Everyone from Ben Affleck to Chris Pine to Michael B.
Though there were never official reasons divulged for why Hardy didn’t secure this role, it’s likely Hardy’s initial participation in Suicide Squad, a 2016 comic book movie from rival distributor Warner Bros./DC, helped slam the door shut on the possibility of Hardy entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.įilm adaptations of Tom Clancy properties almost always seem to attract top-shelf acting talent. Though Marvel was apparently enthusiastic about this concept, Hardy fell over to the wayside and Benedict Cumberbatch eventually emerged as the favorite to play the Sorcerer Supreme. Given that Hardy had played self-serving, intense characters in movies like Locke, it’s easy to see that he might have been a proper fit for Strange’s origin story. Among the very first names considered for the part was Tom Hardy, who’d already been in contention for other superhero movie roles at the time given his memorable work in projects like Inception. Some might say that Hardy dodged a bullet with the way things turned out.įor a moment, it looked like Marvel Studios was looking over all of Hollywood for somebody to take on the titular role of Doctor Strange. Eventually, Joel Kinnaman took over the role and Hardy got his only Oscar nomination for his unending work on The Revenant. That’s just what happened at the start of 2015, a development that led to Hardy expressing public frustration over losing out on a major role like Flagg. As the months went on, it became apparent that Hardy would have to stick to his first commitment and drop out of Suicide Squad. However, complications emerged when Hardy's movie The Revenant went severely overtime in its shooting schedule.
Unlike other blockbusters Hardy was in talks for but ended up not appearing in, Hardy actually signed on the dotted line to show up in Suicide Squad. The latter actor would be tasked with playing Rick Flag, the military general in charge of corralling the various supervillains sent on a dangerous mission. immediately put Suicide Squad on everyone’s radar by giving the film an all-star cast headlined by Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, and Tom Hardy. RELATED: Tom Hardy Already Has Plans for 'Venom 3' and Wants to Fight Tom Holland's Spider-Man Unfortunately for the producers of these productions, Hardy passed on these films, leaving moviegoers everywhere with seven blockbuster movies one can only imagine Hardy inhabiting. In recent years, Hardy has been approached for a wide swath of big-budget features that have ranged from a DC Comics adaptation to a remake of 1980s classic to even the lead role in a motion picture based on a work by Tom Clancy. It’s thanks to that prominence that Hardy has become someone that Hollywood studios regularly target for roles in potential major blockbusters. Still, thanks to his work as characters like Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy has also turned into a fixture of post-2009 blockbuster cinema. He’s also made plenty of time for smaller-scale features like The Drop and Locke over the years. Of course, this is far from Hardy’s only domain as a silver screen performer. From his parts in Christopher Nolan films like Inception to his lead role in Mad Max: Fury Road to his unorthodox performances in the two Venom features, big-budget fare doesn’t intimidate Hardy. Over Tom Hardy’s career as a leading man, he’s been no stranger to acting in blockbuster films.