He may have vanquished the Joker, but it looks like Batman has a new enemy - a Turkish town that claims the caped crusader stole its name.

Hüseyin Kalkan, mayor of Batman, an ancient oil-producing town in south-eastern Turkey, is planning to sue Christopher Nolan, director of the recent box-office behemoth The Dark Knight, over the use of the name in the film. He claims Nolan and Warner Bros, which owns the film rights to the comic-book character, purloined the name without checking with him first.

"There is only one Batman in the world," said Kalkan, a member of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society party. "The American producers used the name of our city without informing us."

The mayor will produce evidence of his city's neolithic origins to support his case that it predates the celluloid Batman. DC Comics originated Bob Kane's character in 1939 in Detective Comics #27.

Kalkan also blames a series of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact suffered by the town after being placed under the spotlight by Nolan's film. In addition, Batman expats living abroad have experienced legal issues when trying to use the name to set up businesses, he claims.