Christian Bale On The Dark Knight Rises Ending

 This article contains spoilers for The Dark Knight Rises

Christian Bale is currently wrapping up his promotional tour for his new film Exodus: Gods And Kings, but the actor has been asked more questions about his past work than his most present, notably about that of his role as Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.

While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Bale was asked whether he thought the moment at the end of The Dark Knight Rises was a dream sequence, where Alfred sees Bruce Wayne sat at that cafe.

Many fans have speculated whether Batman was able to escape in time from the blast radius of the bomb Bane planted in Gotham, which leads people to speculate whether the sequence following, with Alfred smiling at Bruce, was a dream or reality.

“He was just content with me being alive and left”, Bale argued, “because that was always the life that he wanted for him. And I find it very interesting… With most films I tend to always say it’s what the audience thinks it is”.

He continued, adding that “my personal opinion is no, that was not a dream. That was for real. And he was just delighted that finally he had freed himself from the privilege but ultimately the burden of bring Bruce Wayne”.

And there you have it. Given that Christopher Nolan is unlikely to get drawn on the question, that’s as close to an official answer as we’re ever likely to get.