Tom Hardy Launches Rap Career—and Even Brings Back Bane

Tom Hardy apparently decided being a movie star was not enough.

He is now officially a rapper too.

The 48-year-old actor has released Czarface Meets Frankie Pulitzer, a 15-track hip-hop album created with underground supergroup Czarface under Hardy’s rap alter ego, Frankie Pulitzer.

And just in case the combination of Tom Hardy and underground rap was not strange enough, he also found room for Bane.

Hardy slips back into the unmistakable voice of his Dark Knight Rises villain while delivering Shakespeare on the track “Grim-Visaged War.”

Tom Hardy Has Been Rapping Longer Than Most People Realize

This is not actually a random midlife career change.

Hardy was making rap music before Hollywood turned him into an international star.

Recordings from his younger years have circulated online, including work he made under the name Tommy No. 1.

His connection with Czarface also has been developing for years.

The group consists of Wu-Tang Clan member Inspectah Deck and the duo 7L & Esoteric.

Hardy began appearing around their music long before Friday’s full album release, and the project reportedly had been developing since at least 2021.

Busta Rhymes and Method Man Show Up

Hardy did not surround himself with lightweight collaborators.

The album features Busta Rhymes, Method Man and EL-P.

The songs are packed with references to comic books, films, actors, literature and pop culture.

Martin Scorsese, Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Stephen King, Titanic, The Matrix and Doctor Doom all make their way into Hardy’s lyrical universe.

It sounds exactly like the kind of album an actor obsessed with movies and underground rap might make.

Then Bane Walks Into the Recording Booth

The strangest—and probably most viral—moment arrives on “Grim-Visaged War.”

Hardy recites part of Shakespeare’s Richard III using the gravelly vocal style associated with Bane, the masked villain he played opposite Christian Bale in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.

The choice feels almost designed for the internet.

Hardy’s Bane voice has been impersonated, debated and parodied for more than a decade.

Now the man responsible for it has effectively turned it into a rap-album cameo.

This Is More Than a Celebrity Novelty Track

Celebrity music experiments usually arrive with enormous publicity.

Hardy has done almost the opposite.

The Frankie Pulitzer identity allowed the actor to approach hip-hop more like an underground side project than another piece of Hollywood branding.

That makes the album more interesting than the usual actor-decides-to-sing story.

Hardy clearly does not need a rap career.

His movie résumé already includes Mad Max: Fury Road, Venom, Inception, The Revenant and The Dark Knight Rises.

He apparently just wanted one.

And now somewhere in the world, people are listening to Bane recite Shakespeare on a hip-hop album.

Hollywood really can still surprise us.