Tom Hardy: 'The Dark Knight Rises' Bane will have to put on weight... again

"Batman" fans might be concerned with recently cast "Inception" actor Tom Hardy -- and his lithe frame --- taking on the overly-muscled villain Bane. But fear not, he's quite good at packing it on for a role.

The polar opposite of "The Dark Knight Rises" star Christian Bale (who famously dropped to a dangerously thin size for "The  Machinist" and "The Fighter"), Hardy has been called upon to bulk up twice before.

"Bronson," the 2008 biopic of notorious British prisoner Charles Bronson, required Hardy add body mass to the point where he was barely recognizable.

And later in 2011, Hardy will also unveil a similarly bulked-up frame for "A Warrior's Heart." 

Filming for Christopher Nolan's third and final installment in the "Batman" franchise is set to start filming in the spring, so we imagine he's in a gym somewhere right now, protein shake in hand.