Holy end of an era, Batman fans.  Christian Bale has said goodbye to the rubber costume for good.  The Dark Knight Rises star finished filming days ago and has preempted anyone asking him to come back for another flick by announcing he has no plans to return to the franchise.

Bale, who has played the masked superhero since 2005, tells the Philippine Daily Inquirer: "I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I'm taking that [Batman hood] off.  I believe that the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it's all done. Everything's finished. It's me and [director Christopher Nolan] -- that will be the end of that Batman era.”

Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer and George Clooney have all steped into Bruce Wayne’s shoes.  Who will be next? Matt Damon,  Robert Pattinson, Ed Norton?  A page promoting Mark Wahlberg for the role popped up on Facebook over a year ago after Dark Knight rapped, but has garnered just 63 likes. 

As long as it's anyone but Ryan Gosling, we should be fine.  The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters July 20, 2012.