Gone are the days when Batman was just a camp comic character in tights. Now, the superhero is brooding, shadowy and even political - and he's about to get darker than ever.
We got our first taste of this new complex Batman when British actor Christian Bale gave his intense interpretation of the caped crusader in the 2005 film Batman Begins.
In The Dark Knight, the second in director Christopher Nolan's take on the franchise, Bruce Wayne is a millionaire with a mission - to save corrupt and dangerous Gotham City from criminals like the anarchistic Joker (the late Heath Ledger). At the same time, he is forced to question the personal motives behind his crime-fighting operations.
"It's nice to be coming in and playing a character where you know the whole back story," says a moody-looking Christian Bale, who is sitting hunched forward, arms folded in front of him.
"We are trying to show a very real Gotham and real humanity to a superhero.
"Batman has no super powers. He has these conflicts within himself. He's somebody who has great altruism and who has at the same time, great temptation towards chaos, violence and revenge. He's a complete character."
Heath Ledger's version of The Joker is also a world away from the one-dimensional villain often seen in superhero films.
This film was the last that Heath Ledger completed before his death in January this year, but the Australian actor's performance as the anarchistic psychopath is already being talked about as one of the year's most outstanding.
"Somebody like Heath loves to immerse himself completely in the role, and you can see the pleasure he's getting from that," says 34-year-old Mr Bale.
"And I feel likewise - that's the pleasure I get from acting.
"It's very satisfying when you see that somebody else is really willing to give so much to their work. I like that. I like feeling that I've really worked at the end of the day, and I felt like Heath was similar in that regard.
"The way that Heath plays The Joker - it's not like we're watching Heath Ledger enjoying playing this zany crazy character. He disappears and he becomes this anarchic, destructive, chaotic individual."
And it's Batman who provides The Joker with his toughest challenge yet in the movie.
"Everyone's been a pushover for The Joker," says Mr Bale.
"Everybody can be leveraged so easily. The mob - they want money, that's boring. Also, The Joker despises hypocrisy and he's finally finding in Batman somebody who doesn't have that. He's as uncompromising as The Joker. The Joker is the unstoppable force and Batman's the immoveable object.
"He recognises Batman's weak spot - that he will not kill," adds Mr Bale.
"Clearly the movie would be over very quickly if Batman didn't have that rule. But The Joker is provoking him - and Batman is very tempted. The quickest way to finish this mad man is to kill him."
Born and raised in Britain, Mr Bale, who began his career in Empire Of The Sun, is now based in Los Angeles, and after filming Batman and other American films like 3:10 To Yuma, he sports a mid-Atlantic accent.
Rarely smiling throughout the interview, he has said he prefers not to reveal too much about his personal life to the press. For the record, he has been married to Sibi Blazic, a former personal assistant to Winona Ryder, for eight years, and they have a three-year-old daughter Emmaline.
He also appears not too interested in giving his opinion on anything other than the film, and won't really be drawn on why superhero movies like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk are pushing people's buttons this summer.
"Absolutely no idea about that," Mr Bale says.
"There's always a need for heroic figures. I think superheroes are a modern day equivalent to Greek mythological figures. So naturally everybody wants a hero.
"But by the time I'm in the middle of making a movie, I'm not doing it because I'm thinking it's what society needs at this time. I'm just looking selfishly at what I'm interested in and what intrigues me, so I never feel like I have any authority or place in commenting on what society needs in general."
However, he does agree that The Dark Knight has political overtones, with The Joker representing some sort of anarchic terrorist, and Batman using phone-taps to help his crime fighting.
"It can be seen as a political movie - very much," he muses.
"There's references which can be seen as topical, like the tapping and the invasion of privacy etc. But I like to have audiences decide for themselves. I don't like it when film-makers dictate what they should be thinking or correlating."
What Mr Bale clearly does relish is his work, and the opportunities it affords him, such as the chance to film a Batman scene while standing on top of Chicago's Sears Tower.
"I like working - I don't mind long hours and strenuous work," he says. "The main challenge for me is primarily the sitting around, the waiting periods, that's what I don't like.
"There's a great many doors that are opened through doing movies. Sears Tower would not let me just walk up, knock on the door and say, 'Do you mind if I go stand there, on the edge of your building 110 storeys up?
That would be cool. And do you mind if I bring a chopper to get some good shots of me?' That ain't going to happen.
"I just finished doing the film Public Enemies with Michael Mann. We toured the FBI headquarters and got shown around every single department - really insider stuff. That never would have happened had I not been involved in movies."
Although he confesses to being a big Star Wars fan as a child, Mr Bale wasn't interested in superheroes at a young age, and says he only really had one personal hero while growing up - his dad David, who died four years ago.
"I was never very much somebody who was much into having heroes," he says. "I don't know why that was. I was getting on my bike, running around and getting into trouble.
"The only person I always consistently looked up to and felt was intriguing, and inspired me and had wonderful stories to tell, was my own dad. Maybe that was the reason I didn't have others - he was always endlessly entertaining. I didn't need to look any further."
We got our first taste of this new complex Batman when British actor Christian Bale gave his intense interpretation of the caped crusader in the 2005 film Batman Begins.
In The Dark Knight, the second in director Christopher Nolan's take on the franchise, Bruce Wayne is a millionaire with a mission - to save corrupt and dangerous Gotham City from criminals like the anarchistic Joker (the late Heath Ledger). At the same time, he is forced to question the personal motives behind his crime-fighting operations.
"It's nice to be coming in and playing a character where you know the whole back story," says a moody-looking Christian Bale, who is sitting hunched forward, arms folded in front of him.
"We are trying to show a very real Gotham and real humanity to a superhero.
"Batman has no super powers. He has these conflicts within himself. He's somebody who has great altruism and who has at the same time, great temptation towards chaos, violence and revenge. He's a complete character."
Heath Ledger's version of The Joker is also a world away from the one-dimensional villain often seen in superhero films.
This film was the last that Heath Ledger completed before his death in January this year, but the Australian actor's performance as the anarchistic psychopath is already being talked about as one of the year's most outstanding.
"Somebody like Heath loves to immerse himself completely in the role, and you can see the pleasure he's getting from that," says 34-year-old Mr Bale.
"And I feel likewise - that's the pleasure I get from acting.
"It's very satisfying when you see that somebody else is really willing to give so much to their work. I like that. I like feeling that I've really worked at the end of the day, and I felt like Heath was similar in that regard.
"The way that Heath plays The Joker - it's not like we're watching Heath Ledger enjoying playing this zany crazy character. He disappears and he becomes this anarchic, destructive, chaotic individual."
And it's Batman who provides The Joker with his toughest challenge yet in the movie.
"Everyone's been a pushover for The Joker," says Mr Bale.
"Everybody can be leveraged so easily. The mob - they want money, that's boring. Also, The Joker despises hypocrisy and he's finally finding in Batman somebody who doesn't have that. He's as uncompromising as The Joker. The Joker is the unstoppable force and Batman's the immoveable object.
"He recognises Batman's weak spot - that he will not kill," adds Mr Bale.
"Clearly the movie would be over very quickly if Batman didn't have that rule. But The Joker is provoking him - and Batman is very tempted. The quickest way to finish this mad man is to kill him."
Born and raised in Britain, Mr Bale, who began his career in Empire Of The Sun, is now based in Los Angeles, and after filming Batman and other American films like 3:10 To Yuma, he sports a mid-Atlantic accent.
Rarely smiling throughout the interview, he has said he prefers not to reveal too much about his personal life to the press. For the record, he has been married to Sibi Blazic, a former personal assistant to Winona Ryder, for eight years, and they have a three-year-old daughter Emmaline.
He also appears not too interested in giving his opinion on anything other than the film, and won't really be drawn on why superhero movies like Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk are pushing people's buttons this summer.
"Absolutely no idea about that," Mr Bale says.
"There's always a need for heroic figures. I think superheroes are a modern day equivalent to Greek mythological figures. So naturally everybody wants a hero.
"But by the time I'm in the middle of making a movie, I'm not doing it because I'm thinking it's what society needs at this time. I'm just looking selfishly at what I'm interested in and what intrigues me, so I never feel like I have any authority or place in commenting on what society needs in general."
However, he does agree that The Dark Knight has political overtones, with The Joker representing some sort of anarchic terrorist, and Batman using phone-taps to help his crime fighting.
"It can be seen as a political movie - very much," he muses.
"There's references which can be seen as topical, like the tapping and the invasion of privacy etc. But I like to have audiences decide for themselves. I don't like it when film-makers dictate what they should be thinking or correlating."
What Mr Bale clearly does relish is his work, and the opportunities it affords him, such as the chance to film a Batman scene while standing on top of Chicago's Sears Tower.
"I like working - I don't mind long hours and strenuous work," he says. "The main challenge for me is primarily the sitting around, the waiting periods, that's what I don't like.
"There's a great many doors that are opened through doing movies. Sears Tower would not let me just walk up, knock on the door and say, 'Do you mind if I go stand there, on the edge of your building 110 storeys up?
That would be cool. And do you mind if I bring a chopper to get some good shots of me?' That ain't going to happen.
"I just finished doing the film Public Enemies with Michael Mann. We toured the FBI headquarters and got shown around every single department - really insider stuff. That never would have happened had I not been involved in movies."
Although he confesses to being a big Star Wars fan as a child, Mr Bale wasn't interested in superheroes at a young age, and says he only really had one personal hero while growing up - his dad David, who died four years ago.
"I was never very much somebody who was much into having heroes," he says. "I don't know why that was. I was getting on my bike, running around and getting into trouble.
"The only person I always consistently looked up to and felt was intriguing, and inspired me and had wonderful stories to tell, was my own dad. Maybe that was the reason I didn't have others - he was always endlessly entertaining. I didn't need to look any further."