Christian Bale has said that with the ‘Dark Knight Rises’ shoot finished, he has no plans to reprise his role of the Caped Crusader in a fourth Batman movie, the Huffington Post is reporting. The Academy Award-winning actor said “I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I’m taking that (Batman hood) off.”

Bale’s statement comes after he said in 2010 that unless director Christopher Nolan said otherwise, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ would be the last time he played Batman. The actor added that ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ will be the end of his Batman era with Nolan, who together successfully rebooted the series in 2005. ‘Batman Begins’ was well reviewed and garnered $372 million worldwide. The Academy Award-winning follow-up, 2008′s ‘The Dark Knight,’ earned $1 billion worldwide.

Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy will join Bale and fellow Batman alum Gary Oldman, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman in the upcoming second sequel. Nolan has said ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ “is all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne’s story.” Batman will be older and more physically challenged in the franchise’s third film, which will make it harder for him to fight Hardy’s villain, Bane.

Written by: Karen Benardello