'Dark Knight' Christian Bale Took Batman To 'Year One'

"The Dark Knight Rises" isn't just Christopher Nolan's final dance with the Bat. It's also Oscar-winning actor Christian Bale's final dance as the Bat — and even if fans are sad to see him go, Bale himself is ready to fly off to newer pastures.

"We need different rhythms in our life, don't we, and to me it would be the wrong rhythm to jump into a franchise at this point," Bale told the New York Daily News about his time as Batman in a new interview. "For now, no, I'd be looking for new experiences."

In the interview, Bale spoke about his inspiration behind playing the Caped Crusader, chalking up a lot of credit to Frank Miller and David Mazzuchelli's "Batman: Year One" miniseries for turning him around on the potential that comic book characters have on the screen.

"Suddenly, I found Batman has so many issues, he's not a healthy individual, this is somebody that is doing good, but he's right on the verge of doing bad," said the actor. "He's got that killer within him that he's desperately not trying to let off his leash. And that's what I always return to."

Before that "Year One" exposure, however, Bale can't exactly say that he was among the comic book faithful.

"I wasn't a 12-year-old that gave a damn about comics," he said candidly. "I had never been someone into comic books, it just didn't interest me. It wasn't my thing."

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