You might have different opinions on the matter, but financially, Christian Bale is the most successful actor to don the cape and cowl as the dark knight. The eponymous trilogy, all of which were directed by Christopher Nolan, grossed nearly $2.5 billion at the global box office with 2008's The Dark Knight establishing itself as one of the greatest films of all time regardless of genre.
So, is it really any surprise that Bale still has plenty of fans who want to see him return as Batman after all these years?
While Michael Keaton is the only former Batman confirmed to be reprising the iconic role, Bale has revealed that he's not exactly against it. The only condition? Christopher Nolan has to be the one to ask him. Bale revealed this "exciting" news 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."
In the same interview, Bale confirmed that "nobody" ever reaches out to him to ask him if he'd like to come back as Batman.
Having said that, we'd love to see Bale come back and be Batman in a new movie. If Marvel Studios can make it happen with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire joining Tom Holland in last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home, the sky is the limit. Of course, this would have to be something that Nolan would like to do, which isn't likely after Nolan cut ties with Warner Bros. last year after working together for nearly two decades.
For now, fans of Nolan can look forward to watching his next masterpiece, Oppenheimer, which is set to release on July 21, 2023.
On the other hand, Bale isn't done with comic book movies just yet. A decade after hanging up the Batman mantle, Bale will star as the main antagonist of Thor: Love and Thunder as Gorr the God Butcher. As the kids say these days, Bale understood the assignment, making a striking impression from the very first trailer up to the latest one.
With both Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi throwing high praise at Bale, we wouldn't be surprised if Marvel Studios ends up giving him a much larger role in the future. His arrival might even have something to do with Kevin Feige's latest statement that we will find out more about the MCU's next big baddie soon.
