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The Dark Knight Rises will be Christian Bale's final Batman

The Dark Knight

Story by Jack Foley

THE Dark Knight Rises will be Christian Bale’s final film as Batman, the actor has confirmed in a new interview.

Speaking to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Bale said that shooting had now finished on the third film in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy and that he was now done with the character for good.

“I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I’m taking that cowl off. I believe the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it’s all done. Everything’s finished. It’s me and Chris – that will be the end of that Batman era.”

Bale has played Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne for Nolan since 2005’s Batman Begins, which took $372 million world-wide.

He reprised the role to even bigger success in 2008’s The Dark Knight, which grossed a whopping $1 billion.

The third and final film in the series, The Dark Knight Rises, will be set eight years after the last film and sees Wayne struggling to cope with personal demons while being pitted against a new adversary in Bane (played by Tom Hardy).

He will also have to contend with Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, who he singled out for particular praise in the same interview for having coped with such a tricky role.

“When Chris watched the screen test, he agreed that Anne did a wonderful job. In many ways, she has the hardest job.

“There are a number of people who feel that the Catwoman role has been defined previously. So, I always saw Anne’s role as being the toughest job of any of us.”

Related: Tom Hardy talks Bane l Christopher Nolan drops plot teasers

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