I take this rumor about Christian Bale's "Terminator Salvation" co-star Sam Worthington replacing him in the Batman movies with a grain of salt.* But it *does* bring up an interesting question: is Bale "replaceable" as Batman in the current franchise?
I don't see Bale as inextricably linked to the Batman character as Christopher Reeve was to Superman. In fact, I'd almost argue that Reeve was pretty irreplaceable as Superman, though both Dean Cain & Tom Welling have done really great interpretations of the character.
Now, I can buy Bale being an iconic "Young Bruce Wayne." But as Batman, it's so-so for me. Bale's iconic movie, as far as I'm concerned, is really "American Psycho," though thankfully he hasn't gotten pigeonholed as Patrick Bateman (though one might argue that the actor has played his fair share of psychopathic roles since, and that even Bruce Wayne is a bit unhinged).
Michael Keaton was my favorite Batman, but even then, was he an *iconic* Batman?
At the moment, I think there is still only one true iconic performance of Batman that has stood the test of time:
*EDIT: However, given Bale's recent issues with his temper, plus the fact that he might want to move on and do other things, it's not *that* crazy to think that replacements might be floated around for Batman. But this has happened to Tobey Maguire with Spider-Man as well. So who knows?
