“People throw rocks at things that shine”, Taylor Swift sang in Ours. And oh, did they hurl boulders at Tom Hardy. Now, we’re not usually one to wear our heart on our sleeve, but come on—when someone pours sweat into steel, grits their teeth through deadlifts, and stacks on some 30 pounds of pure ‘bad guy muscle’, only to get dragged through the digital mud… that stings.

Hardy’s take on Bane in The Dark Knight Rises had the venom, the voice, and the vices, but apparently, for some fans, it lacked the ‘venomous bulk’ they were expecting.

Tom Hardy played the role of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises | Credit: Warner Bros

At a press event in L.A., Hardy, half-serious and half-salted, quipped that he “cries” reading online backlash. And yeah, he laughed. But there’s truth in jest—he does take the comments to heart. And...