Tom Hardy is now something of an icon for superhero fans as on top of previously playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, he’s about to star as Eddie Brock in next month’s Venom. These characters are two of the toughest, most popular supervillains in comics, so it’d be worth thinking about which of the venom-powered brute and the symbiote-infected Venom would win if they pitted their skills against each other.
Not in a typical punch-up, though, that would be too easy. When ComicBook.com sat down with Venom stars Hardy and Riz Ahmed, they asked who would win out between Venom and Bane…in a public-speaking contest. The former wasted no time in plumping for the League of Assassins leader. “Bane. He’s a demagogue,” Hardy said.
The actor knows his characters well. In Rises, Bane was prone to speechifying to the townspeople of Gotham about their corrupted city and how he wanted to tear it down and rebuild it. Infamously, President Trump even appeared to quote Bane in his inauguration speech.
Venom, on the other hand, isn’t too well known for his oratory skills and, as Ahmed went on to point out, is more adept at the physical stuff. “Demagogue?” Ahmed joked. “I’d say he’s more like a demigod.” Not having had enough of the puns yet, Ahmed later suggested that Venom wouldn’t win because he had a “phlegmy gob.” This guy is wasted as an actor.
While the winner in a public speaking contest might be obvious, Hardy came up with two distinct voices for his two superhero movie roles which have both caught fans’ imaginations. His Bane voice has gone down as a favorite impersonation of many a Batman lover while the Venom voice highlighted in the trailers has already made a big impression ahead of the film’s release next week.