Hollywood star Christian Bale will forever be associated with playing Batman in Christopher Nolan's 'Dark Knight' trilogy, but not everyone believed in the duo's interpretation of the character.

According to 'Variety', starting with 'Batman Begins' and most notably in 'The Dark Knight', Bale and Nolan grounded the character in a level of realism the comic book movie genre had never seen.

Bale's serious approach was the opposite of the campier take on Batman as seen in Joel Schumacher's 'Batman Forever' and 'Batman & Robin'.

"I would (tell people) we're going to sort of do Batman, but take him seriously. I had tons of people laugh at me and just say, 'Well, that's just not going to work at all'," Bale told The Washington Post.

"So it's wonderful to be a part of a trilogy that proved those people wrong. I'm not certain if it kick-started (the MCU), but it certainly helped along the way."

Bale is returning to the genre as the villainous Gorr the God Butcher in 'Thor: Love and Thunder'.

Are two comic book characters enough for Bale?

"I don't have any goodbye and thank you, unless other people say to me 'goodbye and thank you, please never revisit this again' then I'll take their word for it," Bale said. "But otherwise a good story is a good story. A good film is a good film. And a good director is a good director. And I'm open to any of those ideas."

Bale recently made headlines by saying that he's not entirely against reprising Batman/Bruce Wayne in another 'Dark Knight' movie. The Oscar winner has one condition: Nolan must direct, reports 'Variety'.

"No. No one's ever mentioned it to me. No one's brought it up," Bale said when asked about reprising Batman.

"Occasionally people say to me, 'Oh, I hear you were approached and offered all this'. And I'm like, 'That's news to me. No one's ever said that'."

"I had a pact with Chris Nolan," Bale added.

"We said, 'Hey, look, let's make three films, if we're lucky enough to get to do that. And then let's walk away. Let's not linger too long'. In my mind, it would be something if Chris Nolan ever said to himself, 'You know what, I've got another story to tell'. And if he wished to tell that story with me, I'd be in."