When Zack Snyder's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was announced in the summer of 2013, it was just one year after director Christopher Nolan had wrapped up his Batman trilogy with The Dark Knight Rises. Despite both director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale insisting they were done with the franchise, speculation swirled that Warner Bros. was trying to bring the actor back as the Dark Knight. That never came to fruition, with Ben Affleck coming aboard to play Batman. However, director Zack Snyder revealed in an interview with FilmInk, that he had considered casting Christian Bale in a completely different role. Here's what he had to say, about how this new superhero universe is separate from Christopher Nolan's trilogy.

"This is a total and opposite reality from the Chris Nolan movies. It's another universe, so we couldn't hire Christian Bale if we wanted to, because he doesn't exist in our world. Maybe we could hire him to play another part. We did talk about that briefly. I just wanted to hire Christian to play another part to make that obvious. Christian could play, like, Alfred with age makeup. No! Of course not. But you know what I mean. Even people at the studio would say, 'Who are you getting from the other movies?' And I was like, 'Hey, come on guys, let's all understand, it's a different world.' In the Batman universe that Chris Nolan created, Superman would have a hard time existing. That that's why we did a reboot on the universe, so we could allow these characters to exist together. We needed to do that to have Batman exist in this world."

Back in August 2013, just weeks after the initial Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice announcement, a rumor surfaced that Warner Bros. had offered Christian Bale a staggering $50 million to come back and play the Dark Knight. The actor himself cleared up those rumors in December 2014, revealing he never had "a single conversation" about playing Batman once again. Still, even if Zack Snyder had considered bringing Christian Bale back in a different role, it isn't known if he actually approached the actor about this possibility, or if it was only discussed internally.

The new Batman, Ben Affleck, will certainly be keeping busy over the next few years. He filmed what is believed to be a small cameo role in Suicide Squad, and next month, he begins production on Justice League Part 1. There had been rumors that both Justice League Part 1 (November 17, 2017) and Justice League Part 2 (June 14, 2019) would be shot back to back, but that isn't happening anymore. It isn't known if there are plans for the Dark Knight to show up in any of the other DCEU movies at this time.

Still, even if Zack Snyder would have offered Christian Bale a role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we don't know whether or not he would have actually taken it. Do you think it would have been smart to have Christian Bale in a completely different role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice? Chime in with your thoughts, and stay tuned for more on this superhero adventure as we get closer and closer to the March 25 release date.