Ken Watanabe will follow his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Last Samurai" by squaring off against Christian Bale in Warner Bros. Pictures' upcoming untitled Batman movie. Christopher Nolan is directing the film, which will be produced by Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Larry Franco.

Watanabe will play the villainous Ra's Al Ghul, an immortal strategic mastermind who wants to bring his own brand of order to the world.

Watanabe joins Bale, cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Michael Caine as Wayne's trusted butler Alfred; Katie Holmes as a childhood friend of Wayne's; Liam Neeson as Wayne's mentor Henri Ducard; and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, a former board member and sidelined employee of Wayne Enterprises.

The project is scheduled to start production next month in London.

Watanabe made his English-language debut with Warners' "Samurai," though he has been acting since the early 1980s in Japan, where he is a household name, known for playing heroic samurai roles.

Watanabe is repped by management company ROAR.