Ballerina is the latest installment in the world of John Wick, and the movie has done an excellent job of pushing the franchise in the right direction with a bold, new protagonist to take the reins. Eve Macarro may be the new face of John Wick, but she’s certainly not the first ᴅᴇᴀᴅly female ᴀssᴀssin to appear in this franchise. While most of Wick’s enemies have been male, some of his fiercest opponents and most valuable allies were not.

While the film has been effectively labelled as the “female John Wick”, that’s a fairly reductive characterization of a franchise with some ferocious female characters. Even before Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro joined the picture, the series has made a concerted effort to include some ᴅᴇᴀᴅly female ᴀssᴀssins. Len Wiseman’s explosive vision in Ballerina reinvents what it means to fight like a girl, and it delivers one of the John Wick franchise’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest ᴀssᴀssins in the process. Yet, Eve is not the only woman highly skilled in combat in this world.

7

The Violin ᴀssᴀssin

Introduced In John Wick: Chapter 2

Although unnamed, the Violin ᴀssᴀssin is one of the most memorable side characters from John Wick 2. She’s among the many killers in New York City who take up the offer to eliminate John Wick after Santino D’Antonio put a bounty on the protagonist’s head for murdering his sister. This kicks off the film’s central conflict between John and Santino, and the Violin ᴀssᴀssin is the first real taste that John gets of the unstoppable force that’s out to get him.

Ultimately, John barely struggles to subdue the Violin ᴀssᴀssin. He breaks her arm quickly and snaps her neck, leaving her ᴅᴇᴀᴅ shortly after she manages to get a couple of sH๏τs on him. Though her methods of killing are memorable, she’s ultimately not ᴅᴇᴀᴅly enough to stand up to Wick for too long.

6

Ms. Perkins

Introduced In John Wick

Adrianne Palicki’s antagonist from the original John Wick movie is a very interesting one, though not one who left much of an impact on the franchise as a whole. She’s an employee of the Tarasov crime family, and she’s the one responsible for eliminating Wick during his vendetta against Viggo and Iosef. Though she’s involved in some of John Wick’s most exciting fight sequences, Perkins doesn’t have the combat strength necessary to bring Wick down.

Perkins also lacks the intuition and opportunism that’s necessary to stand up against John Wick’s best villains. Her impatience leads her down a dangerous road of breaking the Continental’s rules and trying to outrun the consequences, which is ultimately what gets her killed. The Continental’s rules are heavily enforced, but Perkins is among the very few characters who are directly killed as a consequence of breaking them.

5

Lena

Introduced In Ballerina

Lena doesn’t get too much screen time in Ballerina, but it’s clear from her fierce combat strength that she’s a force to be reckoned with. She’s the one who leads the charge against Eve Macarro in Prague, and her status as the Chancellor’s right-hand woman clearly gives her some influence over the rest of the cult. This makes her a dangerous enemy, even if Ballerina doesn’t quite let her shine.

The revelation that Lena is actually Eve’s sister comes as a major surprise in Ballerina’s final act, and this twist is the saving grace that finally gives Lena the development and substance she deserves. The truth brings a whole new complexity to Lena’s previous fight scenes, and it would be excellent to see her somehow return in Ballerina 2 in order to pay off this subplot.

4

Ares

Introduced In John Wick: Chapter 2

Ares was the right-hand woman of Santino D’Antonio in John Wick 2, and she arguably comes the closest of any John Wick villain to actually succeeding in her quest to bring down the elusive Baba Yaga. If she’d decided to break the rules and fight John at the Rome Continental, things could have gone very differently for this franchise. Ultimately, it was her hesitation and obedience to the Continental’s system that kept her from completing her mission there and then.

Although John does eventually manage to kill Ares during their final showdown, it’s far from an easy fight. She comes close to beating him on several occasions, and John’s decision to kill Ares instead of leaving her alive (like he did with Cᴀssian) proves that he recognized just how much of a threat she was. John knew that leaving Ares alive wasn’t an option, proving that she’s one of the strongest fighters he’s faced off against.

3

Sofia Al-Azwar

Introduced In John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum

Halle Berry’s guest appearance in John Wick 3 is one of the film’s most exciting additions, so it’s not surprising that the actress was given such a fierce, ᴅᴇᴀᴅly character to work with. Sofia is the manager of the Continental’s branch in Casablanca, and she’s just as talented as the other ᴀssᴀssins that John encounters on his journey. The dog action scenes in Parabellum are proof enough that Sofia is a formidable enemy, but she also gets some brilliant hand-to-hand combat scenes that prove just how skilled she is.

Although Halle Berry only appeared for a short while in Parabellum, she proves to be nearly as ᴅᴇᴀᴅly as John Wick in her screentime. Sofia racks up 53 kills in the movie and dispatches her enemies in a variety of ways. Add in the fact that she’s also in control of two ᴅᴇᴀᴅly dogs (who kill another 20 people between them), and the body count she leaves behind gets even higher. She’s not only one of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅliest female ᴀssᴀssins in John Wick‘s universe, she’s one of the most skilled killers all around.

2

Eve Macarro

Introduced In Ballerina

Although she’s only appeared in a single movie, Eve Macarro has already staked her claim as the most compelling protagonist in the John Wick universe. Ana de Armas brings this character to life with such fierce charisma and physicality that it’s impossible not to get invested in her story, and Ballerina’s creative fight sequences do an excellent job of demonstrating just how strong she is.

Although Eve may not be physically strong enough to defeat John Wick in hand-to-hand combat (as some female ᴀssᴀssins were), her intuition and creativity on the battlefield are what make her such a ᴅᴇᴀᴅly opponent. Whether she’s using grenades, flamethrowers, or even ceramic plates, she’s always capable of thinking outside the box to get the upper hand on her enemy.

1

Akira Shimazu

Introduced In John Wick: Chapter 4

The entire sequence in the Osaka Continental in John Wick 4 displays some of the franchise’s most brutal and creative choreography to date, and Akira is the catalyst for much of that ᴅᴇᴀᴅly violence. She’s clearly a very capable fighter, and there’s no denying that Wick’s feud with the High Table probably would’ve ended much earlier if Akira and her father hadn’t been there to help him. Her role in the narrative leads to killing potentially as many as 21 individuals, which is a high death count for such a limited role.

Thankfully, the ending of John Wick 4 suggests that Akira will be back in the future, and it’s confirmed she’ll return in the upcoming Caine spinoff to seek revenge for the murder of her father. This will be a brilliant opportunity to display more of Akira’s combat strength; if she’s able to hold her own against Caine, there would be no doubt that she’s the strongest female ᴀssᴀssin in this franchise.