Well, he already played a magician in “The Prestige”, so why not play another one in Marvel Studios’ soon-to-be-announced Doctor Strange movie? At least that was my reaction to this rumor being floated around by the Aussie site LiveNews regarding Christian Bale being the studio’s top choice to assay the Sorcerer Supreme. And why not? Any studio suit worth their salt (even the really, really mentally challenged ones) can see the value of having Batman play the lead in your very franchisable comic book movie.

Says the Aussie site Livenews:

A source said: “Christian is hot property right now, courtesy of Batman.

“Doctor Strange is a very different kind of hero to Batman and it’s felt Christian is the sort of actor who can make the part work on screen.

“It is understood a deal could be struck in the coming weeks.”

Of course, this is just someone telling the paper that the studio has Bale at the top of their list. It doesn’t really mean a whole lot for now, but it’s out there, and if Bale has any interest in the part at all, he’d probably do it. What’s Marvel gonna say? “Um, sorry, Christian Bale, we know you’ve made a gazillion dollars for Warner Bros. via the Batman films, but we feel you’re just not right for Doctor Strange.”

Below: Hey, the Doctor Strange movie couldn’t be any worst than the Hulk movie, right?