Warner Bros. has offered Christian Bale $50 million to reprise his role as Batman in the upcoming Man of Steel 2 film, according to the UK Press Association.

Bale played the superhero in all three installments of the Batman trilogy--Batman Begins, The Dark Night and The Dark Night Rises--and Warner Bros. is reportedly determined to bring his star power and creditability to the tentatively titled Man of Steel 2: Batman vs. Superman film, set for release in 2015. Though Bale previously said he didn't want to play Bruce Wayne's alter ego unless the director of the Batman trilogy, Christopher Nolan, was on board, the studio is willing to pay the actor $50 million to change his mind. Man of Steel 2 will be directed by Zack Snyder.

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The report from the UK Press Association arose from a passage in a new book by Vincent Russel, titled Beyond Batman: The Unauthorised True Story of Christian Bale and His Dark Knight Dilemma. In the book, a source from Legendary Pictures, which partnered with Warner on Nolan's films, is quoted as saying the studio is willing to shell out a lot of money to acquire Bale's services.

"Why would Christian Bale walk away from what is certainly going to be either the first or second highest grossing movie in the history of cinema?" the source said. "He could probably make 50 million dollars for being in the movie 20 minutes. And it would be worth every penny to the studio."

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In his book, Russell added, "sources close to Christian Bale have reportedly begun expressing their suspicions that Bale now views the Batman films in the same light that Robert Downey Jr views the Iron Man films."

Downey Jr. reportedly received $50 million to play Iron Man in The Avengers film, after he agreed to a profit share deal with Marvel Studios for the movie, which went on to make $1.5 billion last year.

Tags: Man of Steel 2 Movies Christian Bale