This week sees the cinema release of Ballerina, the first in a series of planned spin-off movies from the incredibly successful John Wick action franchise.

Focusing on a new character, Eve, portrayed by Ana de Armas (No Time to Die), the film follows the exploits of a young orphan who is recruited into the secret Ruska Roma organisation, where she is raised as a deadly assassin. Once unleashed into the world, however, Eve applies her new skill set to track down the gangsters responsible for murdering her father.

While not the best example of its genre, Ballerina nevertheless continues a long-standing tradition of female assassin films that stretches back decades.

Here are 15 of our favourite examples showcasing some of cinema’s most deadly femmes fatales.

Read my full South China Morning Post feature here