Christian Bale Explains Why He Turned Down Fourth 'Batman' Movie

Christian Bale is revealing the reason he declined to make a fourth Batman film.

The 45-year-old Ford v Ferrari actor played the caped crusader in the Dark Knight trilogy – 2005′s Batman Begins, 2008′s The Dark Knight in 2008, and 2012′s The Dark Knight Rises.

“When they came [to us after Batman Begins] and said, ‘You want to go make another?’ It was fantastic, but we still said: ‘This is it. We will not get another opportunity,’” Christian told The Toronto Sun. “Then they came and they said, ‘OK, let’s do the third one.’ [Director Christopher Nolan] had always said to me that if we were fortunate to be able to make three we would stop. ‘Let’s walk away after that,’ he said.”

“When they inevitably came to us and said, ‘How about a No. 4?’ I said, ‘No. We have to stick to Chris’ dream, which was always to, hopefully, do a trilogy,” Christian added. “Let’s not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.”

Christian Bale was replaced by Ben Affleck in 2016′s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2017′s Justice League. Ben was going to direct 2021′s The Batman, but passed on the position to Matt Reeves in 2017, while the Robert Pattinson will take on the lead role.

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