Mayor of Batman to Sue . . . Batman?

Somewhat inexplicably, the Mayor of Batman is suing Batman.

More specifically, Huseyin Kalkan - the Mayor of Batman, a small, oil-producing city in southern Turkey - is suing Christopher Nolan, head of Warner Bros., and Warner Bros. themselves for royalties gained from the recent film, The Dark Knight.

"There is only one Batman in the world," Kalkan said. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us."

Batman, the character, first appeared in comic books in 1939. The Batman television series began in 1966, and Tim Burton's first Batman film debuted in 1989. This week, however, is the first time that the town of Batman has filed any sort of complaint, and according to the Variety.com article in which Kalkan was interviewed, no one in the city can explain why it took so long to file for any sort of legal action prior to the release of the Dark Knight film - which is about to pass the $1 billion mark at the box office.

Kalkan, the Mayor of Batman, is preparing his case against Warner Bros., and among the list of charges include the accusation that the studios and the theft of the name are responsible for psychological distress among the city's inhabitants, which have been experiencing a higher-than-normal rate of female suicide and unsolved murders.

Kalkan also said that former residents of Batman have experienced difficulties and obstacles when attempting to register businesses abroad, suggesting that "Batman" is difficult to have in the name of a business due to Warner Bros. copyright on the name.

The mayor is gather evidence that he claims will display that their city was named Batman before the original "Batman" comic was written by Bob Kane.

In a press statement, a Warner Bros. Representative said, "We are only aware of this claim via press reports and have not seen any legal action."