Why Christian Bale turned down fourth ‘Batman’ film

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After 80 years, Batman shows no signs of slowing down

DC Comics celebrates the 1000th issue of 'Detective Comics' series, which introduced the Caped Crusader in 1939.

Christian Bale just revealed a shocking tidbit about hanging up his Batman cape.

The Academy Award-winning actor took on the role as the caped crusader in three films known to fans as the “Dark Knight” trilogy -- 2005's “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” in 2008 and “The Dark Knight Rises” in 2012.

He said that he decided against doing another iteration simply out of respect for the director of the trilogy, Christopher Nolan, and the vision set for the franchise moving forward.

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Christian Bale rides a very custom chopper as Batman in a scene from "The Dark Knight." (Warner Bros.)

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“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,’” Bale, 45, told The Toronto Sun. “Then they came and they said, ‘OK, let’s do the third one.’ Chris 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.”

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Said Bale: “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. Let’s not stretch too far and become overindulgent and go for a fourth.”

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Bale was later replaced by Ben Affleck in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” in 2016 and “Justice League” in 2017.

Affleck reportedly had been tapped to direct "The Batman," but relinquished those duties to Reeves in 2017, while the role is going to Robert Pattinson.

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In May, “Twilight” franchise staple Robert Pattinson was announced as the star of the upcoming film “The Batman,” reportedly slated to premiere in June 2021.

Pre-production for the Matt Reeves-directed superhero flick is expected to commence this summer.

Fox News’ Mariah Haas contributed to this report.