Christian Bale, the 34 year-old actor who plays Batman in the newly released The Dark Knight, was arrested in London for allegedly assaulting both his mother and his sister on Monday. Good god! Batman has lost control! The good pepes over at themovieblog speculated that massive quantities of drugs may have been involved, though that sounds just as unlikely as the fact that he’s been arrested for assaulting his own family to begin with. Does this bode ill for the future box office receipts of The Dark Knight? I’m sure it’s not going to help. More importantly, has Bale lost his mind?

Very little news has been let out of the bag thus far, though I guess the cat has thoroughly escaped. I know this will put a major damper on many fans’ esteem of Bale. He has been the king of evading exposure from the press – you pretty much never see the man’s face unless he’s at a premiere of one of his own movies or onscreen in one of his own movies. Bale’s public persona is so controlled and contained it’s hard to imagine him sneezing or coughing without well thought out motivation for doing so.

And let's all keep in mind "assault" is not equivalent to "battery" -- particulartly in the UK, where anything as trifling as issuing an angry insult can count as assault. Physical abuse does not come into play until one has committed assault and battery, and there hasn't been any sign -- up to this point -- that any physical foul play was involved.

I’m hoping this thing gets explained and resolved in the next 48 hours. I fully intend on seeing Dark Knight in the theaters at least two more times. It would really suck to know that the man who plays the defender of the innocent, the downtrodden, and the defenseless beats his mother and sister in his spare time. I suspect this isn't the case.

Update: Variety reports that Bale has denied the allegations against him. He spent four hours voluntarily speaking with the police but was not charged with anything and was released on bail. His mother refused to comment and his sister referred to the embarrassing public feud as a "family matter". Not anymore, it's not.