With Warner Bros. Discovery heading toward a sale—and suitors like Skydance – Paramount, Netflix, Apple, and Amazon in the mix—it’s not just Zack Snyder fans who might be paying attention.
A potential sale could open the door for another return: the team behind The Dark Knight Trilogy.
Writer David S. Goyer recently spoke with Brandon Davis and confirmed that, like Christian Bale, he’d only return to Batman under one condition—if director Christopher Nolan did, too.
Goyer Says He’d Return “100%” If Nolan Had an Idea
In the interview, Davis mentioned how Bale told him at the Thor: Love and Thunder press junket that he would only reprise his Batman role if Nolan decided to come back. Goyer confirmed he felt the same way.
“If Chris called me up and said, ‘I have an idea to do another,’ would I absolutely consider it? 100%,” said Goyer. But he also made it clear that The Dark Knight Rises was meant to be the definitive end of the story, with the final scene—Bruce nodding to Alfred in Italy—being the very first thing Nolan and Goyer came up with when developing the third movie.
In talking about the scene, Goyer also happens to confirm that the scene wasn’t a dream sequence.
Goyer added that the emotional closing moment in The Dark Knight Rises was designed to wrap Bruce Wayne’s arc. According to Goyer, “We thought, ‘Oh, that’s a story worth telling.’ We had no idea what the rest of the movie was, but we had the end.”
Goyer Acknowledges a Sequel Would Be a Massive Gamble
Still, Goyer admitted the idea of undoing that ending would be a big swing, agreeing with Davis who said, “What a gamble it would be. I mean, an insane gamble.” While Goyer didn’t pitch any story ideas, the two speculated about a far-future return—maybe something like Kingdom Come—featuring older versions of the characters.
It was even said by Davis that maybe 30 years from now, they could do a movie with Christian Bale and Henry Cavill, though Davis admitted he had no idea what that would even look like.
Similar to The Dark Knight Trilogy, Goyer added that he is really interested to see what they do with Iron Man in Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday, as Tony Stark was killed off at the end of Avengers: Endgame, but Robert Downey Jr. is being brought back.
Regardless, if Nolan ever did come up with a fresh take to continue The Dark Knight films, Bale and Goyer are ready to pick up the phone. Maybe a new studio with big bucks behind it could make it happen?
