Remember Christian Bale, the risk taking, talented indie actor who shocked the world by taking on something as silly as wearing a Batman costume for Christopher Nolan? Yeah, that guy is dead. Ever since Nolan popped Bale’s blockbuster cherry he’s been more than ready to throw himself into just about any big-budget, geeky project which comes his way. Now he’s playing robots and superheroes and maybe, even men in tights. For god’s sake, he’s in Terminator 4 working for McG! McG is basically Brett Ratner, but with less experience at making us miserable.

Maybe Terminator 4 will shock us all and be brilliant. After all, Bale has made pretty smart choices up till now, sell-out or otherwise. Maybe this will be another one. The Daily Mail says he could end up playing Robin Hood. Not any old Robin Hood though, Robin Hood if he were a tremendous asshole and the villain of Ridley Scott’s upcoming twisted take on the prince of thieves, called Nottingham.

The word is that Bale, along with Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt are all in talks for the film. Russell Crowe is already a lock to play the heroic Sheriff of Nottingham and Sienna Miller is Maid Marian. For now Bale’s involvement is just rumor, but the Daily Mail seems to think it’ll be decided in the next week or so, when the cast is fitted for their green leotards.