Even before The Dark Knight Rises hit theaters in the summer of 2012, a rumor was starting to spread that Warner Bros. had plans to reboot the Batman franchise, which included replacing star Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. But when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was announced, a different rumor began to spread. It was said quite often that Christian Bale had been offered an insane amount of money to put back on the cowl and return. In a new interview with Esquire, the actor who revitalized the DC Comics hero says that simple is not true.

Up until Ben Affleck was announced as Batman, many truly believed Christian Bale would return to play the Dark Knight in the planned Justice League films. Though many though the idea of an ensemble superhero adventure went against director Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight aesthetic and what he did with those films.

Asked if he'd ever been approached to play James Bond, the actor denied that as well, before explaining his situation with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:

"No. I've never heard of that. Equally untrue about them coming to me for Batman, before Ben Affleck... I think it's the right decision. People were talking about this obscene amount of money they were saying was thrown at me. No. I didn't have a single conversation with anybody about ever playing the role again."

Don't expect to see the actor suit up as any kind of superhero in the near future. Christian Bale went onto say he would most likely never play Batman again, and it doesn't sound like he's too keen on the genre in general:

"I think, probably with that, it's never. Because I can't help but feel it would just be a spoof on it. You know what I mean?"

The actor went confesses that he hasn't seen a superhero movie since appearing in one himself:

"I confess, I've never seen another comic book film. But I understand [our films]... set a different tone."

It makes sense that Christian Bale was never asked back, as Warner Bros. and DC appear to be taking the character in a totally new direction with their upcoming slate of films. Is there still anyone who wishes he had of come back? Or is everyone happy with Ben Affleck at this point? We won't truly know until at least that first trailer drops, which is rumored to be very soon.