12 Greatest Female Onscreen Spies

Some spies save the world with gadgets and perfectly timed explosions. Others do it in high heels, bad wigs, or while pretending to be totally ordinary. These onscreen women prove you don’t need a tux and a martini to be a legendary secret agent.

Here are the women who navigate peril with stealth, cunning, and force, as if it were effortless.

1. Lorraine Broughton (Atomic Blonde)

MI6’s Lorraine Broughton is sent to Berlin during the Cold War, where she survives on her brutal hand-to-hand combat skills, ice-cold instincts, and killer style. Charlize Theron trained so hard for the role that she cracked teeth during rehearsals, which explains why every fight looks like pure cinema.