Christian Bale, who played masked vigilante Batman in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy, admits he was envious when he watched actor Ben Affleck take up the role in his forthcoming picture Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

In an interview with Empire magazine, he explained:

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

“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,'” said Bale, who has not spoken with Affleck (who is two years his elder) about the role.

Bale first appeared as Batman in 2005’s Batman Begins and then again in 2008’s The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

Even in a casual discussion, Bale comes across as the most passionate man in Hollywood. It’s part of what makes him appealing as an actor. He takes every assignment seriously, even those involving capes and Batmobiles. So when he admits to being a touch jealous that someone else is playing a part that he has played for the last decade, it’s easy to envision his characters from ‘The Machinist’ or ‘American Psycho’ taking over and forcing him to do awful things to the poor, helpless Affleck. After all, if Bale is going to yell at the director of photography for touching lights during a take, he’s going to murder the actor who plays him.

But it’s a good thing Bale called it quits since he’s now free to take on more diverse, odd, and challenging roles. Batman is a role for a captivating movie star, not a person eager to starve himself half to death to give a character credibility.

The film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, starring Henry Cavill as Superman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, is set to hit theaters in March 2016. The drip-feed of footage and sneak peeks has already begun, with fans seeing the two stars face off against one other, eyes aglow, at Comic-Con this year; director Zack Snyder has also revealed images of the redesigned Batmobile and Batsuit.