Christian Bale has revealed he was stunned into silence when he heard of Ben Affleck’s Batman casting.

Christian Bale
(Dominic Lipinski/PA)

The Oscar-winning actor portrayed the caped crusader in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, while Ben will take on the superhero role in Zack Snyder’s Man Of Steel sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice.

Christian Bale as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises
(Warner Bros Pictures)

“I’ve got to admit initially, even though I felt that it was the right time to stop, there was always a bit of me going, ‘Oh go on… Let’s do another.’ So when I heard there was someone else doing it, there was a moment where I just stopped and stared into nothing for half an hour,” he told Empire.

“But I’m 40,” Christian continued. “The fact that I’m jealous of someone else playing Batman… I think I should have gotten over it by now.”

Ben Affleck as Batman
Ben Affleck as Batman (Zack Snyder/Twitter)

He added: “I haven’t spoken with Ben, but I emailed him offering bits of advice that I learned the hard way. I would imagine he is doing everything he can to avoid anything that I did.”

The Dark Knight star next plays Moses in Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic, Exodus: Gods And Kings.

Christian plays Moses in Ridley Scott's Exodus
Christian plays Moses in Ridley Scott’s Exodus (20th Century Fox)

“It’s a little embarrassing to compare Moses to Batman,” he said.

“There are similarities, you know, tragic beginning and then a heroic future. But Moses is a little more violent. I’m sure if there’d been guns around at that time, Bruce Wayne might have had a chance.”