Skip to main content
Games Radar Newsarama Total Film Edge Retro Gamer SFX
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The smarter take on movies
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Best Netflix Movies
  • Best movies on Disney Plus
  • Movie Release Dates
  • Best Netflix Shows
Don't miss these
Furiosa from Mad Max Fury Road
Movies The 32 greatest female action movie characters of all time
A press image shows the protagonist from Cronos: The New Dawn standing inside a dark engine room
Horror Games Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn is like Dead Space in Hell, but it has a cool female protagonist because the devs say that's simply "more interesting"
Yu Shu Lien from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Movies The 32 greatest action films ever made
Sydney Chandler as Wendy in Alien: Earth
Horror Shows Alien: Earth star Sydney Chandler on following in Sigourney Weaver's footsteps as the franchise's new figurehead "I held on to the strength that her character gave to me when I was younger"
Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride
Movies The 32 greatest action movie quotes of all time
Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands
Sci-Fi Movies I'm an Alien superfan, and the new Predator: Badlands trailer just made me lose my mind with an absolutely epic shared universe connection
Alien 5
Horror Movies Sigourney Weaver could return for another Alien movie after reading a 50-page script
The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time: pictures of Alien, Arrival, Terminator, Brazil and 2001.
Sci-Fi Movies The 30 best sci-fi movies of all time
Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands
Sci-Fi Movies Predator: Badlands final trailer teases "the most dangerous planet in the universe" and gives first look at Elle Fanning's android twin
Godzilla attacks a boat in Godzilla Minus One.
Action Movies The 25 best Netflix action movies to watch right now
Predator: Badlands
Sci-Fi Movies Predator: Badlands director tried to make sure the movie's Alien references were added "elegantly": "There's a seduction to grab all the action figures and smush them together"
Elle Fanning as Thia in Predator: Badlands
Sci-Fi Movies Predator: Badlands release date, cast, trailer, and everything else we know about the sci-fi sequel
Weapons
Horror Movies Weapons standout Aunt Gladys may be the focus of a surprise prequel
Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands
Sci-Fi Movies Predator: Badlands director teases "fun" new Predator movie, as he likens its lead characters to Chewbacca and C-3PO: "There's nothing like a laugh amidst all the violence"
Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) looking in the mirror in Peacemaker season 2
DC TV Shows Peacemaker rejects the "perfect" female badass trope because James Gunn says "allowing flaws" in those characters is the "coolest thing you could do"
  1. Entertainment
  2. Movies

12 Action Women For The Female Expendables

Features
By Sam Ashurst published 28 September 2012

From Ripley to Sarah Connor and beyond...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Gina Carano

Gina Carano

The Female: Jason Statham.

Why She Should Be In It: Firstly, because she already is in it.

As producer Adi Shankar put it: “I don't know how I'm supposed to make a movie that is supposed to be the female version of The Expendables without Gina Carano in it. It would be like making Twix without caramel or Jamba Juice without jamba."

She completely kicks ass in the action-fest Haywire , and we reckon she could fill the Jason Statham role with ease.

All we need for her now is a name that's as silly as Lee Christmas.

Jenny Halloween, anyone?

Career Referencing One-Liner: As our villain is losing it on the battlefield: "She's going haywire!"

Page 1 of 12
Page 1 of 12
Linda Hamilton

Linda Hamilton

The Female: Sylvester Stallone.

Why She Should Be In It: Linda Hamilton's Sarah Connor ( T:2 edition) is arguably the most iconic bad-ass female in action cinema history.

Whether she's doing pull-ups in her cell, shoving a needle into the neck of an enemy, or striding towards a target holding an automatic weapon, Hamilton's Connor was effortlessly cool.

We can't think of anyone better to be the film's Barney Ross, we'd follow her into battle any day of the week.

Career Referencing One-Liner: Shortly before running into a gun fight: "There's no fate but what we make. So let's go make some fate!"

Page 2 of 12
Page 2 of 12
Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver

The Female: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Why She Should Be In It: Seeing Aliens ' Ripley shoulder to shoulder with Terminator 2 's Sarah Connor would give us geek goosebumps to equal the shivers we experienced seeing Arnie and Sly shooting up The Expendables 2 .

We don't see Weaver as a central character in the female Expendables - she seems happier doing cameos these days - but give her a one-liner filled 8-minutes or so of screen-time, and fans will go home happy.

Career Referencing One-Liner: During banter with the Dolph character: "What are you, an illegal alien?"

Page 3 of 12
Page 3 of 12
Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

The Female: Bruce Willis.

Why She Should Be In It: Mirren might not have the same level of action pedigree as some of the other names on this list, but she's played a contract killer on more than one occasion and, crucially, she recently appeared as a badass in action-film RED with Bruce Willis.

And, quite frankly, this is the closest we'll come to seeing Queen Elizabeth II in an action movie - well, since the Olympics anyway - so we'll take our chances where we can get them.

Career Referencing One-Liner: Mirren's character is shot, and appears to have been killed.

She gets up, and pulls her shirt open, and reveals a bullet-proof vest. "The queen is dead. Long live the queen," she says, shooting a henchman.

Page 4 of 12
Page 4 of 12
Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh

The Female: Jet Li

Why She Should Be In It: Like the other Expendables before her, Yeoh started her career in '80s action movies - appearing alongside Cynthia Rothrock in 1985's Police Assassin in her first major action role.

Since then she's appeared in the likes of Police Story 3 (with Jackie Chan), Tomorrow Never Dies (with James Bond), and The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Empire (with Jet Li).

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is probably her most critically acclaimed work, but we reckon her decision to turn down a part in The Matrix sequels is equally worthy of applause.

Career Referencing One-Liner: Invading the villain's lair with two hench-women, ordering them to blend into the surroundings: "Crouch, Tiger. Hide, Dragon."

Page 5 of 12
Page 5 of 12
Brigitte Nielsen

Brigitte Nielsen

The Female: Dolph Lundgren.

Why She Should Be In It: No female Expendables movie would be complete without Nielsen - and not just because she made her debut in a Schwarzenegger movie AND married Stallone (in the same year!)

No, Nielsen should also be in it because she's awesome.

Tall, strong, and smarter than her reputation for being in big dumb movies might suggest, she is essentially the female Dolph.

Well, except for the fact she's Danish and not Swedish, but you can't have everything.

Career Referencing One-Liner: A henchman attempts to flirt with her, and she pushes him away: "Get away from me, you barbarian."

Page 6 of 12
Page 6 of 12
Cynthia Rothrock

Cynthia Rothrock

The Female: Chuck Norris.

Why She Should Be In It: Rothrock is five-time World Karate Champion in forms and weapons between 1981 and 1985. She holds six Black belts in various Far Eastern martial disciplines. Forget being in the female Expendables , she should direct it!

She's been called the female Chuck Norris throughout her career, but we think she's more than that. She's the female Cynthia Rothrock.

Having said that, we do think she should play the female Chuck Norris in the female Expendables .

Career Referencing One-Liner: "They think they're above the law? Then we declare martial law. We'll fight with rage and honor, and we'll take an eye for an eye. And there'll be no retreat no surrender, too. We'll be undeafeatable!"

Sure, that's essentially gibberish, but it does reference six of Rothrock's movies, so we're keeping it.

Page 7 of 12
Page 7 of 12
Sean Young

Sean Young

The Female: Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Why She Should Be In It: She might not have made many action movies, but Young's off-camera reputation is that of an ass-kicker.

She was arrested earlier this year for slapping a security guard. This was at the Oscars . How badass do you have to be to get arrested at the Oscars?

James Woods sued her for harassment, claiming she spent a period in the late '80s stalking him. Young claims it was a misunderstanding.

There's a possibility that it was also a misunderstanding when she turned up on the set of Batman Returns in a home-made Catwoman costume, despite the fact she hadn't been cast in the film, and they had a perfectly decent wardrobe department.

What we're saying is, if the female Expendables need a lady Jean-Claude to fight against, Young's it.

In 2007 Young told Entertainment Weekly that she was a "Comeback waiting to happen."

Let's give her that comeback.

Career Referencing One-Liner: "I'm Batman."

Page 8 of 12
Page 8 of 12
Kim Basinger

Kim Basinger

The Female: Mickey Rourke.

Why She Should Be In It: Like Michelle Yeoh, Basinger is another Bond girl. She replaced Sean Young as Tim Burton's Batman love interest (which might lead to some interesting on-set tension). And she has some stunt experience, from her work on Nadine .

And let's not forget, she worked with Rourke on 9 1/2 Weeks , so she's best placed to mimic Mickey.

But more than anything else, wouldn't you love to see Basinger take on the role of a grumpy tattoo artist? Thought so.

Career Referencing One-Liner: "That's a big tattoo. I'd keep it out of the sun for, I don't know, around nine and a half weeks."

Page 9 of 12
Page 9 of 12
Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence

The Female: Liam Hemsworth.

Why She Should Be In It: Expendables 2 was such a legend-fest is easy to forget that Liam Hemsworth played a significant role.

The female Expendables needs similar young blood, and we reckon Lawrence would be perfect for the task.

She's already been a female lead in two of the best action flicks of the past two years - X-Men: First Class and The Hunger Game s - kicking significant ass in both.

But more than that, she's a brilliant actress - she was the second youngest person to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for a reason.

Career Referencing One-Liner: "Slow down. This isn't the running man, you know."

Page 10 of 12
Page 10 of 12
Pam Grier

Pam Grier

The Female: Terry Crews.

Why She Should Be In It: Terry Crews may have appeared in modern blaxploitation flicks like Soul Plane , but Pam Grier was instrumental in inventing the genre.

Key titles include Coffy , in which she played the "baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town!" and the iconic Foxy Brown "the meanest chick in town!"

Basically, in the '70s, towns were in trouble pretty much as soon as Pam Grier showed up.

And just in case there's anyone out that who thinks she hasn't still got it, she's about to appear in RZA's love letter to Shaw Brothers' cinema, The Man With The Iron Fists .

Career Referencing One-Liner: "AK-47. The very best there is. When you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room, accept no substitutes."

Page 11 of 12
Page 11 of 12
Demi Moore

Demi Moore

The Female: Randy Couture.

Why She Should Be In It: '80s icon. Bruce Willis' ex-wife. Barn-storming performances in action-heavy flicks like G.I Jane and Charlie's Angels .

We know Randy Couture and Demi Moore have almost nothing in common - apart from the fact their names sort-of rhyme, in a way - but we'll take any excuse to shove Demi into the female Expendables line-up.

Career Referencing One-Liner: "Let turn these guys into Ghosts."

Page 12 of 12
Page 12 of 12
Sam Ashurst
Social Links Navigation

Sam Ashurst is a London-based film maker, journalist, and podcast host. He's the director of Frankenstein's Creature, A Little More Flesh + A Little More Flesh 2, and co-hosts the Arrow Podcast. His words have appeared on HuffPost, MSN, The Independent, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, and many more, as well as of course for us here at GamesRadar+.

See more Movies Features
Read more
Furiosa from Mad Max Fury Road
The 32 greatest female action movie characters of all time
 
 
A press image shows the protagonist from Cronos: The New Dawn standing inside a dark engine room
Bloober's Cronos: The New Dawn is like Dead Space in Hell, but it has a cool female protagonist because the devs say that's simply "more interesting"
 
 
Yu Shu Lien from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
The 32 greatest action films ever made
 
 
Sydney Chandler as Wendy in Alien: Earth
Alien: Earth star Sydney Chandler on following in Sigourney Weaver's footsteps as the franchise's new figurehead "I held on to the strength that her character gave to me when I was younger"
 
 
Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride
The 32 greatest action movie quotes of all time
 
 
Elle Fanning in Predator: Badlands
I'm an Alien superfan, and the new Predator: Badlands trailer just made me lose my mind with an absolutely epic shared universe connection
 
 
Latest in Movies
Mia Goth as Maxine in Ti West's X
Blade star Mia Goth says "it's for the best" that the Marvel reboot has gone back to the drawing board "They want to do it right"
 
 
Yuji Itadori being possessed by Ryomen Sukuna during Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 18
Japanese government officials say manga and anime are "irreplaceable treasures," ask OpenAI to prevent copyright infringement, and insist Japan should "take the lead" in regulating AI
 
 
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi poster by Drew Struzan
Drew Struzan, the legendary artist behind the iconic posters for Star Wars, Indiana Jones and more, dies at 78
 
 
The Justice Gang flying in Superman
One death in Superman had a bigger knock-on effect than expected as James Gunn reveals Rick Flag's motivations behind his Salvation plan
 
 
Rachel McAdams in Send Help
Doctor Strange's Rachel McAdams gets stranded on an island with the worst boss ever in the first trailer for Spider-Man director's new horror-thriller
 
 
Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past
X-Men star Evan Peters would "love" to play Quicksilver again to properly explore the mutant's backstory: "I always sort of played it like a guest spot"
 
 
Latest in Features
Aaron Paul's character Robert Robertson in Dispatch, stood holding a dog in an elevator filled with strange superheroes
Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul has "always wanted" to be in a game, but The Boys-esque superhero comedy Dispatch was the first truly irresistible role: "Nothing really felt like the right fit"
 
 
Olden Era
I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic since I was 6, and after putting 10 hours into Olden Era's huge Steam demo, the strategy series has never felt better
 
 
Photo of a black gaming mouse sitting on a Final Fantasy TCG playmat, with a Lorcana playmat to its left.
I swear by using TCG playmats as mouse pads, and that's never going to change
 
 
Atsu riding her horse in Ghost of Yotei with the black bars disabled
Ghost of Yotei's art director wanted the RPG to look like a "living painting," but the detail required stresses even me out: "When the wind blows, the trees know how strong the wind is"
 
 
Yahya Abdul Mateen II in Wonder Man (2025)
Wonder Man release date, trailer, cast, plot, and more news about the upcoming Marvel show
 
 
Silksong Karmelita boss header image
It took 8 hours of losing to find my favorite thing about Hollow Knight: Silksong
 
 
  1. A pink-haired trainer and a Chikorita sit outside a cafe in Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
    1
    Pokemon Legends: Z-A review: "Fast fluid real-time fights and a world worth exploring make this finally feel like the anime come to life"
  2. 2
    Little Nightmares 3 review: "An overly safe, uneven, and half-baked follow-up where co-op is a hindrance instead of the evolution it should've been"
  3. 3
    With a new season on the way, is Blood Bowl's second edition still worth a look?
  4. 4
    Battlefield 6 review: "More refined than innovative, this FPS is on target with multiplayer even if its campaign is just a big shrug"
  5. 5
    Absolum review: "Classic beat 'em up systems pair beautifully with a run-based structure in this fleet-footed, wonderfully varied Hades-like"
  1. Tron: Ares
    1
    Tron: Ares review: "Misses out by swapping the Grid for the real world"
  2. 2
    One Battle After Another review: "One of the best studio movies in years and an instant classic"
  3. 3
    The Conjuring: Last Rites review: "Not bold or memorable enough for the Warrens' final chapter"
  4. 4
    Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle review: "Roars past Mugen Train as Demon Slayer's best adventure yet"
  5. 5
    The Long Walk review: "One of the best Stephen King adaptations ever made"
  1. Splinter Cell Deathwatch
    1
    Splinter Cell: Deathwatch review: "A pale imitation of the long-dormant stealth franchise"
  2. 2
    Marvel Zombies review: "A fun expansion of the What If episode with delightful MCU Easter eggs and truly gross R-rated kills"
  3. 3
    Gen V season 2 review: "As strong as the first season, if not stronger"
  4. 4
    Wednesday season 2 part 2 review: "Ortega shines, but it's a zombie who steals the entire show"
  5. 5
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...