Actor Christian Bale has been offered $60 million (£40 million) to reprise his Batman role in the upcoming Man Of Steel sequel, according to a U.K. report.

The Welsh star played the comic book character in three films for the Christopher Nolan series and, after the announcement at the Comic Con last month (Jul13) that Batman would appear in the new Superman movie, fans demanded that Bale resume his role for the film.

The actor has expressed reluctance to reprise the part but a source tells Britain's The Sun that he "is facing extraordinary pressure" to return to the role.

Bale previously said, "We were incredibly fortunate to get to make three. That's enough. Let's not get greedy. Chris (Nolan) always said he wanted to make it one film at a time. And we ended up sitting there looking at each other, saying, 'We're about to make the third.' We never really knew if we were going to get to be there, but if that was how it was going to be, this was where it should end as well."