Is Christian Bale the new action hero?

I tend to think of Christian Bale as a serious dramatic actor for some reason, but when you think about his film resume, it's surprising that's he's been in so many action-oriented mainstream movies.  Batman Begins/The Dark Knight, 3:10 to Yuma, Reign of Fire, Equilibrium, and soon as John Conner in Terminator: Salvation.  It's like he's becoming a modern day Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, but with better acting skills.  Anywho, I thought making a Terminator 3 was a bit of overkill for the franchise, and wasn't thinking Terminator: Salvation would amount to much more (especially given that it's directed by McG), but this trailer looks pretty awesome: