Christian Bale Admits His ‘The Dark Knight’ Co-Star Made Him Feel Disappointed in His Own Batman Performance

While there have been plenty of great Batman movies over the years, none have received the almost universal acclaim that Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight did when it was released. The film was praised for everything from its score to its cinematography, direction, and screenplay — and who can argue? But what really makes The Dark Knight are the performances, especially those by the film’s leads. But although Christian Bale wowed audiences as the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins, the actor felt as if one of his co-stars kept him from true greatness with the sequel. Would you be surprised if we told you that the co-star was Heath Ledger?

Christian Bale Believes that Heath Ledger Stole ‘The Dark Knight’ Show

Credit: Image via Warner Bros. Pictures

When it comes to The Dark Knight, there are few superhero or comic book films that manage to compare. From leading stars Christian Bale and Heath Ledger to one-off side characters, the whole production is perfectly cast. Nolan’s unique vision for Gotham City and the Batman legend stands apart as it brings the original DC Comics concepts into our world. But just because The Dark Knight (and its cast) was highly praised doesn’t mean that everyone was always happy about it. “I didn’t quite manage what I hoped I would throughout the trilogy,” Bale told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2023. For Bale, he never felt like he measured up to his full potential as Batman, even if he maintains that, for Nolan’s part, the filmmaker did. “Heath [Ledger] turned up, and just kind of completely ruined all my plans,” the actor explained. “Because I went, ‘He’s so much more interesting than me and what I’m doing.'”

It’s no secret that Ledger’s Joker is the breakout character in The Dark Knight. After all, the actor was posthumously nominated for an Oscar for his stunning and unsettling performance as the Clown Prince of Crime. For many, he completely stole the show, and Bale couldn’t help but feel that himself. In fact, Heath Ledger’s Joker became so iconic that everyone who has played the character in live-action has attempted to out-do him in the crazy department, though to far lesser effect. The Dark Knight is a triumph of modern superhero filmmaking, precisely because its villain is just as great (and theatrically greater) than its hero. Unfortunately for Bale, that threw some of his deeper, more introspective plans for Bruce Wayne out the window.

Christian Bale Wanted to Further Explore Batman’s Psychology in ‘The Dark Knight’

Considering Bale’s reaction to Ledger’s performance, it’s no wonder that his Caped Crusader felt a bit paired down compared to his work in Batman Begins. The first film in Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy highlighted Bruce’s journey from broken orphan to masked vigilante, giving him plenty of meaty material in the way of grief, redemption, and perseverance to work through. But what was Bale’s intent with the character? In the actor’s own words, when speaking with Variety in 2016, he wanted to explore the fact that Batman is “this very, very dark, messed-up character.” Going further, upon putting on the Batsuit, he thought, “I just feel like a bloody idiot if I don’t use this as a means to kind of (show) his true, monstrous self that he allows to come out in that moment.” While this does come across to an extent in Batman Begins, we don’t see Batman as a monster in The Dark Knight or its sequel.

Compared to the first and last installments of the trilogy, Bale’s work in The Dark Knight isn’t as emotionally riveting — and understandably so. Not only is Ledger’s character the main draw here, but standing beside Bale’s version of the Dark Knight, he makes Batman appear to be far more sane than the actor would have liked. In some sense, this is actually more effective than Bale’s initial desire to portray Batman as a type of insane vigilante. Allowing Batman to be the voice of reason in an otherwise insane world (and even compared to someone like Aaron Eckhart‘s Harvey Dent, who looses his own grip on sanity), is far more profound. In the end, Bale shouldn’t be too hard on himself. Joker may be the more dynamic character on the screen, but The Dark Knight needs its titular straightman to keep Gotham from descending into total anarchy. Without his more grounded performance, the film may not have been as successful.