'Man of Steel 2' Casting Rumors: Christian Bale Offered $50 Million to Play Dark Knight? Bryan Cranston, Mark Strong Playing Villain Lex Luthor in Sequel?

Man of Steel 2 casting rumors are starting to heat up. The Man of Steel sequel, rumored to be titled Superman vs. Batman, has a release date set for a 2015 with production believed to begin in 2014. Casting rumors are really starting to make their way online with various actors rumored to be taking over for Christian Bale as the Dark Knight. There also are a couple different rumors as to who Warner Bros. wants to play villain Lex Luthor, if he were to appear in the Man of Steel sequel. A couple things we already know: Henry Cavill will be playing Clark Kent and Zack Snyder will be directing the film.

Although Lex Luthor is by no means confirmed for Man of Steel 2, he would be an obvious villain for the sequel. Mark Strong's name has been widely reported as a hot choice to play Lex Luthor. The actor refused to give a denial when asked if he would be playing the villain. "All I can say is...watch this space," Strong told Digital Spy recently. If you look at pictures of the bald headed Strong, he certainly has the look for the role.

Meanwhile, another prominent actor has been mentioned as a possibility to play Lex Luthor. The Latino Review's El Mayimbe recently tweeted, "FANBOY BLIND ITEM: Which superhot actor finishing final season of hit TV show who also was in 2 films for WB is up for juicy badguy part? :)." This has some believing that Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston could be Warner Bros. choice to play the villain. Who do you think would be a better Lex Luthor?

Obviously, the other big casting rumor going on is who will play Batman. Christian Bale has said he is done playing the Dark Knight and the latest rumor is that the studio wants a veteran actor in his 40's to play the part. Everyone from Ryan Gosling to Josh Brolin has been rumored. However, according to the Inquisitr, Christian Bale was offered as much as $50 million to come back to play Batman one more time. The report doesn't specify whether it would be in another Dark Knight movie or in the Man of Steel sequel, but let's be honest, Bale is probably the best person to be playing Batman at this point. The Inquisitr says that according to a new eBook titled, Beyond Batman: The Unauthorized True Story of Christian Bale and His Dark Knight Dilemma, author Vince Russel claims that Bale was offered big money to return as Batman. With all the rumor swirling, maybe the biggest surprise would be Bale coming back.