Christian Bale says he would return to screen as Batman but only if Christopher Nolan returns too

For a generation of moviegoers, Christian Bale is Batman. The actor played the popular comic book superhero in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed Dark Knight Trilogy from 2005-12. Since then, Batman has been played by two actors in films–Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson. Many fans have urged studios to get their favourite Christian back. Now, the actor has revealed that he is open to the idea, but has a very important condition. Also read: The Batman 2 announced, will bring back Robert Pattinson, Matt Reeves

Michael Keaton played Batman in the 1989 film of the same name. The actor is famously returning to reprise his role in next year’s Flash. Ben Affleck, who played the Caped Crusader in the DCEU, is also returning. In a recent interview, Christian was asked if he has been approached to return as Batman as well.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, the actor said, “No, no, no. Nobody, nobody reaches out to me or they keep me like a mushroom, keep me in the dark and feed me s**t.”

However, he added that he would return to play Batman only if Christopher Nolan is also attached to the project. “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,” he said.

The two collaborated on the Dark Knight trilogy, starting with Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). The films were critically acclaimed and grossed over $2.4 billion at the global box office.

This year, Christian is returning to superhero films, but as a villain. He is playing Gorr the God Butcher in Marvel’s upcoming film Thor: Love and Thunder. The film also stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, and Natalie Portman and is directed by Taika Waititi. The MCU film releases in India on July 7.