Superhero movies are tough. At this point, I imagine most people feel like Christian Bale’s turn as Batman has run its course after three Dark Knight movies. Then again, probably no one’s in a rush to see someone new as Batman either. But then what do you do with Justice League? Or future Batmen movies? If you’re the studio, you’ve basically got this magic burrito that poops money, and you’re not just going to throw it out your car window like some McDonald’s bag. No, ma’am, you’re gonna milk those burrito farts straight into your wallet, son.
Suffice to say, one quite knows what the future holds, but for now Christian Bale is done with batman.
We already knew that Christian Bale probably wasn’t going to show up as Batman in the upcoming Justice League movie, the Avengers-style supergroup of DC heroes. First, Bale said that he wouldn’t do another Batman movie unless Nolan opted for a fourth Dark Knight chapter, which Nolan says isn’t happening. Then Man of Steel and Dark Knight screenwriter David S. Goyer confirmed that the Justice League’s Batman would be a rebooted character. So that pretty much closed the book.
Still, with news like this, sometimes you just have to hear it from the man himself.
“We were incredibly fortunate to get to make three [Batman films]. That’s enough. Let’s not get greedy,” says Bale, who called EW to promote his upcoming revenge drama Out of the Furnace (in theaters Nov. 27). “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.” [EW]
It’s always funny to me when people ask actors if they’d be interested in a sequel to some movie they’re in, and then the actor says “I dunno, maybe,” and then the reporter writes “THERE’S DEFINITELY GOING TO BE A MARMADUKE SEQUEL, SAYS VOICE OF MARMADUKE!” Asking an actor about sequel prospects is like asking an athlete who his team is drafting that year. Most likely, he has no idea. That said, their noes tend to be more definitive than their yesses, not that you can’t convert the former to the later with giant piles of money. But my guess is, Christian Bale is probably done with Batman like he says. They’ll make Justice League with a new guy, and he’ll be riding off to wherever it is British actors go when they’re done playing superheroes. The pub, maybe? Yeah, probably the pub.