Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy will go down in history books and there is absolutely no denying this. Everything from the direction to the storytelling to the cinematography was the literal definition of perfection. Of course, the filmmaker’s vision would not have come to life as brilliantly as it did if it wasn’t for Christian Bale, the actor who was absolutely unforgettable as Batman.
So, when it was announced that the DC studios was coming up with the superhero team-up of a lifetime in Justice League, fans wondered if Christian Bale would be taking on the role of Batman in the film or not. Obviously, since The Dark Knight trilogy was a standalone piece, there wasn’t much chance this was going to happen and Ben Affleck took the responsibility upon himself. Speaking about playing Batman again, Christian Bale once admitted that he knows nothing about the possibility.
Christian Bale on Playing Batman Once Again
Back in 2013, Christian Bale had a one-on-one conversation with Entertainment Weekly where was asked about the chances of him playing Batman in the 2017 film, Justice League. Now, by that time, Bale had already made it clear that the only way he’d play Batman again is if Christopher Nolan returned to direct a fourth The Dark Knight film. Of course, that wasn’t happening. So, the next question was would he be okay with Zack Snyder directing his Batman? Well, not really.
Bale told EW that getting to make 3 Batman films was more than fortunate.
“We were incredibly fortunate to get to make three [Batman films]. That’s enough. Let’s not get greedy. Chris [Nolan] always said he wanted to make it one film at a time. And we ended up sitting there looking at each other, saying ‘We’re about to make the third.’ We never really knew if we were going to get to be there, but if that was how it was going to be, this was where it should end as well.”
Speaking about the possibility of being a part of Justice League, Bale stated that he neither had any information about the idea nor did he ever have a conversation with anyone about the same. Bale even stated that when it came to seeing the superhero passed on to another actor, he wasn’t upset about it at all.
“I have no information, no knowledge about anything. I’ve literally not had a conversation with a living soul. I understand that they may be making a Justice League movie, that’s it…It’s a torch that should be handed from one actor to another. So I enjoy looking forward to what somebody else will come up with.”
And now that it is 2024, it is quite clear that Bale has left the Batman station and is onto better and bigger things. Of course, we can’t lie that seeing him return to play the superhero would be mind-blowing, however, it’s always good to see new iterations of the character!
Christian Bale’s Crucial Advice for his Successor
While you’d think Bale would have some sort of animosity toward Ben Affleck for taking over the mantle, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, when the two actors happened to run into each other at a costume store, Bale even had a piece of advice for Affleck who was preparing to become the next face of Batman in Justice League.
According to Today, the two fathers met each other in a costume shop while shopping for their kids’ Halloween outfits. Since Batman was the common topic of interest between the two, it was obvious that they’d talk about it. Through his personal experience, Bale had a simple yet crucial advice for Affleck: “Make sure the suit has a zipper.”
Affleck mentioned the incident once again on Good Morning America where he revealed he even got advice from George Clooney. The actor stated,
“I talked to Clooney and he gave me some advice which is not repeatable. And I talked to Christian, who just told me to make sure I got a zipper in the suit, which was valuable, practical advice as it turned out.”
After the release of Justice League, Affleck’s Batman was met with mixed reviews from fans but a majority of them agreed that he was the perfect embodiment of the comic book character.
You can stream Justice League and The Dark Knight trilogy on Max.
