Dark Action Girl

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
I broke a nail...in your ribcage.
"I don't think so, Admiral. You see at this point, I'm pretty much the Queen Bitch of the Universe."
Kerrigan, Queen of Blades, Starcraft: Brood War

Those stupid boys and their ridiculous little games. What's a girl to do? Well, if you're this girl, most likely kick their asses.

The villainous version of the Action Girl. Likes dressing in black and keeping her nails particularly long and sharp. A popular combination with The Baroness, but usually not The Vamp or the Femme Fatale, since she prefers to pummel The Hero to a bloody pulp instead of seducing him, but there are certainly exceptions, and these exceptions can be incredibly dangerous.

She's usually someone's Evil Counterpart. She tends to enjoy beating up tougher-looking characters, and a man's refusal to fight back tends to annoy her, and the chivalrous guy can end up badly battered.

You'd think that this would be the point where the Action Girl and the Dark Magical Girl intersect. Go on, keep thinking that way. We'll see how long you live. Hang on, let me get my stopwatch.

The Dark Action Girl is the Dark Magical Girl's polar opposite - fiercely independent, cruelly carefree, and rarely interested in making friends. Just as the Dark Magical Girl almost always does a Heel Face Turn, the Dark Action Girl almost never does. If she is brought over to the side of good, even if only for an episode, expect her to be hesitant about it at best - and if she stays, she'll remain more standoffish and cynical than the rest of the True Companions or the Five-Man Band. Typically, the Dark Action Girl will only aid the Action Girl against another villain because she considers herself the only one allowed to defeat her.

If The Messiah offers her friendship, expect her to take it as an insult. The Dark Action Girl is generally immune, or at least resistant, to The Power of Friendship. The Power of Love can soften her up sometimes, but it's a crapshoot; the foolish boy could just as easily wind up getting used and discarded, rejected violently, or just plain killed for his trouble. Deliver Us From Evil sometimes happens, but even then, the resulting Action Mom is almost always more of a Noble Demon with the child serving as a Morality Pet. Though, more often than not, especially if her little one is the fruit of an Unholy Matrimony, you just get an Evil Matriarch. Of course, if the child starts picking up some of her mom's habits, she might become a Little Miss Badass.

For some reason, while heroic Action Girls can fail to live up to their reputation, you will almost never find a Faux Action Girl Dark Action Girl. This is probably because no matter what standards the decade or culture sets for women, villains can break those standards anyway.

For many guys (and certain girls), a major source of Fetish Fuel.

If there's no Action Girls on the good side, all of the heroic females being damsels in distress, the work is likely using the Madonna-Whore Complex trope.

Compare Classy Cat Burglar, Dark Magical Girl, and Dark Chick.

Action Girl + Dark Action Girl = Designated Girl Fight.

Examples of Dark Action Girl include:


Anime and Manga

  • LadyDevimon from Digimon Adventure was thrown in, apparently at the last minute, as one of these. The only reason for this, however, appeared to be to set up an Evil Counterpart with whom Angewomon could have a Cat Fight, complete with slapping and hair-pulling. They even brought her back in Digimon Adventure 02 just to repeat the process.
  • Karinka from Steel Angel Kurumi toes the line. She beats the living hell out of another main character, and lives primarily so she can destroy the main character and steal her boyfriend. Oh, yeah, she curses like a sailor, too, or at least would if Japanese had cursing.
    • The Japanese language does have cursing. It is simply that the Japanese have a different idea of cursing from the English.
  • A brief glimpse of Caerula Sanguis' distant past in Volume 9 of Battle Angel Alita: Last Order shows that when she was part of the Chinese Triads, she was very much an example of this trope. After meeting Victor Byron, however, she softens a little. She softens further after meeting John Farrell in Volume 8, to the point that she became something of a Hero Secret Service, at first against Victor, to protect John Farrell's grandson, Arthur, eventually extending her protection to the whole of humanity.
  • Adiane from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
  • Gretel of Otogi Juushi Akazukin.
  • Naruto has a load of bait-and-switch Dark Action Girls who sometimes don't live up to their initial posturing or pull a whiplash-inducing High Heel Face Turn, but the standout is Tayuya, the flute-playing, Cluster F-Bomb-dropping genjutsu expert of the Sound Four, who easily cows her Ax Crazy coworkers, punches out the eponymous hero, and demonstrates, perhaps better than anyone in the series so far, save Uchiha Itachi, why genjutsu is NOT the "soft" one of the three main ninja skill sets. She then goes toe to toe with Shikamaru, the smartest guy in the whole series, and proceeds to back him into a corner and break his nigh-unbreakable binding jutsu with sheer brute force and bloody-mindedness. The only thing that stops her is having an entire forest dropped on her courtesy of Temari, a Badass Action Girl whose idea of a "cat fight" is breaking her opponent's spine and then tossing them across the room.
    • Konan of the Akatsuki fully earns her Dark Action Girl creds when she becomes the third person in the whole cast (apart from the First and Fourth Hokages) capable of giving Madara Uchiha a run for his money. Madara himself says she was this close to obliterating him.
      • Though, by the time this happens, she's wholeheartedly on the side of the heroes, due to Nagato's Heel Face Turn.
  • Revy from Black Lagoon is a Protagonist version of this.
    • Balalaika was also one before she graduated to The Baroness.
    • Come to think of it, every major female character in Roanapur is a variant of this theme.
      • It's debatable whether Roberta (as of the anime) actually outdarks Revy. Her motives are selfless, after all: Give. Me. My. Morality. Pet. Back. Now. SAFE.
        • Just you wait till the El Baile De La Muerte arc (which is being released now in OVA format). If you thought Roberta was scary before...
          • This is remarked on by the appearance of Fabiola Iglesias, the Action Girl who replaces Roberta as Garcia's caretaker and serves as her Foil.
  • Hibari Ginza from Speed Grapher.
  • Nena Trinity from Gundam 00, though she's more of a Dark Female Gundam Pilot.
  • Although Rizelle of Chrono Crusade prefers to use her powers to get other people to do her dirty work for her, when confronted by Rosette, she proves herself to be one of these, using her marionette strings and Femme Fatalons to cause a massive amount of (Clothing Damage) damage in the process.
  • Several female arrancars from Bleach, the biggest examples being Halibel and her Amazon Brigade (Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun), as well as Cirucci Thunderwitch.
  • Gun X Sword's Fasalina, who (unlike the only other girl in her group, Melissa, who was merely confused) fully embraced the methods of The Claw and, most of the time, puts up a damn good fight against the heroes.
  • Inuyasha: Kagura started off as this and eventually softened via Character Development into an ally of the good guys that fitted the cynical and aloof version of a Heel Face Turned Dark Action Girl; strictly speaking, she was a Dark Action Girl due to being enslaved to the Big Bad, which made her a Broken Bird as well.
  • One Piece has its fair share, from Miss Double Finger (and arguably Miss Merry Christmas) to Kalifa. Boa Hancock is shaping up to be this as well. Newest member of the Blackbeard Pirates, Catarina Devon, counts.
    • Don't forget Perona. Her entire personality screams DARK!
      • She's more of a Dark Magical Girl though, with the fact she dosen't fight directly, uses ghosts, and the face-heel turn.
    • Nico Robin deserves separate mention here. She'll crush your testicles, and that's if you're a prospective Nakama. Her overall body count probably ranks higher than many of the series' Big Bads, as well.
  • Dominique the Cyclops from Trigun.
  • Sabrina and Lorelei of the Pokémon Special manga. Interestingly enough, both of them have joined forces with the protagonists at some point due to an Enemy Mine situation; in fact, Sabrina does so against Lorelei.
    • Arguably, Karen also qualifies. She's also a Dark-type specialist, to hammer the point home.
  • Anemone from Eureka Seven. Unlike most Dark Action Girls, she ends up being an Anti-Villain.
  • Ophelia from Claymore. As a complete and total lunatic, obsessed with taking lives, she even kills her own fellow Claymores. She would have killed Claire if Irene hadn't intervened, which lead Ophelia to beg her dearly departed brother to protect her, while alone in the woods, and then moving to a hateful and (at least in the anime version) profanity-flooded monologue that ended with three F-bombs before "awakening". She makes BioShock (series)'s Sandar Cohen seem at least somewhat sane.
  • Road Kamelot and Lulu Bell from D.Gray-man.
  • Lust from Fullmetal Alchemist.
  • Medusa and her sister, Arachne, from Soul Eater
  • Evangeline from Mahou Sensei Negima, before her Heel Face Turn. Not that she'd ever admit to having made one.
    • Tsukuyomi and Poyo count, too.
      • Actually, Eva and Poyo fit more as Dark Magical Girls than DAG's. Tsukuyomi, however, is a Dark Action Girl through and through.
  • Ikaruga, Angel, Edo-Erza, and Ultear from Fairy Tail.
  • Puella Magi Madoka Magica has Kyouko Sakura. It should be noted, though, that she gets better, to the point of even pulling a Mercy Kill/Heroic Sacrifice so that Sayaka (who she has become very sympathetic toward) doesn't have to die alone, even admitting that part of the reason she became a Magical Girl in the first place was because she wanted to protect someone.
  • Any of the Sailor Animamates from the last series of Sailor Moon. Sailor Animamates were the servants of Big Bad Sailor Galaxia, who was hunting down Star Seeds/Sailor Crystals across the universe. They were all once good, but Sailor Senshi become evil when they lose their Sailor Crystals.
    • The Doom and Gloom Girls, Queen Beryl's last and strongest warriors from the anime, who very nearly succeeded in defeating the Sailor Senshi.
    • Also the Ayakashi Sisters, Evil Counterparts of the Inner Senshi and pretty competent combatants. In the anime, however, they have a collective Heel Face Turn.
      • Esmeralda, as well.
  • Gavrill Madaraki from Franken Fran, the almost-invincible shapeshifting leader of an army of pillaging thugs.


Comic Book


Fan Works


Film


Literature

  • Bellatrix Lestrange of Harry Potter.
  • Zandramas in David Eddings' Malloreon fits this role perfectly, right down to being an evil counterpart to Polgara.
  • Protagonist example who is still "Dark": Lale of The Assassins of Tamurin.
  • Hester Shaw in Mortal Engines becomes a completely merciless killer.
    • Stalker Fang is at least as much of a bad girl. Being horribly crippled then turned into Brain In a Jar inside a Killer Robot chassis can do that to someone.
  • Angelina, supposedly reformed murderess turned Special Corp agent/wife of 'Slippery Jim' DiGritz. Always carries an arsenal of lethal weaponry on her person, and has the ability to produce a .75 calibre recoilless from Hammerspace whenever she thinks her husband is getting too slippery for her taste. Supposedly, her more psychopathic impulses have been removed by the psych-techs, but Jim frequently has to restrain her natural enthusiasm for killing and torture.
  • Asajj Ventress, Count Dooku's main follower...cruel, skilled, and a major threat, with a tendency to pull a Not Quite Dead every time she seems defeated.
  • War from Good Omens.
  • Rare heroic example: Rachel from Animorphs, who begins as an Action Girl but gets closer and closer to this trope as the series goes on. Taylor could be seen as an actual villainous example, though she generally avoids using her unique fighting skills in favor of psychological manipulation.
  • Phrygiar Navaris from the Codex Alera is a psychotically obsessive swordswoman and one of the top five blades in her civilization - she normally hires herself out as a mercenary, and has racked up a kill count in the hundreds during her life (and those are just the ones we know about). Aquitainus Invidia from the same series is more like The Vamp, The Chessmaster, and the Reliable Traitor all in one person, but she's more than capable of getting her hands dirty if she has to.
  • Makala of Blade of the Flame, both before her in-backstory death and after she gets bitten by a vampire. Exhibits Clingy Jealous Girl traits after the spoilered event too.
  • Death's Mistress, aka Sister Nicci, of the Sword of Truth series. She serves the Imperial Order in their war against the "good" factions, a terror to the forces of the New World and a heroine to the Order, and is one of the main threats to Richard Rahl in Faith of the Fallen. Interestingly enough, she is also a Dark Magical Girl, Femme Fatale, and a Stalker with a Crush at times. Eventually, she does a High Heel Face Turn and joins Richard's party, and is afterwards their Black Magician Girl.
  • Kitiara from Dragonlance.
  • Ivana Vasilyeva from Dale Brown's Wings of Fire.
  • Penny from Lies, the third book in the Gone (novel) series.
  • Lara Raith in The Dresden Files alternates between being Harry's Friendly Enemy and a reluctant ally. Being a White Court vampire, she is superhumanly strong, fast, and durable, but still needs to feed on the life energy of humans.
  • The White Witch, Jadis, from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Extra points in that she's supposed to represent Satan.
  • Miss Hakkendottir from the steampunky The Hunchback Assignments: beautiful, thoroughly evil, and considers Mooks a disposable/consumable resource. Extra points for her two half-mechanical attack dogs...
  • Lisbeth Salander of The Millennium Trilogy. She slashes the throat of one thug with a broken bottle and scares his gang off by acting herself, violates her sadistic guardian and blackmails him with evidence of his rape, reveals her solution to her pedophile father was to Kill It with Fire, attacks then chases down a Neo-Nazi who she causes to crash before leaving for dead, and that's just the first book. And she's one of the good guys.


Live Action TV

  • Sarah Corvis in the Bionic Woman reboot is to be a prime example. She teaches the Action Girl protagonist just so that she can fight her later. Sarah also seems to like to drop hints, though it's been shown she does have a motivating romantic interest.
  • Faith on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is half this, half Dark Magical Girl. Her abilities are action-based, not magical, and the fights between Buffy and Faith are adrenaline-spiked highlights among the series' many action sequences. Directors, stunt directors, actresses, and stunt doubles always seemed to go all out whenever one of these scenes came up. At the same time, her issues are much more of the DMG vein, and she is eventually redeemed DMG-style in a two-part episode of Angel. However, even after Faith returns and joins up with Buffy, the two constantly butt heads, often violently.
    • Darla. While in flashbacks, she's less action-y and more just plain evil, during the first season, she was pretty much The Master's Dragon. That is, until she died.
    • God of Evil Glory should be mentioned, seeing as she was the Big Bad of a season.
  • Callisto, Xena's Evil Counterpart from Xena: Warrior Princess. She does pull a Heel Face Turn later in the show's run, actually.
    • It basically takes divine intervention, though.
      • To be precise, it requires Xena—who, at this point, had died and become an Archangel—to take on all of Callisto's sins and suffering, thus damning herself to Hell for All Eternity. This removes all of Callisto's memories of being evil, which, not coincidentally, leaves her with more or less no memory of her life after turning twelve.
  • Ebony of The Tribe. She was also The Baroness and a female Magnificent Bastard.
  • Gretchen Morgan from Prison Break. Really dark action girl. Do not mess with her.
  • Ana Espinosa from Alias.
  • Fiona Glennane from Burn Notice is one of the rare exceptions of this trope to do a Heel Face Turn.
  • Tenaya 7/Tenaya 15 from Power Rangers RPM, who more or less doubles as The Dragon for a better part of the series.
    • Just Tenaya?! Previous seasons had Scorpina, Archerina, Astronema, Trakeena, Vypra, Nadira, Toxica, Marah, Kapri, Elsa, Morgana, Necrolai, Miratrix, and Camille. Sentai, of course, had their counterparts, not to mention others from pre-PR seasons, Dairanger, and Kakuranger (which had a whole team of them).
  • NCIS: Ziva's connection to the Mossad hints that she used to be a dark action girl - the few images we get of her past show her shooting a guy from the back of a motorbike. She used to be a professional killer. It's okay, though. Now, she never kills anyone! ...Well, hardly ever.
    • That doesn't make her this trope though. She is shown repeatedly to have had friends and people she cared about. It should also be noted that she was killing people to protect her country, not for profit. Especially since Gibbs is shown to have been involved in assassinations as well.
  • Miss Parker from The Pretender.
  • Vlad from season 4 of Lexx. Most of her scenes with Kai involved her beating the snot out of him.
  • Isabella Gisborne from Robin Hood. One of only two Sheriffs in various versions of the story (the other being from Robin of Sherwood) to successfully kill Robin Hood.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive Tess Mercer of Smallville has repeatedly demonstrated that, in addition to being an expert Manipulative Bastard and Chessmaster, she is not a slouch in the physical department either, having fought Lana, Lois, Green Arrow, Zod, and, most recently, fellow Dark Action Girl Mad Harriet on relatively equal footing (she had to cheat against Zod by using Kryptonite brass knuckles, of course). Harriet and the Female Furies also fulfill this trope, as did Lana when possessed by Isobel Thoreaux.
  • In Doctor Who, Melody Pond was one of these, since she was a psychopathic Tyke Bomb raised to kill the Doctor. She does perform a Heel Face Turn and become River Song, though.
  • Cold-blooded Israeli assassin Mikel Dayan in Leverage. She's more of a Punch Clock Villain than anything else though.


Newspaper Comics


Tabletop Games

  • From the Dark Eldar of Warhammer 40,000, comes the wyches, each one a leather bound gladiatrix with a well-earned penchant for murder. The greatest of them and the absolute queen of this trope (to her fans at least) is Lelith Hesperax, who can murder an entire enemy squad before they can even fight back. She's so Badass, an in-joke is that her hair counts as a power weapon.
    • Also note, that while wyches are not exclusively female, a majority of them are. The Dark Eldar value skill and potential above all else, so there are virtually no gender barriers. That also means that the Dark Eldar can hold this trope to every career path, from Haemonculus to Incubus to Archon.
    • And on that note, their fantasy counterparts are just as hardcore - only they replace the Blood Sport aspect with a Blood Cult; they're refered to as the "Brides of Khaine" (he's the elven god of murder).


Theatre

  • The Witch from Into the Woods placed a curse on The Hero and his wife before the events of the show, practically abused her daughter, Rapunzel, by locking her in a tower for years, and cut off Rapunzel's hair and banished her into the desert. While the Witch had to work with the heroes for a time, she was the first cast member to start taking initiative when the Bigger Bad started killing everyone, and was dead set on sacrificing Jack to the Giantess. Then, towards the end of the show, she curses the heroes when they all confront her, throws away her magical beans, and vanishes, possibly commiting suicide. And on top of all that, she's got attitude.
    • She is, however, one of the more sympathetic versions of this trope: She apparently really did care for Rapunzel, despite having no idea how to properly raise her, and is devastated (and sees her attempts to keep her away from the prince confirmed as correct) when Rapunzel is trampled on by the giant's wife, killing her.


Video Games

  • Annie from League of Legends is this and a Black Magician Girl
  • Sarah Kerrigan, post-infestation, in StarCraft and StarCraft II. Queen of Blades, ruler of the Zerg swarm, Manipulative Bastard, and Chessmaster extraordinaire. In the aftermath of the Overmind's death, she manages, through grit, will, and a burning need for vengeance, to exact bloody revenge on all her enemies and establish herself as the de facto ruler of not only the Zerg swarm, but also the entire Kroprulu sector (see quote at the top of the page). At the start of StarCraft II, the entire sector lives in fear of her inevitable return.
  • Christie from Dead or Alive is either this or just an Action Girl. I'm not sure, but I think she fits this trope.
  • Rider of Fate/stay night embraces this image, although she does show a nice side—how much depends on the scenario.
    • Her alignment is Chaotic Good. I guess you don't have to be evil to be a Dark Action Girl, though. Dark Saber probably counts as one too.
  • Larxene of the Kingdom Hearts series certainly fits the bill. She's well aware of it, too - her personal title is "The Savage Nymph", and she delights in taunting the heroes with "clues" that turn out to be completely fake. Plus, in RE:CoM, she manages to martial-arts kick Sora to the ground...TWICE. Not to mention, she's an absolute bitch to fight and, well, a bitch in general (and a sexy one too!)
  • Sonia, Ursula, and Limstella in Fire Emblem 7. And definitely Petrine from Fire Emblem 9.
  • Ocelot in Metal Gear Solid believes in Equal Opportunity Evil and always has some female henchmen in his gangs. As with everything in the series, things are a bit more complex with Sniper Wolf, Olga, and Fortune, but Laughing Octopus, Raging Raven, Crying Wolf, and Screaming Mantis of the Beauty and the Beast Corps are just completely insane.
  • Speed Buster, the not-so-nice old lady with a BFG from No More Heroes, is probably what happens when the Dark Action Girl survives into her 70s.
    • In fact, every female opponent in No More Heroes probably qualifies under this trope, especially Bad Girl.
  • After being killed, corrupted, and resurrected in undeath, Sylvanas Windrunner slips easily into this role. Unusually, she's often portrayed with sympathy (depending on your interpretation, she could easily be considered a protagonist), and actually doesn't like her new role very much. Indeed, the only things that seems 'dark' about her are her fighting method and aloof personality, not her goal (which seemed...nice).
  • It is heavily implied that Nathyrra of Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark used to be one. Almost every female drow that shows up in the campaign, as well as Aribeth in the original after her Face Heel Turn and if you keep her on the dark side in Hordes of the Underdark, also qualify.
  • Risky Boots, the villainous pirate captain in the obscure Game Boy Metroidvania Shantae.
  • Menardi, from Golden Sun, fits this trope, although it's revealed in the sequel that she and Saturos were actually SAVING the world...after the heroes killed them. (Oops.)
    • Just ask any soldier of Tolbi, and they'll tell you she still fits the bill, no matter her intentions.
  • Bodhi from Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn. Even if your PC is a heavily armoured warrior with an Infinity+1 Sword or two, she can probably wipe the floor with him or her in single combat with her bare hands, while wearing less than required by decency. And she's also pretty much a Complete Monster.
    • Your PC may count as well, depending on how you play the game. And the fight goes much faster if you employ your One-Winged Angel Super-Powered Evil Side.
    • Viconia De Vir is a Femme Fatale who has a long history of mass murder and will openly insult your fellow party members for little reason beyond spite. Only slightly subverted in that she's on your side and can join the party, but she still qualifies.
      • However, she can pull a sort of Heel Face Turn if a male protagonist pursues a relationship with her in Throne of Bhaal, eventually changing her alignment from neutral evil to true neutral (though she gets killed in a rather bittersweet epilogue for her trouble. Yeesh).
  • Tavion and Alora from the Jedi Knight sequels. Both are dark jedi and (sub-)bosses.
  • Rubi Malone easily outshines, or outdarkens, Shego. Let's see, she's a Guns Akimbo, Bottle Fairy Psycho for Hire, spends half the game on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, goes into an Unstoppable Rage when the blood of some mook she shoots gets on her face, and has a penchant for the Groin Attack, using a gun or a sword. Oh, she wears a Slasher Smile during these last two actions. And she's voiced by Faith. Put it this way, she is far too dark to ever be a Disney Villain.
  • Tati from Rise of the Kasai, while not really a villain, qualifies for this trope. She's absolutely vicious and won't hesitate to kill any Kasai warrior she sees. Her family was slaughtered by the Kasai, she once hung out with her era's equivalent of a street gang, and she's cursed with a mark that is gradually corrupting her. She hates the world for this curse as well. Hatred runs through her veins.
  • Sasha from In Famous would also fit this trope. She was formerly Cole's (or, more accurately, Kessler's) girlfriend, and she's also one of the boss encounters in the game.
  • In Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, if your character is female, Mercurio says something about not wanting to speak of some matters (a vampire being a slut) in front of a lady. Your response is that a knee to the crotch tends to get men talking. He immediately talks.
  • Jack of Mass Effect 2, a shaven and tattooed biotics experiment, whose experiences have left her unstable, to say the least...though traveling with Paragon Shepard can make her a bit more balanced and less sociopathic.
    • This can be applied to a female Commander Shepard, as well, if you choose Renegade options in the game. By the third game a fully renegade Shepard would not only beat everyone else on this list, but be darker and eviler than all of them.
  • Kat in Halo: Reach is a case of a Dark Action Girl in the protagonist's team. This doesn't make her exactly "good", however.
  • Selvaria Bles in Valkyria Chronicles. She is practically invincible, and she has ZERO interest in serving anyone else but the Big Bad, Maximillian. Her virtue, however, is due to loyalty, not due to for sheer lulz and evil.
  • The female Imperfects, from Marvel Nemesis Rise of the Imperfects, would definitely fit here in this trope. Solara incinerates people, Fault Zone loves to make the ground tremble with her seismic accelerators, and The Wink seductively slashes people. All three are fueled by hatred and vengeance, just like their male comrades, Brigade, Hazmat, and Johnny Ohm.
    • And then there's the killing machine, Paragon, though she's not really one of the Imperfects.
  • Juri Han from Super Street Fighter IV. Notable because the vast majority of playable female characters in the Street Fighter games are good.
    • Also, Cammy and the Dolls used to be Dark Action Girls, as Bison's Brainwashed Bodyguard Babes. Cammy has a full Heel Face Turn once her inner humanity is unlocked. In the case of the other Dolls, however, it's not that easy: they suffer heavy physical and mental consequences, and at least one of them (Julia aka Juli) has become an Empty Shell due to it.
    • Crimson Viper seems to fit in as well. She seems to be a Reverse Mole, though, and while cold to the other warriors she still has a kinder side that she shows to her daughter Lauren.
  • She may be of neutral alignment, but Rouge the Bat qualifies for this.
    • Shade The Echidna. And how.
  • The Tales (series) has a few of these, along with several heroic Action Girls. Notable Dark Action Girls, however, include;
  • Pretty much every female character from the BloodRayne series, including the main character. Especially the main character.
  • Morrigan from Dragon Age is a Badass Black Magician Girl with a snippy attitude and a morally ambiguous stance.
  • Queen Myrrah heads into the fray with some new battle armor for Gears of War 3's multiplayer.
  • Septerra Core has Selina, who apparently goes back and forth between this and Action Girl a couple of times throughout the game.
  • BioShock (series) 2 has an entire stable of Big Sisters, all of them psychotic, suped-up DAGs
  • Resident Evil has Alexia Ashford. She's completely sociopathic and believes all around her exist only to be experimented on. When in human form, she does not seem so threatening. Then she transforms into a monster that uses her blood like napalm and fights Wesker to a stand-still.
  • The Soul Series has a few. Tira is the best example, completely insane and just loves to kill. She also killed Sophita. Ivy is one but on the good side, just a good side that doesn't care about all the other good sides.
  • From Tekken, we have Anna Williams, who's also a bit of a sadist. Nina might count with the Black and Gray Morality of the series, but she's debatable.


Web Comics

  • MAG-ISA -- Lucia fits this trope.
  • Sal Walters, from It's Walky, tends to weave in and out of the "dark" portion of Action Girl. She wasn't above opening a can of whupass on her own brother, though.
  • Considering that until, Agatha freed the other Jaegers, she was doing pretty well holding her own against guards and Othar, Jenka from Girl Genius likely qualifies. Mamma Gkika, being one of the Jager Generals, probably falls somewhere between this and Lady of War. Von Pinn is just Ax Crazy. And then there's Dupree, who's axe CRAZIER. She routinely attempts to murder entire towns (and, it's implied, only fails because her commanders won't let her) and actively taunts Von Pinn, who can tear Jagers apart with her bare hands.
  • Kria, the demon mare of Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures, is a Dark Action Mom. But given the comic, her appearances are pretty much entirely Villains Out Shopping.
  • Hortense in The Adventures of Dr. McNinja...at least, so far as we know.
  • In Blade of Toshubi, Lamika, aka Lady Snow Blood, kind of falls into this trope.
  • Sabine, Crystal, and, to an extent, Tsukiko (she mostly creates undead Mooks but can fight very well if she has to) from Order of the Stick.
  • Lifolei (which is on the 'good' guys side!) and Thlassa of Juathuur.
  • Kusari from Sluggy Freelance - a masked assassin with superhuman powers who unfailingly follows the orders of the villainous Hereti-Corp executives. Her perhaps even more dangerous "sister", Oasis, is too nuts to count, especially as she imagines she's actually good.
  • Reng-Lo from Harkovast, who is notable for being a skilled warrior and complete psycho.
  • Sakido from Slightly Damned certainly had a history as one of these. She was one of hell's most elite warriors in The Great War before retiring to the ring of the slightly damned. She shows us what she's made of when she takes down the guardian of hell and then single handedly fights her way through the legions of demons to get her little brother and his friend Rhea to the mortal world, even though she knows she'll die in the process. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming
    • Lazuli plays the role much straighter, and is pretty terrifying.


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