In honour of International Women’s Day, today we are giving you the ultimate list of the five most badass women on television! These girls can best any man or beast, and whenever we need strength in our lives, these are the ones to take our cues from. Not cause of the violence, but because of the emotional strength they need to make the tough decisions.

Update: I’ve added my top 5 runners-up!

This list reflects the characters most likely to get physical to beat their symbolic or literal demons, and who most actively fight the good fight and best represent their gender. An important point to emphasise is that these girls aren’t cool because they’re physically strong or because they use violence to solve their problems. They’re cool because they are thrust into impossible situations, but manage to stand their ground and fight for what they believe in, even when their worlds fall apart around them.

There were quite a few runner-ups but I tried to split the final list by fandoms, so you won’t see two characters from the same show.

#5 Max, Dark Angel

I love Dark Angel, and not only because it brought Jensen Ackles into my life. As flawed as the second season is and as focused as Max is on her ‘boo’ Logan (that can also be read as “boo Logan,” fyi), the young transgenic shows an amazing independence and strength of character, as well as of course her physical skills. One of my favourite things about Max though is her motorbike. It really served as an extension of her tough girl image, and was a physical thing to hold onto as her emotional life fell apart around her. Max led the Freak Nation, and I’m sure she would have done an amazing job if the series hadn’t been cancelled (grumble).

#4 Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica

Kara Thrace is one badass motherfracker. She doesn’t have any superpowers (well… not initially. I don’t wanna talk about the last season, leave me alone) but she has an extreme – bordering on fanatical – willpower and a stubbornness in her beliefs that keeps her somewhat grounded throughout the hell she goes through. In the hard edged world of Battlestar Galactica, you toughen up or get tossed out an air vent, and Starbuck was tougher than most of the men around her. You go girl! (Er… if I actually said that to her she’d probably punch me in the face, so never mind.)

#3 Xena, Xena: The Warrior Princess

Xena had a hell of a journey on Warrior Princess, and in many ways she is the ultimate woman: she’s tough, she stands up for herself, and yet she’s a mother and develops deep connections to the people in her life. The show did a lot for the portrayal of powerful women on television, and in many ways paved the ways for the popularity of other female heroines on this list. Xena takes responsibility for her actions and starts the series having taken a huge step towards fighting the good fight, and watching her struggle with her morality throughout the series is really inspiring.

#2 Sydney Bristow, Alias

Sydney went through some serious crap in the five year run of Alias, yet as the seasons went on and the traumas piled up, her convictions and her loyalty for the job she was doing only got stronger. But one of the most remarkable things about Sydney was that throughout it all, she never stopped being human, and she never lost her initial compassion and innocence. Alias wasn’t about spying and fighting, it was about a woman and her relationship with the people she loved. The show perfectly balanced Sydney’s mad spy skills and her emotional journey, and always showed her personal reaction to the missions and story developments. You don’t need to be devoid of emotion to be a badass, and Sydney Bristow proved this time and time again.

#1 Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Who else? Do I even need to explain this one? I have written several columns on Hypable about my love for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and this is largely because of the epic awesomeness that is Buffy Summers herself. To quote Willow Rosenberg, Buffy puts the ‘grrr’ in girl as she stumbles through adolescence into adulthood, fighting physical and metaphorical demons along the way. The entire Slayer lore is based on this fact: she stands alone. And I think most women in the world can relate to this sentiment. As much as Buffy defies convention and ‘gets by with a little help from her friends,’ ultimately she must face the big bads alone, and it is down to her and her own intuition to save the world. We mere mortals may not be making decisions on a saving-the-world scale, but in terms of our own well-being and the well-being of those we love, we can be confronted with demons with some pretty big teeth ourselves. That’s when we whip out our “What Would Buffy Do?” checklist (coming soon, watch this space!) and take our cues from the most kickass female heroine of all time. She saved the world, a lot. And she made some damn funny puns while doing it.

One thing these fierce females all have in common is that they use what they’ve got, and they make their way and leave an impression in a man’s world. If anything, that’s the message to take away from this column. Happy Women’s Day!

Share your own favourite TV heroines in the comments!

Edit: Inspired by the comments, I’ll list my top 5 runners-up:

#10: Echo, Dollhouse: Echo carved her own personality out of nothing. That’s strength.
#9: The Charmed ladies: Never saw it but I know how popular the show was!
#8: Zoe, Firefly: She’s both hard-edged and compassionate.
#7: Juliet/Kate, Lost: Kate was my fave, but Juliet was arguably the stronger woman.
#6: Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars: It was an atrocity to leave her off this list!