The 2000s was an era of iconic horror franchises, with Underworld and Resident Evil resonating as two of the biggest names and biggest money-makers. As a bonus, they featured two of cinema’s favorite leading ladies — the leather-clad vampire Selene, played by Kate Beckinsale, and the zombie-fighting-superhuman Alice, played by Milla Jovovich.
Both series dominated the box office for most of the aughts, filled with action, horror, gore, and epic fight scenes. So, even though both are great, thinking about both franchises got us wondering who would win in a fight between the reigning queens of action horror?
In one corner, there’s Kate Beckinsale’s Selene, an immortal vampire with immense combat skills, vampiric powers, and a body count of monsters that spans over centuries.
In the other corner, there’s Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, a clone that wields superhuman strength thanks to the T-virus. She is an experienced combat fighter and imbued with psionic powers thanks to her infection.
All things being equal, each woman has the strength and endurance required to take on the other — but it turns out all things are not equal. In the combined 12 movies between them, we’ve seen them being challenged in every arena imaginable, making them stronger than ever by the end.
If we pitted the first film versions of Selene and Alice against each other, then Selene comes out on top. Selene might also have an edge based on the sequels, though that’s not as clear cut, as the two characters have certain nuances to their lethality.
By Resident Evil: Extinction, Alice has grown both in power and strength and therefore could arguably eliminate Selene in the blink of an eye. It isn’t until Underworld: Blood Wars that Selene has any sort of power boost (following the process of cocooning), and though she is never one to back down from a fight, we know that Selene is a planner and would need to plan out her attack should she have a chance of defeating a powered-up Alice.
There’s also one thing to consider in the mix: offspring. Alice has no children (unless you count Becky), so Eve could be Selene’s Achilles heel in a Don’t Say a Word-type scenario.
We have learned over the course of six movies that Alice is not one to go quietly or give up, plus she has an entourage of clones at her disposal that would gladly give their life in a fight. Alice can also make bullets out of coins for her shotguns, has survived at least two plane crashes and two atomic bombs, and fought many nightmarish monsters coming out on top, always.
Selene, though boasting a century of skills, is a one-woman army and would easily be overwhelmed in a fight should Alice bring her clones. Lastly, the outcome might depend on what time of the day or night they class. Before Evolution, Alice can fight wherever and whenever, whereas Selene is unable to do so, giving Alice an advantage over the immortal vampire. However, it is revealed at the end of Evolution that Selene evolved and can freely wreak havoc on the Underworld whether day or night — thus somewhat leveling the playing field.
So, in the end, who would win?
If it came down to skill alone, we’d go with Selene, as she has the most experience in kicking ass, as in centuries of experience. Plus, she knows how to behead powerful foes in an easy swipe of the blade, if she’s not using her trademark Berettas.
However, when we consider all their powers side-by-side, we don’t like Selene’s chances as much, as she would have to rely on sheer will and rage – though we know she would definitely put up a good fight that we would enjoy watching. Alice technically has a surplus of resources at her disposal, making her the victor in our imaginary battle. But we get that it could go the other way as well, and we’d definitely love to see it.