It’s been two years now since Warner Brothers first revealed that a Justice League movie was officially in development, and at this point, almost everything about the project is still up in the air. At one time the higher-ups at Warner Brothers were hoping to go head-to-head with The Avengers 2 in 2015, but that is now looking pretty unlikely. However, a Justice League movie could still end up being the third film in a Man of Steel trilogy with David Goyer writing the script as a continuation of first two Superman movies. That all seems to make sense, but here’s the question that people just won’t stop asking: will the Justice League movie take place in the same universe as Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy? If Christian Bale is to be believed, it will not. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“We were incredibly fortunate to get to make three [Batman films]. That’s enough. Let’s not get greedy… Chris [Nolan] always said he wanted to make it one film at a time. And we ended up sitting there looking at each other, saying ‘We’re about to make the third.’ We never really knew if we were going to get to be there, but if that was how it was going to be, this was where it should end as well.”

He also insisted that he has “literally not had a conversation with a living soul” about the Justice League movie, and that the role of Batman is “a torch that should be handed from one actor to another.” This echoes the comments made by Goyer a few weeks ago, where he explained that Bruce Wayne does exist in the Man of Steel universe, it just happens to be a different Bruce Wayne. (And no, it’s not Joseph Gordon-Levitt either.)

I’m sure Christian Bale will continue to field annoying questions about this until something official is announced, but it seems like a pretty definitive answer to me. Christopher Nolan’s involvement as a producer remains a possibility, but he appears to be gradually stepping back and allowing David Goyer take over. Are you disappointed that Christian Bale will not reprise his role as Batman? Should The Dark Knight trilogy stay self-contained or are they missing a big opportunity here?