Captain Marvel and the 25 most empowering female superheroes of all-time

22. Princess Leia – Star Wars

Who plays her: Carrie Fisher

Powers/Abilities: None. She’s human!

Why she’s so empowering: Princess Leia is one of the women least considered a superhero. She holds no power of her own – although, arguably she should be able to access the force as the daughter of Anakin Skywalker. Well, she has no physical power. She does have political power.

It’s that power of authority that makes it possible to control missions, but those missions still have to go through others. Yet, the authority offers the chance for her to show her leadership skills and gives her a confidence boost.

Considering Princess Leia was created in the 1970s, it would be easy to think of her as a damsel in distress. After all, there is a part in the second movie that will make you cringe because of her costume. But that doesn’t stop her from being empowering. The second she gets a chance, she uses her chains and manages to take out the alien keeping her as a slave.

Leia isn’t afraid to love, nor is she afraid to fight. She’ll go on the most dangerous missions, which is how we initially meet her in Star Wars: Episode IV. How can she tell people to go on these missions if she’s not willing to put her own life at risk?

She does this time and time again. Throughout the course of three movies, we watch as she is the great mind behind the men. She helps tame a wild space pirate and boosts her brother’s confidence when he needs it the most. But despite all, she has her beliefs and never wavers in them.