Space Got A Female Hero, But Only After These Guys

Today marks the premiere of another fantastical, visually stunning Christopher Nolan film. In Interstellar, humanity is on the brink of extinction. It’s up to a crack team of NASA scientists, astronauts, and engineers to blast off into space and look for another viable planet on which the human race can continue. Without giving too much away, that crack team consists of Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), Amelia (Anne Hathaway), Doyle (Wes Bentley), and Romilly (David Gyasi). Later on, Coop’s daughter Murph (Jessica Chastain) joins NASA’s efforts to save everyone.

We applaud this lineup, but Interstellar got us thinking. How many movies, TV shows, and even music videos feature a man — or a team of men — venturing to infinity and beyond for some heroic space exploits? Whether it’s saving the world or defeating an alien race threatening to take over our planet, it seems like Hollywood will call upon anyone with a penis before say, Anne Hathaway, is allowed to stand up for humanity and kick some interstellar butt.

Now, we hear you starting to say, “But, what about Gravity?” Hear us out. Sandra Bullock's character was merely on a mission to collect data. She was not intentionally blasted into space for the sole purpose of becoming a hero. It just so happened that, while she was up there, shit went down. Things can get dicey in space. No one can hear you scream.

We also sense you thinking Alien, but it’s pretty grim if the ratio of male to female space heroes is basically a zillion to Sigourney Weaver. With that in mind, here’s a list of all of the often-ridiculous characters brought in for adventures in the great beyond before Hollywood finally called upon Anne Hathaway to do the job.