Top 10 Knockouts by Knockouts in Movies

Forget the damsel in distress. We want our leading lady to be like a 100-proof mojito – looking sweet, but packing a powerful punch. A coquette who can kick butt. Movie heroines may be formidable when they're equipped with lethal weapons, martial art moves or a devious, deadly stare, but the real tough cookies prove they’re badass with just one good jab in the jaw. So here's a salute to hitting like a girl.

10: The Hand that Rocks the Cradle

In the early '90s, Hollywood put out a string of formulaic thrillers, in which Naïve Niceperson allows Creepy-but-Ingratiating Newcomer into their life, only to find them systematically ruining it. Call 'em "Blank from Hell".  Single White Female: Roommate from Hell. Pacific Heights: Tenant from Hell. So what's special about this variation, the Nanny from Hell? 

Well, when Anabella Sciorra finally realizes that her au pair Rebecca DeMornay's been trying to usurp her mommy position, butting her nose in the family business, and her lactating boobs in the baby's face, Mom gives the babysitter one helluva haymaker. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle meets the Fist that Busts the Nose. 

9: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

There are plenty of ways to get back at the class bully. Especially if it’s that jerk Draco Malfoy, who’s calling everyone insulting names and summoning He Who Shall Not Be Named. But casting a spell like Petrificus Totalus or the Cruciatus Curse is too easy, especially for Hogwarts’ walking library, Hermione Granger. 

Let Harry Potter and Ron Weasley waste their time proving who has the biggest wand.  Hermione just needs to tap into that Muggle part of her Mudblood and release a fist-sized Bludger in his smug Slytherin face. 

8: The Legend of Frenchie King

This European-made Western from the 1970s is about a French woman and her sisters who buy a homestead in a town run by another French woman who… ahh, never mind the plot. What’s important is that the movie features gorgeous Gallic gals Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale and the greatest catfight in a spaghetti western — right after Claudia serves Brigitte a picture parfait knuckle sandwich. Who knew these cowgirls were so deliciously deadly with their deux dukes?

7: What's Love Got to Do With It

The best scene wasn’t Ike & Tina Turner's triumphant rendition of "Proud Mary".  Or Laurence Fishburne's famous retort, "You tryin' to help Ike?!"  It was when Tina finally did help Ike, to a taste of his own medicine, namely a long overdue beatdown. When Tina threw that first punch in the limousine, audiences cheered like she was strutting on stage in one of her shaggy wigs. 

This was the first step toward freedom, but before going Beyond the Thunderdome, Tina had a lot more work ahead of her, including a nasty divorce proceeding and forfeiting everything but her name. Not to mention kick Ike in the "Nutbush City Limits", which may have been the real meaning of her solo number, "Private Dancer".

6: Die Hard

We all remember Bruce Willis running barefoot over broken glass, firehose jumping off the top of Nakatomi Plaza, sending Alan Rickman plunging to the bottom of it, and smirking his way into cinema stardom. But John McClane's wife had her yippie-ki-ay moment, too. When Bonnie Bedelia faced the reporter who exposed her on national TV, she unpacked a punch as powerful as a C4 explosion. 

5: Million Dollar Baby

Nope, this spot doesn't go to Hilary Swank, despite her pugilistic prowess in this flick. The punch that stands out (spoiler alert!) was delivered by real-life undefeated boxer Lucia Rijker. Of course, her character’s behind-the-back bash was illegal, but without that low blow, Swank's Mo Cuishle wouldn't have been paralyzed, Clint Eastwood’s movie wouldn't have changed gears into a tear-jerking euthanasia debate, and this fight film wouldn't have become an Oscar winner. 

Eastwood and Swank may not have needed second statuettes, but Morgan Freeman might still be waiting for his, if not for Rijker's cheap shot. Or that damn stool left in the corner.

4: Kill Bill: Vol. 2

In Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Uma Thurman executed one bad guy, then a dozen at once, then the rest of the Crazy 88, and she could've dispatched a gazillion more. If a duel to the death was a marriage, the Bride was one badass bigamist with a blade. But then the stylized swordplay and fire hydrant bloodletting spilled over into a second movie. Why? What kind of action could top that? Maybe if the Bride fought death itself - without her killer katanas. Sure enough, Michael Madsen gives Uma Thurman a "Texas Funeral", burying her alive with nothing more than a flashlight. Good thing she was taught the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique. That move works not only people, but on six feet of freshly dug grave dirt. Punching her way out of a coffin—a move normally reserved just for zombies—Uma convinces us to stick around. 

3: Jerry Maguire

Tom Cruise has been punched, kicked, thrown, and nearly obliterated in countless action blockbusters, yet he almost always keeps on sprinting at top speed with barely a scratch. Rarely do we see him truly on the receiving end of a thorough beatdown. Enter Jerry Maguire, a dramedy with no spy mission, no high-speed motorcycle chase, and no villainous henchman looking to take him out.

Instead, Cruise’s greatest enemy? His own furious fiancée, Avery, played by Kelly Preston. When Jerry meekly breaks up with her, Avery doesn't just take it personally—she takes it physically. Starting with a right wallop, she turns Hollywood’s most indestructible man into mincemeat.

2: Aliens

"Get away from her, you bitch!" is a great line, but talk is cheap. In Aliens, Bill Paxton verbally antagonized the swarm — "Oh, you want some of this?" — only to find his character’s fate being "Game over, man." So it's best to back up your big mouth with fisticuffs fortified by a forklift. When Sigourney Weaver put on a mechanized exoskeleton and threw that first hydraulic left hook, she evened the playing field. The defending champ had retractable teeth and acid for blood; the contender, alien-lifting arms and a blowtorch at the click of a button. Ripley vs. Queen Xenomorph: the mother of all smackdowns.

1: Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones has fought Nazis, sword-wielding assassins, a Soviet strongman and even a guy who nearly ripped his heart out—but few foes ever hit him as hard as Marion Ravenwood.

When we first meet Marion, played by Karen Allen, she’s outdrinking a massive rival in a Nepalese saloon, proving this tough-as-nail bar owner is no joke. But the real punchline—literally—comes when Indy walks through her door. Harrison Ford flashes his signature smile, but Marion doesn’t swoon—she swings, delivering a right hook straight to Indy’s face and making it clear she’s not about to be charmed into forgetting whatever happened between them.

That one blow set the tone for Marion as one of the greatest action-adventure heroines ever. She’s not just Indy’s love interest—she’s his equal. Tough, smart, and unwilling to take any of his nonsense, she keeps him on his toes throughout the film. Without her, Raiders wouldn’t be nearly as sharp, funny, or iconic.

So when it comes to legendary on-screen knockouts, Marion Ravenwood punches the top spot on the list.

What do you think? Any hard-hitting femme fatales we left out?