Tom Hardy is reportedly being sought to play the villain in X-Men: Apocalypse, Digital Spy said.

The Dark Knight Rises star is wanted by director Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox to play En Sabah Nur, the world's first mutant who was born in Egypt around 3,000 BC.

The character, created by Louise and Walter Simonson, first appeared in X-Factor #6 and was glimpsed in the post-credits sequence for X-Men: Days of Future Past (where he was played by Brendan Pedder).

According to The Wrap, Hardy is also in the running for Warner Bros' Suicide Squad film and Marvel's Doctor Strange but won't be able to appear in all three.

X-Men: Apocalypse will see Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Evan Peters and Nicholas Hoult return for the sequel, which is due for release in May 2016.

Producer Simon Kinberg recently revealed that Apocalypse will be the final instalment of the X-Men prequel trilogy.