12 Sci-Fi Heroines Who Saved the Day

Science fiction is filled with great heroines -- some of whom hold the fate of the world, galaxy, or entire universe in their hands. In honor of Syfy’s ‘The Expanse,’ debuting December 14, here are 12 famous sci-fi women tasked with saving humanity.

“Multipass!” In Luc Besson’s loony but visionary space opera, Milla Jovovich stars as the only being who can unite four ancient stones and defeat a cosmic evil that arrives every 5,000 years, while also inspiring a million Halloween costumes.

Although she left it up to an all-male X-Wing pilot force to blow up the Death Star, the rebellious princess (Carrie Fisher) was responsible for obtaining the Death Star plans in the first place, and hiding them inside R2-D2 before her capture.

It runs in the family: Leia’s mom (Natalie Portman) united her planet Naboo when she was just a teen, freeing it from the evil Trade Federation. Years later, by giving birth to Luke and Leia, she would bring balance to the Force itself.

The Terminator franchise has now time-traveled so much that we don’t even know what timeline we’re in anymore. But in the original movie and its sequel, Linda Hamilton plays the future mother of humanity’s savior -- and a future badass herself, as well.

Rounding out our “savior mother” trio is Clare-Hope Ashitey’s character, an illegal immigrant who, in a doomed, dystopian future, also happens to be the world’s first pregnant woman in 18 years. Her survival becomes a big deal indeed.

Say what you will about the Wachowskis’ ambitious flop, it still gave us a genuine humanity-saving heroine in the form of a lowly Chicago maid (Mila Kunis) who turns out to be the genetically predestined ruler of Earth. It’s as crazy as it sounds.

The Wachowskis joined forces with Tom Tykwer to deliver this love-it-or-hate-it epic -- we love it -- featuring Doona Bae as a 22nd-century clone who escapes from servitude and is worshipped as a goddess years after her death.

Possibly the toughest sci-fi heroine of all time, Charlize Theron’s one-armed revolutionary saves Max (Tom Hardy), a cluster of concubines, and eventually thousands of people from the water-hogging villain Immortan Joe.

You didn’t think we’d forget District 12’s finest archer, would you? In the role that made her a superstar, Jennifer Lawrence rises from desperate teenage combatant to reluctant symbol of an uprising against a tyrant. Take a bow, Katniss.

Although humanity may already have been saved from an environmentally wasted Earth, it’s up to this robot to lead our obese descendants back home after she discovers new signs of life -- no, not trash collector WALL-E, but a tiny green plant.

Kevin Smith’s religious satire is more fantasy than sci-fi, but Linda Fiorentino’s divorcée -- the last living relative of Jesus -- is still recruited to save the world by preventing bad angels Matt Damon and Ben Affleck from entering Heaven.

In the first installment of the Alien franchise, Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) is mostly just trying to save her crew from the titular beastie. But she’s also keeping the thing from being brought back to Earth, where you just know it would make trouble.