After playing the villain in Thor: Love and Thunder, we could very well see Christian Bale one day playing an entirely new character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While it's somewhat rare for actors to play separate established characters in the MCU, it's something that does happen. Given Bale's abilities as a chameleon actor who completely disappears into his various roles, it wouldn't be a stretch to see Bale taking on a different role at some point in the MCU's future.
For what it's worth, Bale is open to the idea, even if that's partly because he's making his kids happy. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Bale touched on the possibility of taking on a new character in the MCU in the future. He makes it clear he'd be up for doing that if it meets the criteria of having a good story with his children ensuring him that it's a role he needs to take. As Bale explains in the interview via The Direct:
“A good story is a good story. A good character, a good director—if it’s an interesting thing. And, crucially, if my kids are telling me that I’m not allowed not to do it. [For Love and Thunder] they said, ‘no, you don’t say no to that. You’re saying yes to that.’”
Maybe Christian Bale Could Play Another Villain
Something else Bale enjoyed about playing Gorr was that taking on a supervillain role is something he found to be much easier than playing the hero, as he did for three movies in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. Maybe if he's offered another villainous role, that will make it more enticing to step back into the MCU to play someone just as evil but otherwise quite different from Gorr. As Bale recently told Screen Rant about bad guys having "more fun":
"They do, absolutely. They not only have more fun, but they're easier to play. Because everybody is fascinated with bad guys, right? The minute the bad guy walks on the screen, no one's looking at the good guy anymore. All eyes go to the bad guy, so it's a much easier acting gig.”
Meanwhile, Bale can next be seen as an 1830s detective working with Edgar Allan Poe (Harry Melling) to investigate a series of murders in New York. Called The Pale Blue Eye and based on Louis Bayard's book of the same name, the film is written and directed by Scott Cooper, who previously directed Bale in Out of the Furnace and Hostiles. The film will be released on Netflix on Jan. 6, 2023.