With Christian Bale hanging up his cape, who will be the next Batman?

The identity of The Caped Crusader may remain a mystery to the citizens of fictional Gotham, but fans of the Batman franchise are clamoring to find out who’ll don the iconic mask next.

Christian Bale, 37, recently told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the upcoming “Dark Knight Rises” film will be his last, and that his decision to pull the plug on “that Batman era” stemmed from a need to move beyond the comic-book action flicks and onto other projects.

“I wrapped a few days ago, so that will be the last time I’m taking that cowl off,” he said. “I believe that the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it’s all done.

“Everything’s finished. . . . That will be the end of that Batman era.”

But while the English actor moves on to other things — he is set to star in Zhang Yimou’s China-set period drama “The Flowers of War” — a new Hollywood hunk will need to step in and take his place.     More