HEROINE HEADCOUNT: ULTIMA

No, not the minor villain from SHE-HULK. This Ultima, who's never given a last name, is an aged Mexican curandera, whose mystical world is described by the narrator of the 1972 BLESS ME ULTIMA by Rudolfo Anaya. Though much of the novel is devoted to the narrator's ordinary world, Ultiima qualifies as a combative heroine due to her contentions with a practitioner of dark magic.

Since it's an art-novel, one shouldn't necessarily expect a happy ending. There's also an unremarkable film adaptation, in which the character is played by Miriam Colon.