It's kinda late for me to get into this one, but some thoughts ...
In my experience, very, very few women in real life or in print represent the extremes you describe. Even the old Lois was smart enough to pinpoint and confront the villian Superman eventually had to round up; and the modern bad-girls --- Sydney Bristow in Alias, Trinity in the Matrix movies, Storm and Phoenix/Dark Phoenix/Marvel Girl/Jean Grey and all the modern comic-book chickies --- still have feminine characteristics (though Trinity is perhaps the most masculinized of them all).
I constantly fight my heroine's masculine "creep" --- she's good with a gun, she loves using her swords and knives, she's revolutionized her field of endeavor, she can be an analytical automaton. So she also has a tender heart she hides from a cruel world, she loves to cook, she's amazed that the hero loves her despite her physical and emotional flaws, she has a little pet that has, at times, been her only friend.
My hero is a superior warrior with a sidearm, or with a steel blade, or in the cockpit of his space fighter. He's cranky, and tempermental, and always gives the impression of being about ready to boil over at any moment. He has a mother he adores who's not at all sane, a sister he adores who's the biggest social snob on thirteen planets, and a best friend who's pulling away from him for no reason he can determine ... and he's quite an accomplished artist.
Make 'em people. Look at what Heinlein did with Deety, or with Friday, or with Star in Glory Road.
I have an interview tomorrow, so I have to go to bed. I'll get back to you on this ... it's a topic I have interest in, as you can see.
Yes, I was describing some extremes and it's true most characters don't fall neatly into either extreme, so the point that I should aim for complexity is a good one. My character is probably closest to Phoenix out of the characters mentioned, but she develops in that direction after initially being more "Marvel Girlish", to overextend an analogy.
The point on how a crisis can reveal true strength is also helpful. My character's development is largely about how she responds to a crisis that could've broken her if she was weaker than she was, but she survives it to become stronger than she thought she was, though not without paying a big emotional price.
On Charlie's Angels, are you thinking of the old one or the new one? I find them totally different--I liked the old one, but I don't like the new one.
Gotta take off here for a bit; back later, everyone! Thanks again for the help on this! :)