The Dark Knight Rises star spent two days training with the 45 Commando soldiers at their RM Condor base in Arbroath, Scotland and was put through his paces with physical challenges, combat and weapons exercises.

Photographs from his visit show Hardy bonding with the team, handling ammunition and taking a fight class.

Major Giles Duncan, the second-in-command of 45 Commando, says, "Tom was hugely impressed by our Royal Marines and told me he was humbled by what the lads did... He confided that, had he not become an actor, he would have liked to have been a Marine."

When Hardy left the base on Wednesday (15Jul15), he was presented with a wooden replica of a Commando dagger.