Not just around for show, femme fatales help move the plot and show just how ridiculously easy it is to distract a main character, no matter how clever they think they might be. Whether it’s in video games or movies, these dangerous dames are willing to do whatever it takes to complete their mission. Polygon shares their fave femme fatales.

While femme fatales might not be the first thing you think of when it comes to sci-fi, the genre (so often thought of as the province of nerdy men) allows her to become even more powerful. In sci-fi, the femme fatale can take the form of an alien or a robot or some other kind of fantasy being. The femme fatale-ness and otherworldliness enhance one another, increasing her evil abilities beyond what they would be in a film noir or erotic thriller. Sure, Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity and Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction (to name just two iconic examples) were femme fatales, but could they shapeshift and channel the supernatural? Not quite.

We’ve gathered some of our favorite sci-fi femme fatales — all of them mythical creatures who get away with villainous behavior and look cool while doing it.

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