Christian Bale Reveals His One Condition For Playing Batman Again

“I had a pact with Chris Nolan. 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.’”

Christian Bale has revealed the one thing it would take for him to reprise his iconic turn as Batman in the venerable DC film franchise.

Bale—who starred in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins in 2005, the critically-lauded sequel The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012—said there’s only one thing that could get him to return to play Batman, a role currently occupied by Robert Pattinson, who debuted in 2022’s The Batman.

“No one’s ever mentioned it to me. No one’s brought it up.” Bale told Screenrant when he was asked if he has been approached to reprise his role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. “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.’”

When asked what it would actually take to have him wear Batman’s cowl again, Bale admitted that he could be convinced if director Christopher Nolan ever signed on to make another Caped Crusader movie.

“I had a pact with Chris Nolan,” Bale added. “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.”

Both Nolan and Bale stepped away from the popular franchise after 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises.

The Batman, starring Pattinson as an even-gloomier-than-usual Caped Crusader and Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, scored a massive box office haul after opening in March, and even earned some favorable critical comparisons to The Dark Knight.