Christopher Nolan, Please Leave Christian Bale Out of The Justice League

You can call me a Nolan fanboy. You can label me an apologist for loving The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t know, maybe both are true. Either way, I think Christopher Nolan is an excellent filmmaker whose films I’ve either liked or loved, including his most recent Batman film. Now, Latino Review is reporting on rumors that Warner Bros. is courting Nolan to be the godfather of their Justice League film and series. But I’m not happy.

The impulse is understandable. Warner wants its own DC version of The Avengers and all the success that implies. As it stands, they’ve done a poor job leading into such a film, but word is that Man of Steel is a strong film and that its tonal similarity to Nolan’s Batman films makes it a perfect template for morphing into a Justice League series.

It stands to reason, then, that Warner would want Nolan to shepherd this new franchise. He did the Batman films, and he produced this new Superman one. It’s clear that even as a producer he maintains a consistency in his “realistic” vision for the superhero, which would presumably continue into a Justice League film and any other DC property connected to it. It might also be a very smart thing to do as a means of differentiating the DC properties from the Marvel universe.

Frankly, I don’t have any problems with this. Do I have any urge to see Nolan involved in more superhero films? Not especially, but only because I have no investment in the idea one way or the other. It also doesn’t sounds like Nolan would be directing any of these new films; that frees him up to do more original films like his upcoming Interstellar. If he can do that and produce some quality superhero pictures at the same time, we all win.

So if I’m okay with Warner making Nolan-ish superhero films, and if I’m okay with Nolan producing those films, what, you may ask, is my problem? It all comes down to the rumor reported that the intention is to bring Christian Bale back as Bruce Wayne/Batman. It’s an incredibly stupid idea, and one that aggravates me, not as a Batman fan, but as a film fan who longs for Hollywood to tell complete stories.

The Dark Knight Rises catches a lot of flack for its haphazard plotting, but the way I see it, the final scenes of the film tie a perfect little bow on the trilogy. The story is over. Bruce Wayne has created a symbol, wrestled with its implications, and now he’s separated himself from it, allowing it to live on without him. The whole point of the ending is that Bruce no longer needs Batman and Batman no longer needs Bruce. He moves on to live the rest of his life. Bringing him back would essentially nullify the meaning of that ending.

Moreover, it doesn’t let the ending stand on its own. Why can’t we just have a single solid trilogy that stands apart from everything else? The films each tell a story, and together they tell a larger story with consistent thematic explorations and a sturdy conclusion. Is it too much to ask that not everything be franchised into oblivion? Granted, Nolan made three Batman films, but at least give them the dignity of being a singular trilogy rather than the start of an endless franchise. Nolan came in, crafted a story, and had the decency to give it an ending. It makes me sad that this isn’t good enough.

This extends to other films as well. Your movie is successful? Give it a sequel! Give it five sequels! Why focus on making one good Spider-Man film when we can plan to make ten! Let’s treat every movie not as its own story, but as a lead-in to more films that lead to more films!

Of course, the state of Hollywood is such that business will dictate more Bale as Bruce Wayne. Warner can dump truckloads of money in front of the necessary people and make it happen. They’re all about making money, even if it’s at the expense of actually telling stories, which is supposedly the business they’re in. If these rumors come to pass, count me disappointed.