Talk about a blast from the past. And no, we don't mean that in the usual Star Trek time-traveling way (shout-out to Spock and his mastery of loopholes, though!).
A video of Tom Hardy screen testing for the 2002 film Star Trek: Nemesis has been making the rounds on the Internet lately, showing the future Dark Knight Rises villain being a different baddie early on in his career.
In the vintage clip, Hardy goes head-to-head with Patrick Stewart—who, of course, played Captain Jean-Luc Picard—on a spaceship set. The video also splices in the actual finalized scene from the film, with Hardy rocking some prosthetics to alter his usually handsome face.
In the futuristic flick, Hardy plays Shinzon, a Reman clone of Stewart's Picard (insane, right?! That's what makeup will accomplish in movies). Shinzon takes over control of the Romulan Star Empire and threatens the United Federation of Planets, a threat that must be stopped by Trek's good guys!
That's quite the evil vendetta for someone to accomplish on the big screen, especially since at the time Hardy practically had no acting credits under his belt except a part in the critically adored TV miniseries Band of Brothers and a part in another war movie, Black Hawk Down.
And though Hardy may have delivered on the creepy voice and menacing personality—in retrospect, that seems like perfect practice to play Batman's foe, Bane, no?—the movie was ripped by critics. Roger Ebert gave the film two stars and dubbed it the death of Star Trek, saying "they're out of gas."
Yikes! That's certainly harsher than even the harshest of Dark Knight reviews.
But how do you think Hardy's villainous roles stack up against each other: Does Shinzon bring a whole new terrifying meaning to "attack of the clones"? Or does Bane, with his roid-esque muscles and Darth Vader mouthpiece, evoke your brand of terror?
Or hey, maybe you prefer your Hardy as a good boy. That's cool too!