Batman Faces Legal Action From The City Of Batman

November 12, 2008 11:12 a.m. EST

Batman, Turkey (CNS) - Batman has a new formidable enemy named Batman - the city. The mayor of Turkish city has filed a lawsuit against "The Dark Knight" helmers Christopher Nolan and Warner Brothers for using their name without permission.

Batman City Mayor Huseyin Kalkan accuses the blockbuster hit film's producers of using the city's name "without informing" them.

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

It wasn't explained why they took many years to take legal action, considering the first Batman appeared in the U.S. as a comic book character in 1939 and the "Batman" TV show started in 1966. Also, Tim Burton's first film version of the caped crusader for Warner Bros. came out in 1989.

Mayor Kalkan, a member of the Kurdish political party Democratic Society Party, also blames the popularity of Nolan's film for a series of unsolved murders and high female suicide rate in their city.

He is currently working on gathering evidence he claims will prove that their city predates Bob Kane's superhero debut in DC Comics, as per Variety.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. claims they have not seen the actual legal action yet.

A rep said, "We are only aware of this claim via press reports and have not seen any actual legal action."