History Main / BadassDamsel

* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''. LoisLane.[[hottip:*:the PostCrisis (1987) incarnation anyway]] Full stop. This is a woman who gets caught by villains all the frickin' time, but only because she's GenreSavvy enough to know that if she does so, she'll not only get the scoop on the front page story, but also somehow survive to write it. And not just by getting rescued -- if Superman doesn't know/is depowered/is busy, she'll pretend to fall in love with the drug lord who captured her, then blast herself out of their wedding, veil, gown, and all, with a {{Mook}}'s stolen machine gun.\\\
Even in the early days, Lois had quite the nerve. In some of the earliest Fleischer cartoons (now public domain) she pulls such stunts as trying to sabotage a getaway vehicle, climbing onto the back of a mechanical monster to see where it was going, blasting away with a submachine gun at would-be train robbers, and disguised herself as a Nazi to warn the American fleet of a U-boat threat (well, it ''was'' the early forties). It's been said that Lois Lane's only weakness is [[CatchAFallingStar Gravity.]]

* In the 1940 film ''My Little Chickadee'', Mae West's gorgeous, [[CostumePorn fancily-dressed]] character, Flower Belle, is on a train when Indians attack. An arrow lands two feet from her, and she nonchalantly pulls it out of the wall, goes back to filing her nails... and when a second arrow hits, she responds by mowing them down with [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]] [[GunsAkimbo akimbo]] taken from a passenger [[KilledOffForReal who wasn't so lucky]] and a shotgun borrowed from the only other person defending the train... all while uttering one-liners in her signature alluring, devil-may-care voice.

* Esmeralda from ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. When she is tied to a pyre, [[CompleteMonster Claude]] [[DirtyOldMan Frollo]], who has {{lust}}ed for her since meeting her, offers to release her in exchange for becoming "his". She [[DefiantToTheEnd metaphorically]] - [[SpitefulSpit and literally]] - [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome spits on his offer]].

* Esmeralda from ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. When she is tied to a pyre, [[[[CompleteMonster Claude]] [[DirtyOldMan Frollo]], who has {{lust}}ed for her since meeting her, offers to release her in exchange for becoming "his". She [[DefiantToTheEnd metaphorically]] - [[SpitefulSpit and literally]] - [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome spits on his offer]].

* ''[[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond]]'' has [[LoveInterest Dana]] [[SpoiledSweet Tan]]; the few times she ends up as the DamselInDistress for more than a minute, she fights back. When kidnapped by a StalkerWithACrush, she tricks him into leaving her alone and tries to escape through the sewers. When Batman is overcome by giant rats while rescuing her, she [[ImprovisedWeapon creates a torch out of flotsam lying around]] and successfully drives the rats off of him. In TheMovie, she almost gets away from the Joker who grabs her; unfortunately, she gives him so much trouble [[spoiler:that he just throws her to her death instead of kidnapping her]].

* ''{{Shrek}}'' has Princess Fiona. She seems to be every cliché about a Princess in need of rescue, until she meets somebody REALLY ANNOYING. She goes downright [[Film/TheMatrix Trinity]] when she's in a situation that's at all reasonable to handle herself.

* From Tolkien's [[TheSilmarillion Silmarillion]], Lúthien Tinúviel, an Elven princess who falls in love with the mortal Beren. When her father finds out, he sends Beren on an impossible quest and imprisons her. Time for her lover to rescue her? Not quite! She escapes by her own means (twice), then rescues Beren, who has also been imprisoned in the meantime... by none other than [[TheLordOfTheRings Sauron]], whom Lúthien defeats almost single-handedly. Then she helps Beren fulfill his quest (and does most of the work, really).
** It's interesting to note that Lúthien was a homage to Tolkien's wife, Edith Tolkien, while Beren was basically an AuthorAvatar.
* Ekaterin Vorsoisson of the ''VorkosiganSaga''. She's a demure, ladylike young mom kidnapped by terrorists, who [[spoiler: hijacks a crane and smashes their superweapon to bits with it.]]

* In JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/HermeticMillenium The Hermetic Millennia]]'', Menelaus explains that despite her hyperbolically feminine appearance and her profuse declarations of love and harmony, Oenoe is a member of the Nymph security forces. Though she would drink potions of forgetfulness after the fight -- to keep it from disturbing the hedonistic life -- she is unquestionably a veteran.

* [[MsFanservice Princess Teegra]] from ''WesternAnimation/FireAndIce''. Don't let the thong bikini fool you...

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAge Origins'', the ''player'' will be one if they choose the female city-elf origin. Seriously, those corpses weren't there last night were they? [[spoiler:And any ''other'' female character gets a chance to play at the trope if they get captured near the end. Sure, you can get rescued, but it's totally plausible to just rescue yourself.]]

** Ella, from ''EllaEnchanted''. Despite her [[BlessedWithSuck gift of obedience]], she manages to escape her [[BoardingSchoolOfHorrors Finishing School Of Horrors]] and then again from [[CharmPerson ogres]] who plan to eat her. Finally, she has to break her curse on the sheer strength of her love for Char, so she doesn't destroy his life by marrying him.

*** Liara's introduction in the third game sets her up for needing another rescue, [[AirVentEscape scrambling through air vents]] being persued by two Cerberus troopers. Then she exits the vents, traps the troopers [[MindOverMatter with a Singularity]], and [[CoupDeGrace double-taps both of them.]]

** Shepard also finds the other female squadmates in ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'', Ashley and Tali, in conditions of substantial distress, but they're still entirely badass. Ashley is possibly the most combat capable squadmate you have, and you rescue her after the rest of her squad has been wiped out by alien robots. Tali can do some serious damage in combat with her tech abilities, after you rescue her from being betrayed by the galaxy's most powerful information broker.

* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', a dwarf named Fanny Thundermar is captured by ogres during an Alliance-side quest chain in the Twilight Highlands. When you go to rescue her, you find her [[PintSizedPowerhouse surrounded by dead ogres]] who had [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty tried to cop a feel]].

* Sidney Prescott from the ''Film/{{Scream}}'' series.

* Hiyoko Tousaka becomes the "PluckyGirl catches a DistressBall" version in the "Bad Boys Love" route of ''HatofulBoyfriend''. How distressed? [[spoiler: The route is triggered by [[DecoyProtagonist her dying horribly]].]] Does this stop her from saving the day? ''Nah.''

* ''BatmanForever'' gave audiences Dr. Chase Meridian (Nicole Kidman), who could be seen as an AuthorsSavingThrow for the female leads in the two previous ''Batman'' films: a straight-up DistressedDamsel (Vicki Vale) and an ActionGirl who was nonetheless psychotic, emotionally weak, and pitiable (Selina Kyle/Catwoman). This becomes clear when Bruce Wayne pays her a visit and becomes concerned when he hears feminine gasps and grunts coming from her office. Thinking she's being attacked and finding the door locked, he kicks it in - only to find that Dr. Meridian was just practicing her boxing skills with a punching bag. (To compound Bruce's embarrassment, Chase then makes a sarcastic comment about how he'll now have to buy her a new door.) Later on, when she and Bruce are being attacked by Two-Face's gang, Chase punches out one of the {{Mooks}} when he tries to grab her - although she is then taken hostage mere moments later.
* In TheMovie of ''Film.BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' (1992), we have Oliver Pike (Luke Perry) as a SpearCounterpart. While hardly a pacifist, Pike isn't much of a fighter or very athletic, so he has to be rescued more often than not. He's not completely useless, though: he eventually becomes competent enough to take care of himself when Buffy's not around to protect him, kills two vampires along the way (although, in true BadassBystander fashion, one of them is InTheBack), and even saves Buffy's life at one point [[SpannerInTheWorks (albeit unintentionally)]]. And he's eventually given his due when, on the night of Buffy's final confrontation with the BigBad, when Buffy has been [[AchillesInHisTent shirking her duties as the Slayer]] out of frustration after [[spoiler: the death of her mentor]], he uses his knife to [[CrazyPrepared whittle an entire sackful of stakes for her so she'll be ready to take on the vampires]] - and she grudgingly remarks that she's glad ''somebody'' has come prepared.

This trope subverts the DistressedDamsel routine so hard it's not even funny. A female character who seems like a damsel in distress, and might even ''be'' one, but is still {{Badass}} enough that the audience roots for her anyway. Maybe she gets kidnapped a couple of times, but makes up for it by pulling an epic CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Maybe she has the appearance and personality of TheIngenue yet also has a {{BFG}} on her and mows down 85% of the enemies on the battlefield. Perhaps she's just a PluckyGirl of epic proportions who gets handed a DistressBall. Or, alternatively, she may ''never'' get kidnapped, and could be a genuine ActionGirl, but simply doesn't have the tomboyish, athletic appearance and attitude that most people picture when they think of an ActionGirl. Either way, you just can't help but love this girl. She may get whacked with a DistressBall [[BadassInDistress every now and again]], but blast it all, she's got skills.

'''Wrex:''' Women.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem''

* While Princess Fiona, in ''{{Shrek}}'', starts out looking like a standard DistressedDamsel (imprisoned in a ruined tower by a dragon), it's made quite clear soon afterwards that she can more than take care of herself; when Robin Hood appears to rob her, she kicks the crap out of him ''and'' his Merry Men with ''{{Matrix}}''-style martial arts. It's soon revealed that she was only in the tower because she ''wanted'' to be, as she had been convinced that being "kidnapped" was the only way to find her true love and break her curse. In the parallel reality caused by Rumplestiltskin's contract in ''Shrek 4'' (in which Shrek was never born), she eventually gets sick of waiting to be rescued, escapes the dragon's tower herself, and becomes warrior queen of the ogres.

* While Princess Fiona, in ''{{Shrek}}'', starts out looking like a standard DistressedDamsel (imprisoned in a ruined tower by a dragon), it's made quite clear soon afterwards that she can more than take care of herself; when Robin Hood appears to rob her, she kicks the crap out of him ''and'' his Merry Men with ''{{Matrix}}''-style martial arts. It's soon revealed that she was only in the tower because she ''wanted'' to be, as she had been convinced that being "kidnapped" was the only way to find her true love and break her curse.

* Little [[PrinceOfTennis Miyuki Chitose]] gets caught and is used as a hostage to force a recovering Tezuka into a hopeless [[SeriousBusiness tennis match]] with some arrogant Jerkasses. So she decides to yell at her captors and challenge ''them'' to a match, despite suffering from the yips herself.

** Rarity is one of the [[GirlyGirl girliest]] ponies on the show, a prissy fashion designer with an extreme dislike for physical work, dirt or getting her mane even slightly mussed. Put her in a fight however and she doesn't [[GuileHero handle herself too badly]]. This is best shown in the episode [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW9PSHRfe1M "A Dog and Pony Show"]], where she gets captured by a group of dogs who want her to dig up gems for them by hoof. She spends the rest of the episode driving her [[PityTheKidnapper ponynappers insane]] in a calculated manner with constant nit-picking, complaining, and the [[MostAnnoyingSound worst whining sound you will ever hear.]] When our heroes finally reach the ponynappers, they are more than happy to let her go. In the second episode of the series, Rarity immediately jumps up and kicks a manticore in the face. [[spoiler:It turns out that it just had a thorn in its paw and Fluttershy just needed to pull it out, but still, can you imagine the nerve of a tiny white unicorn to kick a screaming hellbeast five times its size IN THE FACE?]]