Cannibal Ferox (1983)

Too often writers struggle with writing believable female characters in the action genre. Either they are masculinized(GI Jane)which defeats the purpose of their existence or their costumes are just ridiculously tight and it feels like someone dropped a fashion model in the middle of a battlefield(Wonder Woman). So when they get it right, it should be celebrated.

I hesitate to applaud Taylor Sheridan after seeing his previous projects that do nothing more than prop up the Confederacy. However, Lioness is turning out to be believable and exciting to watch. The third season has dropped and aside from the gratuitous nudity it has been as good as the previous two seasons.

Zoe Saldaña is a CIA operative who leads a special program that recruits women to infiltrateand dismantle international criminal enterprises, with a QRT(Quick Response Team) providing operational security that shoots people and blows things up on a weekly basis. This is an action series, to be sure, but it is also filled with the drama and intrigue of a Tom Clancy political thriller.

From Mary Shelley's Frankensteinto Octavia Butler's groundbreaking works of Afrofuturism, women have always been pioneers when it comes to science fiction. Of course, you probably wouldn't know that from looking at cinema's biggest sci-fi hits. But despite Hollywood's ongoing bias toward stories by and about men, women are integral to many science fiction films, ranging from classic blockbusters like Star Warsto critically-acclaimed dramas like Children of Men.This Women's History Month, I wanted to celebrate these iconic characters (and the women who play them) for bringing so much to my favorite genre. In no particular order, here are 10 amazing women in science fiction films.