Jan 23 2009
Ten of the Most Bad Ass Tattoos in Movies
I already have one tattoo on my arm, and I’ve been thinking about getting another one. I want something really hardcore this time around, and I’ve been leaning toward either a tribal tattoo on the small of my back or a dolphin on my ankle. Those are pretty tough, right? Maybe I should be looking to the movies for inspiration, as there’s some truly bad ass tattoos that I’ve noticed. I probably don’t have the pain tolerance to get inked with some of the designs these movie characters have, but let’s take a look at ten of the most bad ass tattoos in movies, after the jump:
Blade’s Tribals - Blade
Sweet Moses, those are some nasty tats. It’s one thing to have tribal designs on your neck and back, but when they start to wrap around your ear, you know you’re a total bad ass. There’s no way I could handle getting these; I’d be better off fighting vampires.
Fox’s Multiple Tattoos - Wanted
Angelina Jolie has something like 13 real tattoos, but she’s not even close to as tatted-up as her character Fox in Wanted. Jolie got to keep some her tattoos exposed for the movie, but as you can see, several faux ones were added as well. It’s not often that we refer to women as bad ass, but Fox is about as dangerous (and sexy) as a woman can be.
Jack Carter’s Mancats - Get Carter
To pull off the double mancats Jack Carter has, you need to have some seriously steroid-inflated guns. Stallone obviously has no problem with this bad ass look, but I’m not sure it’d work for me. I would probably have to downgrade to kittens. Chicks like kittens, though, right?
Viper’s Face & Tongue Tattoos - Doomsday
For me, Viper is the most memorable part of the mostly-disappointing Doomsday. Her bad ass chick schtick isn’t just an act, and the tattoos aren’t just for show - she set a guy on fire and then ate him. Whoever did the ink on Viper’s face is quite artistic.
Nikolai Luzhin’s Prison Tattoos - Eastern Promises
Actually a member of the Russian Security Services, “Nikolai” is covered in symbolic prison tattoos to give him street cred with the Russian Mafia. Not pictured are his most bad ass tattoos of all: the stars on his knees, which symbolize the fact that he will never kneel before any man.
Denton Van Zan’s Dragon Tattoos - Reign of Fire
Van Zan has two dragons tattooed on his chest, with their tails wrapping around his shoulders and down his arms. It’s a great look and is enhanced by the fact that Van Zan is pretty friggin ripped. You’d look pretty ridiculous with a pair of dragons inked on your floppy man-boobs, so this bad ass look isn’t for everyone.
Hando’s Skeleton-Bone Arm Tattoo - Romper Stomper
This is a personal favorite of mine, and again, it’s something I could never pull off. The closest I’ve come to Hando’s tat is a pair of knee-high socks with the tibia and fibula printed on them that a girl I used to date bought me at the “Bodies” exhibition. Tough guys don’t go to the “Bodies” exhibition, they put people in the exhibition. My socks do kick ass, though.
Snake’s Snake - Escape From New York
This one is pretty self-explanatory, and a giant cobra emerging from your crotch is nothing short of awesome. If you’re uncircumsized, would that make it a hooded cobra?
Francis Dolarhyde’s Dragon - Red Dragon
I think this one speaks for itself, but it’s only the second-best tattoo in this article. Yes, it’s truly bad ass, but it doesn’t compare to…
Seth Gecko’s Arm & Neck Tattoo - From Dusk Till Dawn
Hands down, the best, coolest, most wicked, hardcore, insane tattoo in the history of movie tattoos. For almost the entire movie, the only part of Seth’s tattoo that is visible is the small part that creeps up out of his collar and onto his neck. At the end, though, Seth removes his jacket, revealing his incredible tattoo and inspiring wannabe tough guys everywhere to get their arms covered with ink. These tattoos weren’t presented in order of bad-assery, but if they were, Seth’s would be number one.
Are there any movie tattoos you find particularly bad ass? I left off xXx because his tats encricle his naval, and Dennis Rodman is the only dude who can pull that off. Max Cady has a nice collection of tats, but none of them really stood out to me. Finally, I wanted to include Willie Beaman’s double pistol tattoos on his hips, but for the life of me, I couldn’t find a good picture.
| Share |
More Unreal Posts
- A Cool Gallery of Samus Aran & Metroid Tattoos
- Unreal Movie Vault: From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
- The Final Countdown: How to Survive in Prison, Video Game Rental and a Nude French First Lady
- Admit It, It’s Cute: A Gallery of Kids in Sci-Fi Costumes
- Get a Look At The Disney Man
Val Kilmer as Danny Parker/ Tom Van Allen in ” The Salton Sea”. His tattoo on his back is one of the best ever seen. (link to picture) http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3657668608/tt0235737
ummm…not sure if this is strictly for movies, but michael scofelds tattoos of his prison escape from the show prison break are seriously bad ass. also, val kilmer in the salton sea has a HUGE back piece that would honestly replace snake on this list at least. pretty good, though.
¿How about American History X? Great article man!
@ Ben and ricky
Wow! That Kilmer tat from Salton Sea is pretty gnarly. I definitely would have added it if I had seen that flick. great call, guys.
@ Buceante
Thanks for reading, but I couldn’t put Vineyard’s Nazi tattoo on here! I hate Nazis!
i also just remembered johnny 23 from con air. couldnt find a picture, but if i remember right, it was a sleeve of roses and he would get a new one for every chick he raped. thats pretty tough in a messed up kind of way! i also dont see the need to include american history x nazi tattoos either.
Dude?! How could you not include Danny Trejo? Come on! In both Con Air and Desperado, the Annie Oakley (I think) tattoo is one of the best and most memorable in Hollywood!
@ dahlia6
My goodness, what an omission. Even worse, Trejo’s tattoo is real. Thanks for pointing that out.
Jim Carrey in The Number 23 has an awesome tribal thorn vine climbing his back and around to the front.
What, No Leonard Shelby from Memento?
Admittedly, they are home made tattoos, but still, pretty Bad Ass to use your body as a notepad, that really says something, like “Forget about Post-Its, those are for pussies, I’ll tattoo my damn arms…
I definitely considered Shelby, but the tattoos themselves weren’t really bad ass. I mean, they’re just a bunch of notes/reminders all over his body.
HOW he applied the tats is pretty bad ass, I guess, but I don’t think “John G Raped and Murdered My Wife” is something that screams “tough guy,” ya know?
Hello?! … De Niro in Cape Fear? Why is it so creepy when someone tats a giant cross on themselves. Shouldn’t that kind of negate some of the general badassness of the tattoo? Instead, it has the opposite effect.
I approve b_sinning!
The Number 23, Fingerling (Carrey) Tattoo is pretty hard to beat! Totally Badass!
Nightcrawler in X-Men 2 had all those crazy designs on his skin, though it’s not really specified whether or not they were tattoos or scars.
Clarence & Alabama’s matching tattoos in True Romance, while not inherently badass, were important to the characters’ evolutions into badasses.
Mickey O’Neil’s tats in Snatch were insane.
There is also Father Laurence from Romeo+Juliet, he had the large cross on his back. Having a similar tattoo, though a bit larger, I know the pain.
Any back tattoo is badass by default because that needle is grinding into bone all up your spine and shoulder blades, hurts much worse than arms, chests and legs where you have all that padding.
Great list of them, I always thought the Romper Stomper tat was neat but could never bring myself to get something like that put on forever. I do have some limits.
Hi how about a spoiler warning before the description of Eastern Promises. A great movie that may have been ruined if you read that post. Or better yet just leave that detail out of the description, they’re still bad ass.
The Boondock Saints’ “Veritas” and “Aequitas” tattoos on their hands???? One of the most badass things I’ve ever seen.
wheres edward nortons tattoo from american history x? sure it was a bit offensive to some people but it was pretty badass…dont mess with edward norton or he will curb stomp yo ass
[…] Ten of the Most Badass Tattoos in Movies [unrealitymag.com] […]
Hey
Mark Dacascos’ huge dragon tattoo in Crying Freeman, covering amost all of his back and winding around down his chest, arm and down onto his legs, is surely worth a mention?
kev
Dude, Papillon’s butterfly?.
What about Dee Snider in Strangeland, had his whole side covered in a giant tribal tattoo, not to mention his whole other side pierced.
Red vs Blue had the best argument against tats. It went: looking back 10 years ago, don’t you see now that you were an idiot? Well how do you think, you’ll judge yourself 10 years from now? So whatever you decide to get tattooed now, you’ll regret 10 years from now, because you were an idiot. Besides, how do you know that chinese symbol means “honor before all.” Do you actually read chinese? It probably means “I’m a douche.”
I can’t believe Jim Carey in the movie 23 wasn’t up there because those are actually real and the make up artist has to cover them up for every movie but for that movie the tattoos worked
COME ON GUYS!!!
HOW ABOUT BON JOVI’S MAD INK IN THAT MOVIE HE’S IN????
http://www.hitchaser.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/bon-jovi1.jpg
Memento!
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1967495424/tt0209144
Memento was already mentioned a few comments up.
“I definitely considered Shelby, but the tattoos themselves weren’t really bad ass. I mean, they’re just a bunch of notes/reminders all over his body.
HOW he applied the tats is pretty bad ass, I guess, but I don’t think “John G Raped and Murdered My Wife” is something that screams “tough guy,” ya know?”
[…] had tattoos on the brain lately (not literally, mind you), and you should know by now that I love all things Samus Aran, and, […]
Dude, seriously? How could you leave off max cady?
http://www.scorsesefilms.com/gallery/capefear/fear4.htm
@Dapp
I wrote why:
“Max Cady has a nice collection of tats, but none of them really stood out to me.”
Did you read the article?
Boondock Saints, hand tats were intense
[…] of the Most Bad Ass Tattoos in […]
I agree with quite a few, but I can’t believe you omitted the Badass Brothers,Connor and Murphy MacManus, of Boondock Saints! They were covered in tatts, but I especially loved the Veritas and Aequitas tattoos they had on trigger finger! HOT!
Huh. I guess you just delete comments you don’t like, huh?
A lot like the Christian and conservative sites.
@Hank Fox
Not really. Some unfortunately get marked as spam. I only delete two kinds of comments:
1) anything with a racial slur
2) any comment that uses “fail” or “epic fail.” Those are gone instantly.
You have had comments deleted from Christian sites? That’s awful.
angelie jolie was so hot in wanted and that is definitely a great shot of her
[…] is tatted up and can bend bullets. If she talks dirty, then that’s pretty much my ideal […]
Brad Pitt in Snatch??
The Red Dragon tat is way better than the #1!
the on i like the most is blade
these are all lame as hell tribal tattoos are fucking retarded.
Check out Robert DiNero in Cape Fear. Best line about tatoos in a movie: Cop says “I don’t know whether to look at him or read him.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76MTuMpuZjU
My personal favorite is Blades tattoo. Viper looks pretty insane their with her face all tatted up.
Tribals are , you may as well get a chinese symbol.
mickey and mallory knox
I like Angelina Jolie’s tattoos. I think she really carries them nice and clean and fit her perfectly. She is one celebrity whose tattoos really add to her sexiness and appeal.
@ Kevin
I agree. For some people, tattoos just make them look trashy, but not Angelina.
Angelina Jolie is the hottest woman in Hollywood who carries her tattoos with class and such grace.
That’s pretty bad ass. I would have to say Mike Tyson’s face tattoo in his documentary is the best one.