Christian Bale Says He’s Down to Play Batman Again on One Condition

During the press tour for Thor: Love and Thunder, Christian Bale said that he would be open to playing Batman again on one condition.

In a brief interview with Screen Rant, the actor was asked what it would take to have him reprise his dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman, which he portrayed in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

“No one’s ever mentioned it to me. No one’s brought it up,” Bale said when asked if he’s been approached to suit up again. “Occasionally people say to me, ‘Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s news to me. No one’s ever said that.’”

He added that if Nolan was on board, he could be convinced. “I had a pact with Chris Nolan,” Bale continued. “We said, ‘Hey, look. Let’s make three films, if we’re lucky enough to get to do that. And then let’s walk away. Let’s not linger too long.’ In my mind, it would be something if Chris Nolan ever said to himself, ‘You know what, I’ve got another story to tell.’ And if he wished to tell that story with me, I’d be in.”

The soon-to-be Thor villain gave a similar response to ComicBook, saying, “For me, that would be a matter of Chris Nolan, if he ever decided to do it again and if he chose to come my way again, then yeah, I would consider it because that was always our pact between each other is we would just stick to it. We said we would only ever make three. And then I said to myself, and I’d only ever make it with Chris.”

Nolan’s trilogy started in 2005 with Batman Begins, which was followed-up by the hugely successful and critically beloved sequel The Dark Knight. He closed out the trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, and like its predecessor, it grossed over $1 billion at the global box office.

The movies provided Bale’s version of the character with a pretty definitive ending, and Nolan’s relationship with Warner Bros. has soured due to the company’s handling of Tenet, which debuted in theaters in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic after several delays. Batman has since been portrayed in live-action by Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson.

Bale told Variety earlier this month that he still hasn’t seen Pattinson’s The Batman, but said it’s only because he doesn’t watch many films. “I still haven’t seen it. I will see it,” the 48-year-old said. “Listen mate, it’s amazing how few films I see. Every director I work with, I’ve seen a couple of their films and they’re always looking at me going, ‘Are you kidding?’ I like to really savor films and I don’t watch too many. But I will, I certainly will. Robert is an absolutely wonderful actor. We bumped into each other, talked a little bit about it ahead of time, and I heard wonderful things.”