While we were chatting about Game of Thrones last night, my good friend and fellow blogger Rio shared with me an idea that she had for a post for Mothers’ Day (which I will feature here as a surprise once she posts it) so I was inspired to come up with my own special for Mothers’ Day Week. But because moms are super special, I decided to honor these memorable movie moms in pairs so I can give them the full attention that they deserve. After all, moms are badas*es so we shouldn’t scrimp on the tribute, espcially for these movie mothers who have entertained us tremendously with their performances.

First up are two moms who try to get through post apocalyptic America and keep their family intact. The fact that they are dealing with the unknown while protecting their offspring is another extra challenge that they need to hurdle. They’re basically on the same boat (pun intended for Malorie) but they have totally different parenting approaches, these two. The contrast is kind of interesting despite their similar predicaments. Without much ado, I will keep you in suspense no longer.

Evelyn Abbott (A Quiet Place): Portrayed by Emily Blunt, who plays wife to her real life husband John Krasinski in this nail biting thriller, Evelyn is living in a world where making any sound is dangerous and deadly. Already losing one of her kids to mysterious elements who prey on noise of any kind, Evelyn tries to keep her family together all while being pregnant and preparing to give birth.

Now imagine how painful it is to go through labor, give birth, and on top of it all, have aliens attack your home when you are just about to pop. But wait, there’s more. She also steps on an exposed nail and has to endure all this pain without making a squeak. She also has to coordinate with her husband on how to save their two other children and in the end, she had to end the threat herself. This is one badass mom and she deserves to be on this list. Protective momma bear — check. Selfless and resourceful — double check. Emily Blunt deserved her Screen Actors Guild Award for her portrayal of this character.

Malorie Hayes (Bird Box): Malorie Hayes, portrayed by Sandra Bullock, will not win any mother of the year awards but that’s really not what this post is about. Pregnant Malorie is just about to give birth when the end of the world happens and people die from something that they “see.” So the rule of thumb is to always travel with a blindfold outdoors, or face death when you come face to face with the unknown.

You must agree that Bullock brought to life this reluctant, recalcitant mother to perfection. Or else, she wouldn’t have had so many memes made about her. There are no warm hugs and cuddles from Malorie, who hated the idea of being a mother to one child in the first place, much less be saddled by two after one of her fellow survivors die and leave her in charge of another baby.

Impatient and irritable, she treats her kids like soldiers, and worse, doesn’t even name them anything other than Boy and Girl. At one point, she even attempts to get her adopted child to look (and possibly die) in the process so that they could make it out of the rapids in one piece. But you have to hand it to her, she really did care about the kids in a way that only a mother could and even though she was harsh on them, she did get them to the sanctuary safely so that they could live relatively normal lives. Still, we maintain, no parenting awards for this one. But parody awards, she might have plenty of.

Check back tomorrow for our Badass Movie Moms (you got it!) for the Action Category.