- [Strider] Howdy!
Let's look at ladies in animation.
Throughout the years,
the world of animation has brought us
some incredibly powerful women,
in both physical
and mental power.
Whether they're from the past or present,
the sheer fortitude of their character
can really stick with us.
and can remind me, anyway
just how strong we can be in our own convictions.
Just no one or no thing
stands in the way of these ladies.
So today,
let's check out
the Top 10 Most Powerful Women in Animation.
We'll be assessing
these characters' mental tenacity,
their magical power,
and physical power.
I'm also excluding anime,
as anime characters could fit
easily at least 60% of this list.
And please excuse me
if I missed a particularly powerful
character you know,
since this is a very broad list as-is.
There were way more
well-qualified characters
than there was space for,
so take this list
with a pinch of salt.
Anyway,
onto the countdown.
Number ten...
Elsa, from Frozen.
Apart from maybe Genie,
she's probably the most powerful
of not just the Disney Princesses,
but all the Disney heroes!
Able to create life on a whim,
giant ice palaces,
and will endless blizzards across the country,
all inadvertently
during a quarrel with her sister!
Born with magical ice powers,
Elsa has always
been extremely powerful,
able to turn thin air
into ice and snow at a whim.
As many people know,
during her childhood,
Elsa would often create snow days
to play with her little sister Anna,
but after she accidentally
strikes her sister with an ice blast,
she does everything she can
to conceal her power
from hurting anyone ever again,
yet the inherent abilities in her
were always far too powerful
to be concealed.
Years later,
during her coronation,
her secret is exposed
for the entire kingdom to see,
and in her panic,
she retreats into the mountains
and accidentally releases
an eternal winter
for the entire kingdom.
And BOY, do we all remember
when she
"let it go"
for the first time in forever!
(rimshot)
(Strider laughs)
(clears throat)
Sorry.
It turns out she can easily
build an entire ice castle
from the ground up,
create carefully-interwoven
designer dresses out of ice,
and she creates further sentient life
by sneezing!
She can easily fight off
a small army of assassins,
all while maintaining
a perpetual winter
that encompasses the entire kingdom.
And being isolated,
and going through a bad
fight with her sister!
Fortunately,
with Anna's help,
she's able to reconcile in the end
and come to terms with who she is.
And once she gains
some emotional balance and calm,
nothing could stop her winter power,
allowing her to test the limits
and use of her magic however she wants.
The only one thing
that can stand in her way is...
(Elsa sneezing, magic popping)
- [Strider] ...the common cold.
And for number nine...
The Powerpuff Girls.
Most of us probably could've guessed
these young ladies would be contenders.
Despite their young age,]
Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup
have near-limitless superpowers.
You name it:
flight, super speed,
super strength, laser eyes,
X-ray vision,
supersonic hearing...
Hell, they even time travel
and go sulk on the moon
when they need some "space"!
(rimshot, Strider chuckling)
Ah...
When Utonium decided to try
and create sapient homo sapien girls
with the contents of his kitchen pantry,
he accidentally mixes in
some Chemical X,
which resulted in
the insanely-powerful young ladies
we have today.
And it's just as well he did,
because Townsville seems to house
more monsters and supervillains than
Arkham Asylum could shake a stick at.
But whether it be giant mechas,
super-genius monkeys,
or giant supernatural monsters,
no creature or being
has ever stood in their way
that isn't fixed with a few punches
with their weird, fingerless hands.
Hell, they even go head-to-head
with Satan on a regular basis!
(girls zooming)
(distorted laughter)
(punching sounds)
- [Strider] And generally they come out as the winner!
They've even had to take on
their own family and friends,
and still manage
to stay morally strong
and emotionally calm.
Blossom - Don't EVER make us
do that again!
- Or it will be your last.
- [Strider] Nothing stands in the way
of Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup.
Alone, they're dangerous.
But when they coordinate as a team,
they become an unstoppable
wall of power,
capable of wiping out
nearly anything in their path.
And for number eight...
Star Butterfly, from Star Vs. the Forces of Evil.
Oh, this lady...
She's free-spirited,
she's wild,
and she's one of
the most powerful magicians in Mewni,
inadvertently unleashing explosive wand blasts
and powerful spells
with a flick of her wrist!
And one of my favorite characters in cartoons.
Number seven...
(fire roaring)
- [Strider] Maleficent.
Easily one of Disney's most iconic villains,
Maleficent's cool, controlled nature,
her dark design,
and dominating presence
made her the most memorable aspect
of Sleeping Beauty for a lot of people.
- Listen well.
All of you.
- [Strider] Originating from the 1959 film,
Maleficent took the spotlight
of every scene she was in,
as a self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil",
Maleficent easily shows off her ability
to cast spells,
summon flames,
teleport wherever,
whenever she wants,
and can even transform into a dragon on a whim!
I mean, Maleficent can be petty.
She first pops up
to curse a newborn with death,
merely for just being
snubbed to the christening.
- You weren't wanted.
- Not wa--
(laughs)
Oh dear, what an awkward situation.
- [Strider] And vowing to reign
a 16-year-long torment on the child
before it takes hold.
Always knowing when she has the upper hand,
Maleficent keeps a calm,
collected demeanor,
striking like a snake
from the shadows.
Even if she
didn't get her way in the end,
and according to later movies
was misunderstood,
Maleficent still bewitched
generations with her
regally wicked presence
and show-stoppingly intense power.
- Stand back, you fools!
(fire roars)
(Maleficent laughs)
And for number six...
Lord Dominator, from Wander Over Yonder.
(deep voice) - [Dominator] That... was...
(normal voice) AMAZING!
(metal shifting)
- [Strider] Jeebus.
This is one lady
that nobody messes with.
Probably the show's
most all-powerful
and threatening antagonist,
Lord Dominator well earns
her menacing title.
She easily conquers planets,
dominates galaxies,
and spreads general chaos and destruction
wherever she goes.
And seems to joyfully revel
in every second of it!
Throughout the show's second season,
Dominator poses
as the series's first
actual, genuine threat
to Wander and Sylvia.
She can easily manipulate magma
like freaking Clay-Doh,
throws around disastrous ice powers like nothing,
sports a ginormous mecha,
and keeps aside armies of robots
and fleets of ships.
Not that she...
seems to need them.
From her debut episode,
Dominator towers
over every one of the main characters.
Dominator goes the duration of the season
successfully conquering planet after planet
in a plot to annihilate the entire galaxy.
While she was SOMEHOW stopped in the end,
Dominator's sheer power,
skill, and expertise
in galactic domination,
and penchant for spreading general mayhem,
made her a true formidable adversary
and definitely among
the most mighty supervillains in the galaxy.
- ♪ I destroy their homes
♪ and then I watch them cry
(Dominator giggles)
(metal shifting)
(deep voice) ♪ 'Cuz I'm the bad guy!
- [Strider] Number five...
Wonder Woman.
Easily among the most
iconic female superheroes
of all time,
Wonder Woman has been fighting crime
and saving the planet
for the past 77 years!
(dramatic music)
- Come on, giant.
I'm getting bored.
- [Strider] As well as being
one of the most well-known
comic book characters of all time,
Wonder Woman also
happens to be one of the most powerful characters.
She sports superhuman strength,
nearly unmatched durability...
(Wonder Woman grunting)
(crashing, punching)
- [Strider] Super speed,
super reflexes,
and tops it off
with super-enhanced senses.
Created in 1941
to help with the war effort,
Wonder Woman was designed
to help provide a strong,
valiant female figure
to combat the Axis Powers,
and to inspire and encourage real-world women
that were doing the same.
Over the decades,
she's been in countless adventures,
including a great deal of animated shows.
One of my favorites that she's in
is the 2001 Justice League cartoon,
where we see a much more serious side of Diana
and the in-depth complications of her personal life
and upbringing in the Amazons.
Ever since her inception,
Wonder Woman has stood
as one of the most enduring
and altruistic members of the Justice League,
often standing toe-to-toe
with Superman and Batman,
who seem to be DC's favorite characters.
Always standing up for what's right
and evolving with the times.
Wonder Woman remains
one of the most beloved superheroes,
and easily one of animation's
most powerful women.
(Wonder Woman shouting) - I would not want to be on her bad side.
- [Strider] And the fourth most powerful animated woman is...
Twilight Sparkle, from Friendship Is Magic.
As easily one of the most
magically-skilled characters in the series,
and Princess Celestia's star pupil,
Twilight Sparkle has been showcasing
her expert magic skills
since the pilot.
(whirring, beams firing)
While Princess Celestia could probably
be considered the most powerful character in the show,
her power is much more implied
than actually showcased on-screen.
As Twilight's the show's main protagonist,
we follow her journey
going from a loner magic student
into a massively-powerful
full-fledged alicorn sorceress.
Even before she got her wings,
Twilight's always been a skilled spellcaster.
Hell, Twilight was accepted
into the land's most prestigious magic school
when she was barely twelve years old.
Easily manipulating complex spells
like levitation,
teleportation,
force fields,
blasts of magic,
transformations,
time travel...
she even has the ability
to manipulate the minds
of entire towns.
Yet this crazily-superpowered unicorn
continues to study
even MORE powerful magic
well into alicorn status.
- Of course!
I'm sure we can find something.
- [Strider] And she shows herself
to be emotionally and morally strong as well,
learning to better empathize with her friends
and always treat them with respect and integrity.
(triumphant music)
- And I am ready
to make new memories here.
- [Strider] Her status as
an expert spellcasting scholar
and alicorn princess sorceress
easily make Twilight Sparkle
a contender in her own right,
but with the help of her friends,
this superpowered alicorn
becomes an incorruptible,
nearly unstoppable force.
Hey, it may be cheesy,
but it's true!
No one messes with those five
when they're together.
(combat sounds)
- [Strider] And the third most powerful animated woman is...
Marceline and Princess Bubblegum, from Adventure Time.
This one is somewhat of a cheat
as I'm including two characters,
but I just have to include both of them.
They're both great characters.
Both Marceline and Princess Bubblegum
are seemingly all-powerful in their own way.
Bubblegum essentially created
civilization and sentient life
after the apocalypse,
and Marceline is the soul-stealing,
vampire-slaying,
1000-year-old immortal
daughter of a demon king,
who likes to strum the guitar
in her spare time.
Which, in her case,
is quite a lot of time.
(guitar strumming) - ♪ Time will unbind
♪ our memory glue
♪ and I'll be as nobody-ish
♪ as all of you...
- [Strider] But,
despite having a thousand years to practice,
has never gotten that much better.
I mean, she sounds ALRIGHT,
but you know, she's had a thousand years of practice.
Marceline was born and raised
among humans and
shares a deep connection with Simon,
A.K.A. the Ice King.
Growing up,
Marceline dedicated her life
hunting vampires and protecting people from them,
gaining the power of each vampire she's staked,
including flight,
invisibility,
transformation,
and self-healing.
And Princess Bubblegum is...
well...
she's essentially the planet's self-appointed empress.
- Banana Battalions Three and Four
will initiate Operation Shut The Door,
forming a pincer formation
around Gumbald's exposed nether-regions.
- [Strider] An incredibly smart scientist,
ruler, and world leader,
as morally-ambiguous as she can be,
she's always trying
to help her kingdom, friends, and planet
in any way she can.
It's fine and dandy
when you have superpowers at your disposal,
but Bubblegum does it all by herself.
...well, apart from her ability
to blast jellybeans out of her hands.
Does... that count as a superpower?
(false deep voice) - [Bubblegum] Finishing move!
(spraying)
(explosion)
- [Strider] And she's a hell of a diplomat, too.
Bubblegum can talk her way
out of dangerous situations
with some of the most powerful creatures in the universe.
PB has an invention
for every situation,
and her time in the lab has led to...
MOSTLY bettering the lives of people.
But perhaps not their civil liberties.
Though she also delivers a strong commentary
on the dangers of mass surveillance,
and giving too much power to governments in the process.
No matter what
intergalactic apocalypse or horror comes their way,
almost nothing can stand in the way of Marceline and PB.
- Don't let me sleep too long.
Promise to wake me up in 15 minutes.
- I promise.
- [Strider] And the second most powerful animated woman is...
Alexandrite, from Steven Universe.
It's really hard to pick
just ONE Gem from Steven Universe,
as the show is full
of insanely-powerful intergalactic beings
that are practically immortal
unless completely shattered.
But what if we combine
the powers and minds
of the three Crystal Gems
to form a completely new being
that can't be stopped by anything?
As the combined form
of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl,
Alexandrite is the most powerful
fusion we've seen on the show so far.
(roaring)
- [Strider] Sporting all the combined minds,
mental strength,
spirit, and power
of all three individual Gems,
she stands at 72 feet tall
and wields a giant, incinerating fire breath.
As all Gems have to be
in sync physically, mentally,
and emotionally for fusion to work,
it can be difficult for fusions to stay together.
As such,
Alexandrite sometimes struggles to, uh...
keep herself together.
But thanks to the mutual trust and understanding
and care between teammates,
Alexandrite still tears through battles,
and generally operates
as one self-sufficiently oiled
tank of power!
(crashing)
- [Strider] Even if we don't see her very often,
Alexandrite is the unspoken final backup plan
the gems call on
when everything else has failed.
And before we get to number one,
just the usual quick Honorable Mentions.
Starfire and Raven, from Teen Titans.
These two are powerful fighters,
but complex and likable at the same time
with understandable personal struggles.
I've left em off the list, though,
because I've talked about Teen Titans a lot in the past,
and not everyone seems to like when I talk about it.
But they AT LEAST deserve an Honorable Mention.
Toph, from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Certainly one of the most powerful benders to ever live,
an incredible earthbender,
and even a pioneer of metalbending.
She even taught earthbending
to one of the Avatars themselves,
and she does all this while completely blind.
Truly nothing stops this lady.
And with those said,
onto number one.
And the number one most powerful animated woman is...
Korra, from Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
Easily among the most complex,
powerful female characters,
from one of the most intense,
sophisticated animated shows I've seen.
In my opinion,
Korra displays all the traits and growth
of a truly powerful leading hero
as the Avatar.
Korra has the ability
to wield all four elements
and bend them to her will,
even learning energybending
and the incredibly rare ability
of metalbending on the spot.
As a child,
Korra was raised among her tribe of waterbenders
where she had already mastered
three of the four elements by age four
with no problem.
When she moved to the city as a teenager
to fulfill her duties as the Avatar,
she begins training with the son of Aang,
the former Avatar.
- [Korra] I think I'm doing it wrong.
- There's nothing TO do.
Let your mind and your spirit be free.
- [Strider] What I like about Korra
is we see her grow
from this anger and frustration
and her personal demons.
One of her greatest fights throughout the series
is within herself,
to find that calm.
She's essentially tasked
with the duties of protecting the entire world,
being a leader,
a diplomat,
a warrior,
and a general,
all at once.
Throughout the series,
Korra faces many powerful threats,
ranging from a xenophobic, fascist cult,
an anarchist group
that literally poisons her,
a dictator,
and even a malignant spirit of darkness.
But we can also see her emotionally grow
throughout these episodes.
We see her learning
to come to terms with loss and limitations.
Korra isn't just a powerhouse of physical power.
But by season four,
she emanates the calm and personal control
of a world leader,
of a woman that has seen cities
rise and fall,
has stood face-to-face with her mortality,
and stood up against powers
far greater than her own.
Hell, by season three,
assassins even try to poison Korra
from the inside.
(screaming)
- [Strider] But she STILL manages to fight them off,
and manages to recover both physically and mentally
stronger than ever!
Even when she's emotionally crippled
by her PTSD after nearly dying...
- Your body thinks it is still in danger,
but you're safe here.
- [Strider] she manages to face her trauma head-on
through time and acceptance commitment therapy.
(Korra grunting)
- Let it play out.
- I can't!
- You can.
Accept what happened to you.
Don't fear what might have been.
- I have no control!
(Korra screaming) - Don't be afraid. Hold on.
- [Strider] Hell, she freaking bends the poison
out of the blood in her veins.
Damn I love this character.
She is just... awesome.
Eventually, in season four,
Kuvira, Avatar's Hitler analogue,
tries throwing a giant titanium mecha monster
the size of a freaking skyscraper at her.
Yet she STILL manages to bring the tyrant down
and send the mecha crumbling.
(explosion)
They even fire a giant spiritual laser at her face,
and she fights it off.
And saves the dictator in the process!
She's morally right,
she's emotionally balanced,
she grows from her mistakes...
Just, nothing stands in the way of Korra.
Over four seasons,
we watch Korra become
a calm, incorruptible,
unstoppable wind of change in the Avatar world.
We see her struggle,
but she eventually finds her calm within the chaos.
Whenever Korra's fallen,
she's always gotten back up
and kept moving forward.
Korra is incredible.
I personally consider Korra
to be the number one most powerful woman in animation.
- But my powers have limits.
- You're wrong.
That poison should have killed you.
But you were able to fight it off.
You think your power has limits.
I say it's limitless.
- [Strider] Regardless of our gender, though,
these characters have really left an impact
on many of us
and culture itself.
Many of these characters
helped revolutionize the way people viewed female characters,
with their complexity, their strength,
and their personal growth.
And many of these ladies
have been outright role models to me.
And as the years progress,
I like seeing these female archetypes
change with the times.
Some of these characters
becoming even more powerful than before.
While there's still many problems
and fights to be fought,
I like to see in animation
the fact that the world is slowly growing.
And if you think I missed a particularly powerful female character,
or you have a favorite yourself,
feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below.
And as always,
thanks for watching,
and I'll see you next time.