What actual strong female characters have in common is the fact that they're not showing a huge amount of feminine traits. Take Zoey in FF for instance, if you

What actual strong female characters have in common is the fact that they're not showing a huge amount of feminine traits. Take Zoey in FF for instance, if you disregard the female body she is not really female, in a good way. She is a loyal soldier, she is a loving spouse, and she is a good fighter, yet she's not really feminine. You know she's a woman and the writers chose to leave it at that, focus on what's actually important and not the "omg I can't believe she's a woman with a gun". This is true for beloved male leads in movies as well, in the case of Sherlock Holmes we're not constantly reminded he's a man. The same goes for say, Iron Man. These are people who are introduced to a series of problems they have to solve, and in one way or another they get shit done with all the flare, despair and glory needed to make a good film. Anti-racism is the new racism, anti-sexism is the new sexism, etc. When people stop focussing on trivialities, deeper thoughts can come to life.