Christian Bale would ''love the challenge'' of playing Batman for a fourth time.

The actor portrays the Caped Crusader and his alter ego Bruce Wayne for the third time in The Dark Knight Rises and though it is expected to be the final film in director Christopher Nolan's series, the 38-year-old star hasn't ruled out returning to the character again in the future.

"My understanding is that this is the last one. I think it's appropriate, I think it's going out at the right time. But... if Chris came to me with a script and said, 'You know what? There is another story,' then I would love the challenge of making a fourth one work," he said.

However, the director appears to have suggested there definitely won't be a fourth movie, saying the third film marks the "end" of the superhero's story: "What drew me to Batman in the first place was Bruce Wayne's story, and that he's a real character whose story begins in childhood. He's not a fully formed character like James Bond, so what we're doing is following the journey of this guy from a child who goes through this horrible experience of becoming this extraordinary character. That, for me, became a three-part story. And obviously the third part becomes the ending of the guy's story."

Co-writer Jonathan Nolan added, "It's the right way to end it - to blow the whole thing up!"