Christian Bale’s rumored DC return has fans throwing the curve ball to end them all

The DCU rumor mill is currently abuzz with speculation that The Flash won’t just feature Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck’s Batmen, but one more previous cinematic portrayal will turn up that’ll go on to appear in Batman: The Brave and the Bold. If true, there’s only one plausible candidate. With Val Kilmer sadly recovering from a brutal battle with throat cancer and George Clooney considering Batman and Robin one of the worst choices of his career, that leaves the Dark Knight Trilogy’s Christian Bale.

Bale has long said he’d only ever consider climbing back into a Batsuit if Christopher Nolan was also returning, though we’re betting a dump truck full of Warner Bros. cash would help him change his mind. But one fan has an idea that, if it happened, would be one of the craziest casting choices of all time:

Blasphemy! If you’re Batman you can’t also be the Joker! Then again, the more we think about it, the more we think this insane idea might just about work. Fans seem to agree, even if it’s difficult to imagine:

Is this the true duality of Batman/Joker, because Keaton could definitely do a great Joker:

Someone had to say it:

We now want a movie with Bale as Alfred, Gordon, Riddler, Penguin and so on. Hell, he could probably do a decent Catwoman:

The chances of this stunt casting ever happening are probably slim, not just because Bale is once Batman but because he’s famously estranged from his circus clown mom (no, seriously). Even so, we want to peek across the multiverse to see the reality where this actually happens.