Ex-Batman Christian Bale will now play Thor villain

Christian Bale is set to play the villain in Thor: Love and Thunder.

The 46-year-old actor has signed up for his first comic book role since portraying Batman in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.

Co-star Tessa Thompson has revealed Christian will play a villain.

She told Entertainment Tonight: "Christian Bale is going to play our villain, which is going to be fantastic. I've read the script. I can't tell you much. Lots of exciting text messages exchanged between Natalie [Portman] and I."

"We're going to have fun. Taika [Waititi] is writing [and] directing. Some familiar faces. Some new people coming into the mix."

Along with Tessa as Valkyrie and Natalie as Jane Foster, Christian will also join Chris Hemsworth, who is reprising his role as the titular Norse god in the fourth instalment in the Marvel franchise - the follow-up to 2017's critically-acclaimed Thor: Ragnarok.

Director Taika previously teased the new Thor film - which is scheduled to start production this summer - will be the most "bombastic" yet.

He said: "It's going to be bigger and louder and more bombastic. It's only interesting to me if we're doubling down on how nuts Ragnarok was."

The filmmaker was widely praised for overseeing Thor: Ragnarok, which was credited for bringing a sense of fun back to the franchise.

Chris also described how the role had been reinvigorated because of the film.

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He said: "I've been having so much fun at it and it doesn't feel old to me and it feels fresh more now than the first couple of times I played it.

"To be reinvigorated with the character and the world and to feel like we sort of have no boundaries so we can really take it anywhere is an exciting point to be in."

Marvel's Kevin Feige is producing the movie.