Robert Langdon is primed for a second big-screen adventure in "Angels & Demons," the follow-up to 2006's "The Da Vinci Code," and now Tom Hanks, the man behind the brilliant Harvard symbologist, is taking stock of how the character compares to other legendary world-traveling crime-fighters.
Specifically, how would Langdon fare in an imaginary — though geektastically awesome — fight involving Indiana Jones, James Bond and Sherlock Holmes? "I'd outsmart them," Hanks told MTV News while promoting the film in Rome. "I would utilize my knowledge of symbols in a way that would get them thinking I'm going to do something."
Doesn't sound terribly intimidating, or badass in the slightest, but Hanks reminds us what type of hero Langdon truly is. "He's not big on fistfights. Robert Langdon does not punch a guy out — he may run and try to do something. As a matter of fact, I believe he got punched out in the last movie. He got knocked cold. [Silas, the character played by] Paul Bettany sprung out of nowhere in a monk's robe and coldcocked Robert Langdon so much that it bonked his head against a bunch of library books and he was out, while the girl went and saved the day. What kind of action hero is this?"
So if Hanks' Langdon found himself in a no-holds-barred throwdown with other celebrated heroes, he'd have to come up with another plan of attack. "You know what I would do? I would let Indiana Jones and James Bond duke it out first, so one guy is going to be taken care of just like that. Then Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones would go at it, and Sherlock Holmes would outsmart Indiana Jones. So it'd just be me and Sherlock Holmes, and we would sit there and play chess. The winner would walk away the living, breathing survivor."
When it comes to his career, Hanks said, he's been satisfied to play characters that rely on "synapses in the brain as opposed to reflexes in the muscle."
Yet that attitude may be as much by choice as by design — he said he's never been offered a part as any kind of superhero. "I think it's got something to do with the physique and the nose," he said with a smile. "The voice might have something to do with it."
Will the vampires grab more trophies than the slumdog? What was the year's ultimate onscreen WTF moment? It's up to you to decide the winners of the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. Vote now, and tune in on May 31 at 9 p.m. ET, when the big show airs live from the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California.
Check out everything we've got on "Angels & Demons."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
