Next is Ellen Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, of the Alien franchise.
Ripley only just beat the xenomorph in Ridley Scott's Alien (1979).
She spends most of James Cameron's Aliens (1986) dealing with and overcoming her trauma. Eventually, she seriously kicks ass.
She also becomes a surrogate mommy to Newt, the abandoned girl who the Space Marines find on LV-426.