21 Ink-redible Movie Tattoos

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Four, Divergent

Like his fellow Dauntless denizens, Four is emphatic about ink. The most significant of his many tats are the five running down his spine. Each one symbolizes a faction and, by extension, that faction's chief virtue. By permanently marking himself with all of them, Four reminds himself to aspire to possess all five traits: ''I want to be brave, and selfless, and smart, and kind, and honest,'' he tells Divergent's heroine Tris. —Lanford Beard

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Luke, The Place Beyond the Pines

Focus Features

''Those are all tattoos that Ryan says he wants, but can't have them as an actor,'' director Derek Cianfrance told EW. ''He thought he should have the most tattoos in movie history. He really wanted a face tattoo. I asked, 'Are you sure?' He said, 'Face tattoos are the best.' He said, 'It should be a dagger dripping blood. It's so tough.' First day we're shooting, Ryan pulls me over and says, 'I think we should lose the face tattoo. It's too much.' And I said, 'That's what happens with a face tattoo. You regret it. Now you're stuck with it.' Every choice has a consequence.'' —Solvej Schou

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Leonard Shelby, Memento

Say you're out to avenge your wife's rape and murder, but your memory's not so good. You can't depend on yourself to keep around notebooks or voice memos, so you do what you have to, right? In the case of Leonard Shelby, that means covering your body with indelible notes to self. The only catch: Those things are painful, so the painful nature of tatting himself up concisely led to a lot of confusion for Leonard. We mentioned his memory is bad, yes? Like, terrible. —Lanford Beard

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Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

(Left) Merrick Morton

Lisbeth Salander's titular tattoo gets surprisingly little emphasis in the books and films (maybe because Stieg Larsson's original title was Men Who Hate Women). Far more in the spotlight is the tattoo on her neck inspired by her hacker nickname, a wasp. —Emily Rome

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Stu, The Hangover II

Melinda Sue Gordon

What happened in Vegas may have stayed in Vegas for docile dentist Stu, but what happened in Thailand came home with the newlywed. After yet another bachelor party gone awry, Stu woke up with a Mike Tyson-inspired face tattoo, which he must have subconsciously coveted since meeting Tyson while searching for Doug in Sin City. —Lanford Beard

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Carl, The Illustrated Man

The film, based on a set of Ray Bradbury stories, may have been a failure, but it was a cinematic first, making tattoos — which visually marked Carl's travels through space and time — a driving narrative device. For your commitment to full-coverage body art, we salute you! —Lanford Beard

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Xander Cage, xXx

In this 007 wannabe, Vin's badass secret agent Xander Cage is tatted up from head to toe, but let's give a special shout-out to the triple X's on his neck that lend this movie its name. (Honorable mention goes to ''Melkor,'' the name of Diesel's real-life Dungeons & Dragons character, which is inked across Cage's stomach.) —Tara Fowler

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Reverend Harry Powell, The Night of the Hunter

No one knows about the struggle between good and evil better than preacher-cum-serial killer Harry, whose two-fisted ''LOVE/HATE'' punch was used to bring home the point of a sermon on the topic. —Lanford Beard

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Sirius Black, Harry Potter series

Spend 12 years in any prison — even Azkaban — and you're bound to rack up a few tats, wrongfully imprisoned Marauder or not. Happily, the tattoos that covered his arms and chest didn't transfer to his animagus, Padfoot. —Erin Strecker

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Enola, Waterworld

In a world...completely covered by water...a Sharpie just wouldn't do! So an orphan girl was permanently marked with a map to the mythical Dryland. It was a crazy plan, but it worked out in the end — unlike this for-the-books belly flop of a film. —Lanford Beard

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Max Cady, Cape Fear

Everett Collection

An outward symbol of his vengeance quest against Sam Bowden, the lawyer who put him away for years, the Max Cady played by Robert De Niro in Martin Scorsese's 1991 remake sports a rippling body covered in Biblical quotations and ominous imagery. The fingers of his fists are etched with the words ''LOVE'' and ''HATE'' — an homage to Mitchum, who played Cady in the 1962 original. —Lanford Beard

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Francis Dolarhyde, Red Dragon

Psycho killer Dolarhyde (played by Ralph Fiennes above but also inkily immortalized by Tom Noonan in 1986's Manhunter) may have been known as the Tooth Fairy for his taste for human flesh, but The Tat Fairy would have been another suitable moniker thanks to a gigantic dragon that spread from his neck to his lower back. —Lanford Beard

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The MacManus Brothers, The Boondock Saints

The MacManus brothers don black gloves for most of their vigilante missions. Saved for the final scene is the striking image of their tattooed hands pressing guns against the head of an Italian Mafioso — Connor's left index finger bearing the Latin word for ''truth,'' and Murphy's right index finger the Latin word for ''justice.'' They weren't the hired hitmen's only ink, but the identical tattoos signaled the fraternal twins' indelible bond. —Emily Rome

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Capt. Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean series

What's a pirate without some ink? Johnny Depp liked Jack Sparrow's tattoo so much that he got the design tattooed on his right arm for real, with a few personal touches: The sparrow flies toward him instead, and below the setting sun is inscribed his son's name, Jack. —Emily Rome

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The Medjai, The Mummy

The Medjai's body and facial tattoos are fairly straightforward: they literally read ''Imhotep,'' ''hidden city'' and ''desert'' — which is really subtle for a secret society trying to conceal an all-powerful mummy. Next time, maybe stick to word of mouth? —Tara Fowler

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Fox, Wanted

Universal (2)

With a sexy tattoo-filled back (filled in part by tats from ink-loving Angelina Jolie's personal collection), Fox knew that no killing machine was complete without tattoos that read ''Toil'' and ''Tears.'' —Samantha Highfill

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Nikolai, Eastern Promises

The Russian mafia cleaner's jacked-up, Cyrillic art-laden body was on full display several times during Eastern Promises. We'd tell you about them if we weren't still thinking about that naked sauna fight... —Lanford Beard

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Seth Gecko, From Dusk till Dawn

Deliciously distinctive neck tats that snaked down from neck to his wrists probably weren't advisable for the fugitive as he and his brother unknowingly entered a vampire bordello on his flight to Mexico, but who are we to argue when otherwise clean-cut George Clooney offers up a glimpse of his bad-boy side? —Lanford Beard

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John Constantine, Constantine

Diagnosed with terminal cancer and spiritually damned after a semi-unsuccessful suicide attempt, the action-hero exorcist had nothing to lose as his angelic antithesis Gabriel unleashed Hell on Earth. He clicked his tats together and summoned Gabriel, proving that body designs can be both fashionable and functional. —Lanford Beard

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Frankie Ballenbacher, Alpha Dog

The apprehensive abductor wanted to look tough with his mishmash of tattoos. Indeed, a giant crucifix on Frankie's left arm was star Justin Timberlake's own, but a pair of unfortunately paired Chinese symbols actually declare his love for ice skating. That's probably not the kind of cold and hard he was hoping to portray. —Lanford Beard

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Michael, Legion

The encrypted Biblical passages criss-crossing across the archangel Michael's torso and arms communicated his marching orders in a holy war to save humanity. Unfortunately for humanity, those tattoos didn't warn Michael to prevent this critical and commercial clunker from ever being made in the first place. —Lanford Beard

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21 Ink-redible Movie Tattoos

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Four, Divergent

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Luke, The Place Beyond the Pines

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Leonard Shelby, Memento

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Lisbeth Salander, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

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Stu, The Hangover II

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Carl, The Illustrated Man

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Xander Cage, xXx

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Reverend Harry Powell, The Night of the Hunter

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Sirius Black, Harry Potter series

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Enola, Waterworld

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Max Cady, Cape Fear

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Francis Dolarhyde, Red Dragon

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The MacManus Brothers, The Boondock Saints

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Capt. Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean series

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The Medjai, The Mummy

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Fox, Wanted

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Nikolai, Eastern Promises

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Seth Gecko, From Dusk till Dawn

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John Constantine, Constantine

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Frankie Ballenbacher, Alpha Dog

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Michael, Legion

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