Yeah, you absolutely just read that correctly … the “Batman” here being the small town of Batman, Turkey, and they are suing Christopher Nolan for using their name in the massive summer success, The Dark Knight.

Let’s clarify here — they’re not going to sue DC Comics, or the creator of the character decades ago, or Warner Bros. for making all the movies, or directors Tim Burton or Joel *gag* Schumacher for their former Batman movie contributions. Nope, they’re specifically suing Christopher Nolan for The Dark Knight. Obviously this makes sense because all those other ones didn’t make nearly as much money (The Dark Knight is currently at $528 million domestic), so their using the name was welcomed back then. The town is suffering from all sorts of crime and suicides and economical hardships (because no one has those anymore!) and so you’ll see, this all makes perfect sense.

Here is the explanation from Hurriyet Daily News and the Mayor… of Batman, Hüseyin Kalkan:

Seriously, I don’t even know where to start.

I don’t want to ignite a war or anything here, but my-oh-my, Turkey (err, Batman?) is fucking retarded.

There’s so many countries all over this planet with a hell of a lot of issues and who are trying to deal with said issues. For one of them to seriously try and take advantage of the success of a movie because they aren’t smart enough to figure their own shit out… that makes me sick.

On top of the 100% pure, unfiltered idiocy of all of this and the time period for which it’s occurring (you would think you’d take action when the character’s name was created) — it turns out that Batman, Turkey, was established in 1955. That’s 16 years after Batman‘s first ever appearance in 1939.

Wow.

If they win, I’m freakin’ buying an island and naming it Superman.

Who’s coming with me?

[Source: Hurriyet Daily News via io9 ]