Entertainment Weekly’s yearly celebration of the actresses in movies and television who kick the most ass changed things up a bit for Comic-Con 2017. This iteration, dubbed “Icon Edition,” focused on one ass-kicker in particular — someone who has quickly earned a spot in action movie hall of fame.

Charlize Theron took the stage in Hall H at Comic-Con for an in-depth, one-on-one conversation with Entertainment Weekly senior writer Sara Vilkomerson ahead of her new film Atomic Blonde (out July 28). Theron told Vilkomerson that Atomic Blonde came out of looking for something specific, wanting to play an unrepentant woman who plays by the rules men get to play by.

“Women in film typically need a reason to become warriors — losing a child or husband. They can just be warriors,” she said. “That’s what Atomic Blonde is supposed to portray. Lorraine is simply herself. There’s no explanation for why the way she is the way she is.”

The fans in Hall H were also treated to an extended look at the ’80s-set spy thriller. In a long-take fight between Theron’s Lorraine Broughton and a group of thugs in an East Berlin stairwell, Lorraine takes plenty of hits but is absolutely merciless — and the audience in Hall H responded with huge applause. (“Thanks, guys. Can I bring you everywhere I go?” Theron joked.)

The epic sequence was shot over three-and-a-half days. “We really didn’t think we would be able to pull it off,” Theron said.
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