20 Famous Movie Tattoos (And What They Actually Mean)

12. Warrior (2011)

Warrior Tom Hardy
Lionsgate

Role: Tom Hardy as Tommy Riordan Conlon

Casting Tom Hardy as marine-turned-fighter Tommy Riordan Conlon was the perfect choice for 2011€™s Warrior. Not only is the London-born actor suitably jacked with the required domineering screen presence, but he also already had real tattoos in the style of many MMA fighters.

Highlights of Hardy'€™s horde include a large tribal piece on his right arm (a favoured style of MMA fighters), a small fighting leprechaun (not dissimilar from Jeremy Renner€™s in The Town which very nearly made the list) and two renaissance drama masks captioned with €˜smile now cry later€™.

It's a shame that Hardy's character, Tommy Conlon, didn't head the mask's mantra in the film. Tommy looks extremely menacing in Warrior €“ aided by Hardy€™s tattoos €“ and knocks out everyone put in front of him in seconds. This trend stops abruptly when he faces his brother, Brendan, in the tournament final.

Though Brendan has only one tattoo compared to Tommy€™s many, he proves that he is the fighter who should be feared, using his superior technique to submit the stronger man, a la Royce Gracie.

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Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.