It’s beginning to seem like it would be easier to count the number of upcoming comic book movies that aren’t courting actor Tom Hardy for a lead role.
The actor who played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is reportedly being pursued to play mutant villain Apocalypse in the upcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, the sequel to 2014’s well-received X-Men: Days Of Future Past. According to The Wrap, the role is one of several comic-book characters making the leap to the big screen that are being offered to Hardy.
Hardy’s name has also been dropped in connection with Marvel’s upcoming Doctor Strange movie and the recently announced Suicide Squad from Warner Bros. and its DC Comics properties.
The role of Apocalypse would be an interesting one for Hardy to take on, as it would certainly be the biggest departure from the gritty, realistic characters he’s accustomed to playing. While the title character in Doctor Strange is a human doctor-turned-sorcerer and Suicide Squad would likely cast him as human assassin or criminal, Apocalypse is a blue-skinned mutant who can change his size and shape and wields a variety of fantastic powers.
In Marvel’s comics continuity, the villain known as Apocalypse was originally born in Egypt around 3,000 B.C. and was given the name En Sabah Nur (“The First One”). Believed to be the first mutant born in the world, En Sabah Nur was raised to believe in survival of the fittest, and conquered much of the world using advanced technology and his mutant abilities. He first appeared in a 1986 issue of X-Factor and went on to become a recurring foe for the X-Men.
X-Men: Apocalypse is scheduled to hit theaters May 27, 2016.
