How Did Heath Ledger Ruin Christian Bale's Dark Knight Plans?

When Warner Bros. surprised fans at Comic Con 2013 with the announcement ofBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it was just one year afterChristian Balewrapped up hisBatmantrilogy withThe Dark Knight Rises. Fans would have to wait another year before learning thatBen Affleckwould play the new Bruce Wayne/Batman. But there had been several rumors thatChristian Balewas being eyed to put on the cape and cowl once again. While promoting his new movieKnight of Cups,Christian Balereflected on his time asBatman, revealing thatThe Dark Knightco-starHeath Ledgeractually “ruined” his plans for the character.

“Batman, he’s just this very, very, very dark, messed up character. I found, when I put on the suit, I went, I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means of… it’s his true monstrous self that he allows himself to come out in that moment. Let’s do that. Heath turned up and kind of completely ruined all my plans. He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing. I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would throughout the trilogy. (Director)Chris (Nolan)did, but my own sense of self is like, ‘I didn’t quite nail it.'”

Regardless of his own thoughts regarding his portrayal ofThe Dark Knight,Christian BaleandChristopher Nolanundoubtedly helped revitalize a beloved character that Warner Bros.’ shied away from for nearly a decade. The critical and commercial failure of 1997’sBatman & Robinmarked the end of a much different era for the beloved hero, which started with the 1989 blockbusterBatman. This spawned the hit follow-upsBatman Returnsin 1992 andBatman Foreverin 1995, but the divisiveBatman & Robinwas the nail in the coffin for this franchise, until Christopher Nolan came around.

While the entire trilogy was certainly a success,The Dark Knightstood above the rest, setting a new opening weekendbox officerecord of $158.4 million, en route to $534.8 million domestic and just over $1 billion worldwide. The success was also marked with tragedy, withHeath Ledgerunexpectedly dying from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in January 2008, seven months before the movie opened. His critically-acclaimed performance as The Joker won him a posthumous Oscar in 2009, and the backlash ofThe Dark Knightbeing snubbed from Best Picture consideration is believed to be one of the primary reasons why the Academy switched from five Best Picture nominees to 10 the next year.

While we still have a few weeks to see howBen Affleck’s Batman compares toChristian Bale’s version ofThe Dark Knight, one ofChristian Bale’s co-stars doesn’t thinkBen Affleckcan pull it off.Morgan Freeman, who played Lucius Fox inThe Dark Knighttrilogy, recently said in an interview that he doesn’t know “how it will work” withBen Affleck, adding he doesn’t think anyone can “beat” his trilogy. Do you thinkBen Affleckwill do a better job asChristian Bale?