Live Action
Samantha Carter
Stargate SG-1
Samantha Carter is a badass on a level rarely allowed female characters. She's an exceptional soldier, she's a genius with multiple areas of expertise, and she's highly astute in new situations. Her proficiency doesn't lead her to be arrogant or indifferent, she remains kind and empathetic throughout the series. She also has hot men across the galaxy throw themselves at her, both her beauty and her towering intellect.
Kira Nerys
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Kira Nerys is one of the greatest fictional characters of all time. She's a religious ex-terrorist/revolutionary fighter with an incredibly short fuse. She's also loyal, fearless, self-sacrificing, and stubborn as shit. And her ability to shittalk is legendary.
Jadzia Dax
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
One of the qualities I always admired most about Jadzia Dax is that she's always at ease (a quality her successor, ironically, was conspicuously lacking). She didn't get flustered or anxious, awkward silence didn't phase her at all, and even being objectified as a woman was nothing more than an amusing novelty. She was cool, confident, and treated everything like it was all there for her amusement.
Delenn
Babylon 5
Delenn is a character of stark duality. She's empathetic, kind, and deeply religious. But she can also be short tempered and scary as hell when she's mad. Despite being, essentially, a really short alien nun, she's still one of the most intimidating characters in the entire series.
Susan Ivanova
Babylon 5
Ivanova is exactly the kind of the second-in-command I decided I wanted to be when I was young: hard-working, loyal, terrifying but fair, and never afraid to put herself on the front line with everyone else. I loved that she, rather than being too demure, was too over the top most of the time. She was too hot-headed, too guarded, and put herself in harm's way too much.
Xena
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena is one of the first fictional women I remember feeling like I could actually look up to. She's tall, loud, she kicks people, and she is the one to save the Damsel in Distress.
Charlie Matheson
Revolution (2012)
Charlie is the lovable protagonist on a highly underrated show. In a lot of ways she's a stereotypical young woman - emotional, sensitive, wears her heart on her sleeve, and idealistic to the point of being naive. But she also has a toughness to her from growing up in a hard world, and despite her sense of empathy, doesn't hesitate to reciprocate the violence that is pointed at her. She inevitably struggles with morality and where to draw the line when fighting back and does so admirably.
Sarah Connor
Terminator
When I think "tough scifi women", one of the first characters that always comes to mind is Sarah Connor. Just a regular lady in the first movie, by movie number two she is a hardened killer busy training her son to lead a future revolution.
Kahlan Amnell
Legend of the Seeker
In Legend of the Seeker, it's made clear how Kahlan's powers make it impossible to pursue romantic love, but it also shows how well she is able to foster every other kind of relationship in her life. Her friendships are deep and loving, she's devoted to her sister, she is at ease acting as a member of any community she encounters, her "working" relationships (as an adventurer and religious figure with societal duties) are all successful and positive. What she lacks in romance, she more than made up for with everyone else in her life. And she knows how to fight if needed.
Seven of Nine
Star Trek: Voyager
Despite the awful skintight catsuit with high heels (seriously why would a Borg wear heels??? that's just bad scifi writing) Seven of Nine is an incredibly compelling, sympathetic character. Her superhuman powers are balanced by having one of the scariest human needs - needing other people and a sense of community - taken to the extreme due to growing up in the borg collective.
Morgana Pendragon
Merlin (2008)
Morgana is an interesting character because of her resistance to the rules of her highly oppressive homeland where she (and many others) had been fed lies since her earliest memories. Her character experiences a shift, but it's rooted in her persisting desire to do good and see justice carried out.
Wing Chun
Wing Chun (1994)
Loosely based on the legend of the origin of the martial art Wing Chun, the movie character is the archetype of the cool quiet person concealing mindblowing physical powers. She uses her ability to beat the shit out of anyone who challenges her to defend her friends, family, and lone widows that would otherwise be victims of society. Despite her level of badassery, she's still human, and relies a lot on her women friends for emotional support.
Myka Bering
Warehouse 13
Agent Myka Bering is the responsible, rational, always-organized-and-dependable pillar of her team on Warehouse 13. She's a goodie two-shoes but has a lot of complexity. And she's an excellent shot with her gun.
Claudia Donovan
Warehouse 13
Claudia Donovan's best quality isn't not her hacker skills, but her goofiness. She has a free-spirited and even careless quality to her. She doesn't care what other people think sometimes to her own deficit. And she has no regard for rules whatsoever. If she wants it, she goes for it.
Veronica Palmer
Better Off Ted
Better Off Ted was a barely-watched, short-lived sitcom from the 2000s about a Research & Development department at a Boston Dynamics-type corporation, and Veronica Palmer is the high powered boss. She's mean, callous, determined, competitive on an unhealthy level, and she intimidates everyone around her.