fistfights.

Michael Paré is the lead villain, and Seagal has another B-movie actor – Steve Austin – for backup. The males do the fighting early on, and the women don’t play major roles until the second half. Then Charlotte comes into her own and introduces herself to Austin’s character by beating him up. She also kidnaps Samantha and takes down a misogynistic heavyweight prisoner. This is a lady who likes to flex her muscles, and she isn’t sidelined like most Seagal villainesses.

Ultimately, everyone gets into a shootout in the big finale. Disappointingly, it’s Samantha who defeats Charlotte and not a main protagonist. It seems the courier can fire a handgun, at least.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #48

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*Max Zorin prefers female muscle – until she becomes expendable*

Movie

A View to a Kill (1985)

My original draft included three James Bond films, with the rest covered as honourable mentions and discussions. On reflection, I added this entry from the Roger Moore era. Since he holds the record (seven) for official bond movies, there’s plenty of material to discuss. May Day is an iconic villainess worthy of a mid-place ranking, even if she switches allegiance in the last act.

Many regard Moore’s final outing as substandard, though I’ve always found it underrated. It’s possible I’m biased by a masked villainess, the only true one in the series. Stacy Sutton (Tanya Roberts) is arguably a weak “Bond girl”, but nowhere near as annoying as Mary Goodnight in Golden Gun. In the movie’s defence, the story is okay, and the chief villain, Max Zorin, is great. What do you expect when he’s played by Christopher Walken?

The plot is a retread of Goldfinger, except Zorin wants to corner the market on computer microchips instead of gold bullion. He plans to wipe out the competition – Silicon Valley, in this case – and Bond is the only person who can stop him. Zorin is an ex-KGB operative, but has severed ties with the Motherland. His former comrades aren’t too happy about this, and send agent Pola Ivanova (Fiona Fullerton) to investigate. Pola is a fine female antagonist and deserved more screen time, but we get a decent wetsuit / espionage scene and reveal before her premature exit.

Moore had played Bond for 12 years by 1985, which shows in some action scenes with obvious stunt doubles. This might explain why May Day and the hero never have a true confrontation, as defeating a tough henchwoman in a straight-up fight would be unconvincing. If one villainess isn’t enough, Zorin also has two female assistants in Jenny Flex and Pan Ho, though they are limited to support roles. Rumour has it that Jenny was the head of security in the original script, before she was ousted by the male Scarpine. A pity, but they didn’t diminish the female role that really mattered.

Villainess

May Day (Grace Jones)

Like Fiona Volpe from Thunderball, May Day assassinates a man in front of Bond and later unmasks herself. Before that, she’s introduced as Zorin’s red-dressed right-hand woman and shows her strength by taming a wild horse. The muscular badass then pulls off an elaborate kill at the Eiffel Tower, using a fishing rod and poison-tipped artificial fly to murder a nosy detective. Was smuggling in a normal weapon too difficult? But the stage singer act and masked assistant provide perfect cover.

Unlike Fiona, Bond chases this assassin, but his quarry traps his ankles with fishing line to buy valuable time. The killer seems to run into a dead end as Bond chases them to the top of the Paris landmark. That’s when she uses a parachute to escape, prompting a hasty descent and pursuit through the city streets. Bond destroys a lot of property – and the car he’s stolen – and ruins a wedding. It’s all for naught since May Day escapes with Zorin in a speedboat. We then get the villainous reveal, complete with an insane laugh.

May Day is not the usual femme fatale, though she mounts Bond in a bizarre sexual encounter. A skilled martial artist, but the closest she gets to direct combat is subduing a clumsy Soviet agent on an offshore platform. And a late encounter where the villainess rips off Stacy’s leggings.

Whenever people get too close to uncovering Zorin’s plans, it’s May Day’s job to eliminate them. That’s the fate of Sir Godfrey Tibbet (Patrick Macnee), an ally of Bond, who the henchwoman strangles at a carwash. Zorin attempts to eliminate 007 by knocking him out and sinking his car in a lake. His failed effort doesn’t go down well with the KGB, and May Day shows her strength again by lifting a man. As Bond comments, she must take some vitamins.

The Russian survives, but Zorin’s business associate isn’t so lucky. When he refuses to go along with the psychotic villain’s plan, he instructs May Day to “provide him with a drink.” This is an instruction to the villainess to drop the man into the Pacific Ocean from a blimp.

Grace Jones looks the part and has a close encounter with Bond at Zorin’s French estate before the action shifts to California. Stacy, introduced earlier, becomes Bond’s companion in stopping the insane scheme. He receives help from a CIA colleague, but that man gets the “car back seat” assassin treatment. Compared to a formidable woman like May Day, Stacy is a much weaker female, and often the traditional screaming damsel in distress.

The finale takes place at a supposedly abandoned mine, where Zorin plans to trigger an unnatural flood disaster. As a geologist, Stacy provides exposition before she and Bond are discovered. Cut to a chase scene with May Day, Jenny Flex and Pan Ho pursuing the heroes through a maze of darkened tunnels. Too bad Zorin doesn’t value their services enough to keep them around. He floods the mine without warning, and he and Scarpine finish the survivors with submachine guns.

This betrayal comes at a convenient moment for Bond, since the henchwoman had him within reach. She learns the hard way that Zorin never loved her. Jenny and Pan perish in the flood, but a tough cookie like May Day isn’t so easily killed.

The repentant killer assists Bond by hoisting the booby-trapped bomb onto a mine cart. The handbrake is faulty, which gives May Day the perfect opportunity for redemption. Such a great henchwoman switching sides is annoying, but the look on Zorin’s face as she scuppers his plans is priceless. Her final defiant stare makes this one of the best death scenes in the series.

Honourable Mentions / Discussions: Roger Moore Bond Movies

Live and Let Die (1973) – Rosie (Gloria Hendry)

Moore’s first Bond film is best remembered for its occult and blaxploitation themes, and perhaps Clifton James as redneck sheriff J.W. Pepper. After three nondescript men are assassinated, we’re still waiting to see the hero, but his introduction comes after the title song. Then we get a jokey mission briefing at Bond’s London residence. The action livens up later, but some sequences are overlong, notably a speedboat chase in the Louisiana Bayou that lasts nearly fifteen minutes.

Female characters in the Moore era are antagonists with a heart or treacherous beauties. The tarot fortune teller Solitaire (Jane Seymour) is a mysterious and interesting character, narrating Bond’s arrival in New York to investigate the recent murders. She follows a predictable path, falling in love with Bond – and losing her psychic powers as a consequence. For the showdown on the fictional island of San Monique, she’s another girl in need of rescue.

Yaphet Kotto plays a dual role as a crooked diplomat and crime lord. The villain has a weird assortment of henchmen, including a hard-to-kill voodoo priest and the hook-armed Tee Hee. There’s also a forgettable femme fatale in Rosie, a double agent who acts incompetent and scared to deceive Bond. Except it’s not really an act because Rosie is as timid post-reveal. Bond susses her out after a cryptic tarot card hint, but she made so many mistakes her treachery was obvious. The baddies reward failure as you might expect, and eliminate Rosie after she ceases to be useful.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

One of the weaker 007 entries, this starts with another Bond-less pre-credit sequence and doesn’t get any better. The sole bright spot is Francisco Scaramanga, the title villain played by Christopher Lee. He’s an assassin who charges one million dollars per hit, a lot of money in 1974.

Misplaced attempts at humour include an unwelcome return for J.W. Pepper from Live and Let Die. Watching a racist shout unpleasantries towards the Bangkok population is uncomfortable these days. The midget Nik Nak offers comic relief encounters instead of a genuine threat.

Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) is the most demeaning woman in the series. Allegedly, she’s a secret agent, but goes through the entire movie doing nothing useful. She gets locked in a closet, stuck in a flying car, and spends the last act in a bikini. The bumbling bimbo even triggers a laser weapon when she presses a button with her backside (!). Maud Adams, who’d later star in Octopussy, plays the assassin’s mistress who hires Bond to kill him. Like many supporting females, she winds up dead halfway through.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) – Naomi (Caroline Munro)

Moore’s third effort has an exciting teaser, which sets the bar for all that followed. The ski chase, stunt jump off a cliff, and Union Jack parachute are iconic, still impressive decades later. It’s a brilliant setup, and we also get Sue Vanner as the unnamed “log cabin girl”, a Soviet agent.

The titular spy is Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), a refreshingly liberated woman for Bond to spar with. She is equally adept at opportune quips and gadgetry as 007, and the two form a reluctant alliance to investigate missing nuclear submarines. Their romance sours when Anya discovers Bond killed her lover on a previous mission, but she’s eventually won over by his charm. The Russian is capable, but still needs to be rescued a few times, notably in the finale where she’s held prisoner in a skimpy outfit.

The main villain, Karl Stromberg, is a madman bent on global nuclear destruction to create a new world beneath the sea. He has two elaborate aquatic lairs: a tanker and a submersible base, appropriately named Atlantis. The latter comes with a shark pool for disposing of suspected traitors. Besides a jumpsuit-clad army, he has a reliable henchman: the steel-toothed giant Jaws (Richard Kiel).

Regarded as one of the series’ best, the film excels in “expected male is a female” reveals. The camera focuses on Anya’s male lover before she’s confirmed as the top Soviet agent. A sub commander is shocked the major is a woman, and she almost hides her gender from Stromberg’s goons before they unmask her.

The best reveal goes to the villainess Naomi (Caroline Munro) during a car chase in Sardinia. In her earlier scenes, she was eye candy with brief dialogue. Now she’s a deadly henchwoman piloting a helicopter. She proves more elusive and dangerous than some female assassins, prompting Bond to drive his vehicle off a pier. Fortunately, the car is a Q-Branch special and converts into a submarine. It’s also equipped with a surface-to-air missile for disposing of troublesome threats.

Moonraker (1979)

James Bond meets Star Wars to produce a climactic space laser battle that’s far-fetched even for this franchise. There are some serious scenes on Earth beforehand, starting with a space shuttle hijack and the now mandatory pre-title action sequence. A femme fatale poses as a stewardess, only to reveal herself as a baddie after kissing the hero. She gets forgotten after a brief dialogue exchange, but the skydiving fight and stunt work make up for it.

The villainous Drax (Michael Lonsdale) and his henchmen try various methods to eliminate Bond. This includes sabotaging a takeoff simulator, a Venetian glassworks fight, and a bizarre canal chase. That ends with a gondola converting to a hovercraft while animals watch in amazement.

Females are well represented. Bond’s ally is CIA agent Holly Goodhead, who fits the mysterious woman with her own agenda template. Drax is an equal opportunity employer with as many women as men among his yellow jump suited mooks. But since the villain’s goal is to wipe out humanity and start over, it’s advisable to have breeding capability.

Some white-dressed “perfect females” show their evil side when they lure Bond to a converted ancient temple and dump him in a pool with a huge python. Bond borrowed a poison pen from Holly earlier and kills the reptile, which upsets the sadistic onlookers.

All the major encounters are between men. But counting minor roles, Moonraker holds the record for the number of female villains in a Bond movie.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

Follow-ups to an outlandish 007 movie are usually grounded in realism. So this is a serious entry with some cartoonish scenes, such as “Blofeld” (not officially him due to rights issues) being dropped down a chimney.

Villainesses are nonexistent in grittier films, with women not involved in the action. However, the movie has a tough leading lady in Melina Havelock, a Greek beauty who helps Bond to locate a sunken spy ship.

Not one to be sidelined, this crossbow-wielding woman is out to avenge her murdered parents. Melina gets a nice unmasking scene after she saves Bond from a pursuing henchman. In the hilltop monastery assault (the last action set piece), she’s a silent and deadly killer. In another universe, Melina could have been a formidable foe, but after the Mary Goodnight travesty, we’ll settle for a competent ally.

Octopussy (1983) – Magda (Kristina Wayborn)

Moore’s penultimate film has the secret agent pursue a jewellery smuggling ring to India. The real action begins when he uncovers a plot by a rogue Soviet general to detonate a nuclear bomb on a NATO airbase. The chief villain is Kamal Khan (Louis Jordan), who’s in partnership with an all-female crime organisation led by the title Octopussy (Maud Adams).

Besides his tough bodyguard Gobinda, Kamal is also assisted by a duplicitous woman named Magda. She has more than one verbal joust with Bond, but her best moment is when she steals a Fabergé egg from a hotel room and escapes over his balcony using a long trailing dress as a makeshift rope. Of course, 007 anticipated this and planted a listening device.

The cat-and-mouse game between Bond and Magda goes on throughout the film, though she ends up fighting for the good guys in the end. She’s a skilled martial artist during the climax when her circus troupe attacks Kamal’s palace residence.

Octopussy has an interesting backstory, and Maud Adams survives the whole movie this time. Naturally, she gets captured by Kamal and Gobinda after they double-cross her and has to be rescued by the hero. Two interesting female roles, and Magda – because of her icy attitude when helping Kamal – just about qualifies as a redeemed villainess.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #49

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*Imhotep’s mistress is also back – with significantly more screen time*

Movie

The Mummy Returns (2001)

The Brendan Fraser Mummy trilogy – which spans nine years of production and three decades in setting – delivers adventure, thrills, and humour. While the cast is mostly male, the women who feature are heavily involved in the action.

Returns takes place in 1933, nine years after The Mummy (1999). In the same vein and time period as Indiana Jones, the movie thankfully avoids including Nazis. Instead, the heroes battle mercenaries, Egyptian cultists, weird pygmy creatures with blowpipes, and an undead horde led by the Scorpion King (Dwayne Johnson, aka The Rock). And Arnold Vosloo as the title creature, Imhotep, reprising his role from the first film. Even with his immortal soul trapped in the underworld, this guy won’t stay dead.

Franchise fans will already be familiar with Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz). Her oafish brother Jonathan (John Hannah) and the Egyptian Medjai (Oded Fehr) are back for another adventure too. Rick and Evelyn have married since we last saw them, and now have a son, Alex (Freddie Boath). It seems the hero’s derring-do has rubbed off on his wife. Evelyn is no longer a timid librarian, but an action girl at ease with firearms and unnerved by danger.

The prologue introduces the Scorpion King and his pact with Anubis, who granted him an all-conquering army in exchange for his soul. The resurrected Imhotep and his reincarnated lover want dominion over the undead, and the heroes must save the world again. Alex becomes an unwitting pawn when he puts on the bracelet of Anubis, which reveals the way to a lost oasis but imposes a seven-day time limit. Not to worry – if anyone can handle the extra pressure, it’s the O’Connells.

Villainess

Meela / Anck-Su-Namun (Patricia Velasquez)

The Pharoah’s mistress was introduced in the first movie, but her only appearances were a flashback set in ancient Egypt – expanded upon in Returns – and the showdown in the City of the Dead. Later scenes had her wrapped in rags, and she looked decidedly unpleasant.

Villainess fans will be happy that Patricia Velasquez has a lot more screen time in the sequel. She plays a dual role: Anck-Su-Namun and Meela, a 1930s scholar with memories of her past life. Meela has inherited the treacherous Egyptian’s evil traits and leads an expedition to dig up Imhotep’s remains. When scarabs devour her workforce, she views them as expendable.

After her mercenaries fail to recover the Scorpion King’s bracelet, Meela travels to London to handle the situation personally. There’s a great villainous moment when she mistakes Jonathan for Rick and threatens him with a poisonous snake. Fortunately, the American hero saves the hapless Englishman. Undeterred, the villainess kidnaps Evelyn, leading to an action scene at the British Museum where the Mummy returns (get it?) from the dead yet again.

Meela is even nastier in Egypt when she threatens the young Alex and tricks her mercenaries into opening a cursed chest. The evil Imhotep – now regenerated – restores his lover’s soul. Reincarnation is a major plot theme, and we learn Evelyn was once Nefertiri, the Pharoah’s daughter, in a past life. Cue another ancient Egyptian flashback and a melee combat duel between the two masked women.

The final battle takes place at an oasis sanctuary. With the henchmen wiped out by pygmies, it boils down to three concurrent battles: Rick vs. Imhotep (until a CGI Scorpion King joins the fray), Medjai vs. the undead, and Evelyn / Nefertiri vs. Anck-Su-Namun. The villainess kills the heroine before this, leaving Jonathan to fend off the more skilled princess. Fortunately, the Book of the Dead provides the means to restore Evelyn back to life. Then comes the rematch, when she fights her nemesis with twin sais and wins.

The ending is a tale of two romances. With the Scorpion King defeated, his lair collapses. Evelyn risks her life to save Rick, but Anck-Su-Namun abandons Imhotep to his fate. The anguished expression on his face is quite touching. Imhotep was mummified alive, all for misplaced love. The self-serving villainess doesn’t last long, falling into a scorpion pit and earning a just reward for her betrayal.

Honourable Mentions: The Mummy Series / Reboot

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) – Choi (Jessey Meng)

Action shifts to China for the third entry, but many story elements remain. Once again, villains dig up a mummified evil-doer and resurrect him for their own ends. Jet Li is the title emperor, a merciless ancient commander with power over the elements and a cursed terracotta army. Martial arts fans will find Li’s contribution disappointing because, other than a few fights, it’s all CGI, shape-shifting, and magic.

Now in the 1940s, Alex has grown up and Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz as Evelyn. There’s an in-joke about her being “a completely different person,” but the heroes lack chemistry. Dragon Emperor is a lacklustre effort, and the same could be said of its villains. A Chinese general named Yang wants to restore his nation’s past glory, aided by his female lieutenant Choi. The scarred villainess mostly stands in the background, with the odd evil smile to remind us she’s there.

Choi’s best moment is when she confronts and subdues Evelyn at a museum in Shanghai. The villainess literally draws blood before the two women fight. Victory goes to the good girl, and Choi is then absent for most of the movie. No female villain for the street chase with literal fireworks, a shootout in a Himalayan monastery with Yeti, and a resurrection in Shangri-La. The final confrontation is at the Great Wall of China, with two undead armies in an epic battle.

Michelle Yeoh features in a supporting role, but she’s wasted and her only action scene is a brief fight with the Emperor, which ends badly. Choi finally returns, but only to briefly fire a jeep-mounted machine gun before a bomb blast destroys the vehicle. Before the Emperor is laid to rest, Yang shows up. The heroes get the better of him, and a bloody-faced Choi – who survived the earlier explosion – dies while attempting to save her superior.

The Mummy (2017) – Ahmanet (Sofia Boutella)

It’s rare that the first film in a planned series is a franchise killer. But this ill-advised reboot is the reason you’ve never heard of the Dark Universe.

Tom Cruise plays the hero (anti-hero?) Nick Morton, an uncharismatic military guy who moonlights as a tomb robber. After he unearths the sarcophagus of a mummified Egyptian princess, he envisions the beautiful woman calling to him. The villainess mind-controls Nick’s comrade and flocks of birds to crash a cargo plane, leading to the only decent scene in the movie.

Ahmanet is a poor rip-off of Imhotep with none of his threat or interesting backstory. The modern-day London setting is dreary, and introducing Dr Jekyll / Mr Hyde (Russell Crowe) feels completely out of place. The female mummy resurrects Nick’s dead buddy, vanquished foes, and crusader knights to fight beside her. She also has unnatural strength, but despite her godly powers, the encounters are boring. A sandstorm in Britain doesn’t have the appeal of a desert backdrop.

Ahmanet’s goal is to summon the Egyptian deity Set – a plan she failed to accomplish in ancient times – with Morton as the host. Eventually, he stabs himself with a sacred dagger to complete the ritual (!), uses his powers to defeat the villainess, and becomes… a mysterious creature. Nothing makes sense, and with the Dark Universe dead, this is the last we’ll see of this unpleasant character. As for Ahmanet, she deserved a much better script.

Movie Villainess 101 Rank #50

On April 14, 2026April 15, 2026 By Action Girl BooksIn Movie Villainess 101

*All the wrong signals, but beauty often fools tough cops*

Movie

Signal One (1994)

Also known as Bullet Down Under, this messy thriller caught my eye during research, but the DVD copy had dreadful sound quality. Thankfully, a more watchable HD widescreen restoration is available on streaming sites, and the dialogue is audible even if the plot remains incomprehensible.

Martin Bullet (Christopher Atkins) is a conveniently named American cop who’s not as trigger-happy as his name might suggest. He has hated guns ever since he shot a kid during a bust gone wrong in the US. Now he’s in Australia and partnered with the aggressive Jack Moran (Mark ‘Jacko’ Jackson). Like every buddy cop thriller, the two men have a frosty relationship to begin with but come to trust one another.

Jack is on a personal manhunt for a mysterious underworld assassin who put his old partner in hospital, so the last thing he needs is a traumatised foreigner to babysit. Martin has moral support from his wife, who’s travelled with him to Sydney. She has no connection to the main plot, so it doesn’t take an action movie buff to deduce she’ll eventually wind up as a hostage.

The characters are mostly unsympathetic, especially the two brother criminals. One has serious mental health issues, and his supposedly smarter sibling is a nightclub owner who thinks it a good idea to play the cops off against gangsters. Scenes where they argue on the telephone are painful to watch, and it’s a relief when the far more interesting assassin finishes them off. For a filler subplot, a punk rock band uses the same warehouse hideout, which leads to a bizarre and pointless confrontation.

The killer works for an Asian gangster who imports fake boomerangs (yes, really) when he’s not dealing drugs. The boss shows up to issue orders a few times, only to disappear for the climax. Presumably he’s too smart to get involved directly, or the filmmakers realised the leather-clad antagonist is the best thing about this shambolic story.

Villainess

Toni (Virginia Hey)

The assassin is often seen at a distance, and her bandana disguise is effective enough that most viewers will assume the mystery figure dressed in black is male. Even though the billing implies a major role for Virginia Hey, the clever outfit choice sets up a great villainous reveal.

Knowing Bullet eventually teams up with Jack, it doesn’t bode well for the aging partner in the prologue. Especially when the cops respond to a murder scene and tail a black car to a deserted warehouse. There’s a dramatic chase, and the partner is badly injured. Then Jack does the hero thing and leaps onto the roof of the car. He doesn’t get a good look at the assassin, and his only clue – before he’s thrown into the ocean – is a T-shaped earring.

After that dramatic introduction, it’s a while before the second appearance. Following boring legwork, the heroes encounter the villainess (still thinking she’s a guy) at the crime lord’s hideout. After a pursuit on foot – the first opportunity for the assassin to show her physical prowess – Bullet corners the killer at a pier. Memories of the kid’s death haunt him so much he can’t squeeze the trigger, much to Jack’s disgust.

Bad luck catches up with the wannabe gangster brother, and the assassin crashes through a skylight. The shotgun-wielding target is outmatched, and she drowns him in a toilet. This badass certainly means business and wants the stolen drugs back, but a frantic search turns up nothing. The murderer likes theatrical death poses, and the “smart” brother discovers his sibling’s body strung up in a junkyard. With his mouth covered in lipstick.

Jack learns the assassin’s name – Tony – and goes to a gym, not realising it’s a setup. He eyes many male customers, which makes the regulars suspicious. Then, a beautiful blonde introduces herself and suggests Jack come over to her place. Someone should tell him Toni can be spelt that way and that the deadliest assassins are female.

The club owner kidnaps Bullet’s wife, leading to an apartment shootout. The secondary villain gets away, and Bullet focuses on saving his partner. Femme fatale Toni has her latest target alone and at her mercy. Jack is so infatuated with the naked woman that he never sees the knife in her hand. A violent mix of action and sex follows, but the picture is dark and grainy for the attack sequence.

The assassin badly wounds the cop and does her lipstick calling card thing, but first she gloats like all great female villains. The gangster confronts the assassin outside, but the strong woman tosses him onto a spiked railing fence. It’s the lipstick and psychotic laughter combo for you, mate.

Bullet arrives in time to save Jack, though he’s in no shape for police work. The setting for the finale is the warehouse, the docks, and finally a ship. Bullet pursues the villainess – who now has the drugs – and then it’s another test of his mettle. The psycho woman taunts Bullet, but what she did to Jack helps him overcome his fears. This time, he doesn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.

Honourable Mention: Masculine Names

Thrillkill (1984) – Adrian (Laura Robinson), Parrish (Colleen Embree)

Keeping with the tenuous theme of female villains with masculine names, the primary antagonist in this Canadian thriller is Adrian, a ruthless woman other people seem to trust. The movie is hard to find, but I sourced a DVD copy thanks to the Katrina’s Nightmare Theater release. Some scenes are dark, and there are many flickering transitions and residual static that suggest a VHS scan. Still, this old favourite earns an extended mention.

Female computer hacker Carly pulls off a 1980s variant of an electronic bank heist. Somehow she succeeds despite a pre-Internet dial-up connection and code written in BASIC. But a criminal gang wants the money and is quite prepared to kill for it. Most of the gangsters are idiots who act tough but end up suspecting each other instead of the obvious traitor in their midst.

Adrian – more proactive than her associates – murders Carly in a truly inventive kill sequence. The villainess records a computer message that counts down the remaining seconds. When the timer expires, Adrian strangles Carly with a necklace and smashes her head through a glass table. However, it turns out Carly didn’t trust her murderer since she left her own message… and no hint of where she stashed the stolen money.

Carly’s sister Bobbie is left to piece together the clues. Together with a detective, she learns where Carly hid the secret: the title VR computer game. This involves laser gun battles, a space-age corridor setting, and cat-suited enemies.

Gangsters bite the dust as Adrian and her mystery partner take them out. Female villain Parrish makes the mistake of threatening Adrian with her switchblade, so no surprise she winds up dead. This murder occurs in a curtained photo booth, with only deposited image strips to suggest what transpired.

Adrian is a far more intimidating foe, and even when she doesn’t speak, the smartly dressed woman projects a threat. It’s revealed the detective is actually a villain, the first of three baddies to play the fake cop trick on Bobbie. Once the heroine cracks the computer code, it’s time for a shootout in a convention centre. Good luck figuring out what happens with gloomy shots of people running down dark corridors.

The mystery villain, identifiable by his gold watch, is… some guy called Schofield, whom we’ve never seen before. After the generic baddie threatens Bobbie, the fake detective – who’s now switched sides – guns him down. The couple get all romantic, forgetting about Adrian. After she eliminates the last remaining gangster, it’s just her, Bobbie, the false cop, and an expendable security guard.

Adrian wounds her old partner but has to gloat instead of finishing him, which gives Bobbie the chance to grab the dead guard’s gun. Those computer games were ideal shooting practice, and while the dying villainess flees up a downward-moving escalator, she doesn’t make it far.