You thought you knew Batman.  Apparently the billionaire playboy turned crime fighter is a southeastern city in Turkey.  Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan is suing Christopher Nolan, the director of the “The Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins” for infringing on the city’s name.

“The royalty of the name ‘Batman’ belongs to us … There is only one Batman in the world. The American producers used the name of our city without informing us,” said Kalkan to the Do?an news agency.  He claims citizens are not able to use the town name for businesses.

Kalkan likely has no merit, one because he is suing Nolan, not DC Comics, who own the copyright and trademark on Batman, or Warner Bros. who made the movie; and two because local regions cannot be registered as brand names in Turkey.  Though I do think local businesses should be able to use their town name without legal threats from DC (only one account this might have happened), this is more an example of a major overstating intellectual property rights and suing the wrong person.

Eager to earn a share of the money Superman’s creators were getting, Bob Kane, employing the help of Bill Finger, created the entire opposite of Big Blue. Batman hit the stands as a superhero that any person could imagine being. Batman had no superpowers. He utilized his intelligence and strove to reach top, physical condition through constant training. Since his inception, Kane added to the basis for superhero clichés with secret lairs, wealthy playboy secret identities, gadgets and vehicles, etc. Batman’s rogue gallery has also set the standard with the Joker, Catwoman, Mister Freeze, and Two Face showing how important the villains are to a hero. For one, Batman showed Superman was no fluke. Secondly, Batman broadened the identity for superheroes that allowed for more than planet moving knock offs. Creativity was key.

Comic book video games have well documented crapiness with a few shining gems.  The problem is comic book geeks (like me) want these comic book games. We want to feel like Spider-Man, and Superman, and Batman.  These are the comic books game that will best bring to life a new super hero experience.

7. Flash

A sandbox Central City might not be on everyone’s Christmas list, but it’s the only way to do Flash justice.  This speedster needs a huge environment to zoom through, fighting Gorilla Grodd, Mirror Master, and Reverse Flash as he tries to save his wife and kids (this is the Wally West Flash, Barry Allen’s unlockable). Key battles pit you against teamed up villains for high pressure boss battles.

6. Real Iron Man game

The recent Iron Man game unfortunately sucked. But this awesome character should be a video game staple.  Let’s revamp the controls (more control, less speed) and focus the campaign on the Mandarin and his rag-tag group of baddies. The twist is this is an action/business simulation game.

In Mega Man-esque level choosing, you fight Whirlwind, Dreadknight, Crimson Dynamo, and more. Give us some epic boss battles with Fin Fang Foom and Ultimo and even a Dr. Doom sidequest.

The business sim comes from Tony Stark. You choose how to run Stark Enterprises, with some investments making the company more valuable and other investments making your armor more powerful.  By running the company well, you make money in order to buy those upgrades and other armor types. If you run the company badly, Justin Hammer will buy it up and you won’t be able to upgrade your armor.

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One of the most popular trends during the Golden Age of comics was giving superheroes a teenage sidekick. This appealed to the youthful readers who dreamed of being superheroes themselves. Robin, Batman’s sidekick, became the most popular and only one to last past the fifties, let alone until the present. The relationship of Batman and Robin set the cliché of superhero sidekicks that went on to be imitated and spoofed in hundreds of sources. Almost all superheroes during the 40’s and 50’s had sidekicks. Robin inspired the trend what became a staple in the medium.

50,000 letters of protest and disgust landed on Warner Bros. doorstep after announcing Michael Keaton would play Batman in the new movie. Fears of a new camp fest like the Batman TV consumed the comic book community as Keaton was known mostly for comedy roles, but director Tim Burton had other plans. He had worked with Keaton on Beetlejuice knowing the actor could be just as sick and twisted as Batman needs to be. Once fans saw the dark, brooding adventure, the criticism subsided and fans saw the first great film Batman.

One of the greatest Star Wars video games owes it all to those little building blocks called Legos. Lego Star Wars gave the duel trilogy a hilarious and enjoyable romp through the galaxy with tons of collectables, vehicles, and playable characters. More Lego games including the just released Indiana Jones and upccoming Batman lead me to wonder what else can the franchise build.

7. Power Rangers

They might be campy and kiddy, but they still have awesome video game potential yet to be realized. Awesome martial arts moves with cool weapons and giant robots all to fight a bizarre assortment of monsters. With hundreds of monsters, Zords, and different kinds of Power Rangers over the years, there’s tons of unlockables to give this game long legs. Just remember co-op. This is a team effort.

6. South Park

Let’s see the mature side of Legos by turning the foul mouthed kids of Colorado into colorful blocks of fun. Let’s even risk the cliched sandbox approach, rebuilding the entire town of South Park in Legos with missions from the show, like fighting vicious turkeys and Mecha-Streisand.

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So here’s a question. If a movie makes $300 million, but none of the actors care, will there be a sequel? The answer is an very obvious yes.

Resident Evil 3 ending with a painful cliffhanger. Sony Pictures announced three more Spider-Man movies. And while there’s no X-Men 4 announced, let’s be certain it’s happening. Yet should these sequels be made? When do these franchises run out of stories? Or are the replacement actors an embarrassment to the originals you love and adore (Roger Moore’s James Bond still gives me nightmares)? But I think wanting these franchises to end too early might deprive us of something amazing: the endless debate.

For about a week, my friends and I debated what should happen to Spider-Man after the disappointing Spider-Man 3. The crowded and overly dramatic film might have represented a franchise lost and without a future. Batman and Robin, Superman 3 and 4, and Rocky 2-5 all show franchises that have been left on life support far too long. But you know what, bad story telling does not mean there are no stories.

Look at Casino Royale. After about 15 mediocre to bad James Bond movies, Casino Royale showed what new blood can do. And Daniel Craig won’t replace Sean Connery, but he can stand on his own.

So who’s to say someone can’t replace Toby Maguire as Spider-Man? The guy where’s a full-faced masked for half the movie…or, well, he should.

So, to settle the debate once and for all. My first point is to remember, there is no limit to the stories that can be told. Marvel Comics has been telling Spider-Man and X-Men stories for more than 40 years. There are more than 60 years of Superman and Batman stories. So I don’t think no more movies can be made for these characters.

The problem is more that movies are a poor medium for serialized stories since it takes two to three years to make a movie. As a result, actors and directors have to devote years to these franchises with little time for variety. This is why actors for franchises are more and more likely to sign contracts to appear in several movies, in order to maintain some consistency.

But I think most franchises can survive just fine without the original creative team. The best success is for franchises based on pre-defined characters. James Bond and Batman can change actors with relative ease because we as fans want to see a new James Bond or Batman movie, not because we’re desperate to see Pierce Brosnan or Michael Keaton. And the same will apply to Toby Maguire as Spider-Man. I don’t go to see Spider-Man to see Toby Maguire. I go to see Spider-Man. I go to see web-slinging super-hero goodness. So if all of a sudden Jake Gyllenhaal tool over as Spider-Man, it might be a little jarring, but I’d survive.

Sometimes a franchise is, however, built on the skills of one actor rather than the character. Take Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. I would agree Depp would be near impossible to replace. When I think of Captain Sparrow, I only think of Depp. Spider-Man, James Bond, and Batman all existed in my mind before any actor on the screen. If an actor tries to replace Depp, they will spend more time imitating Depp than being Sparrow. It is not impossible to replace the original actor, but it takes time. Steve Martin has been an acceptable Inspector Clouseau in the recent (and soon-to-be-sequel) Pink Panther movie, taking the reigns of the character almost 40 years after Peter Sellers created the character. Sellers died in 1980 after making six Pink Panther films (include one released after his death made using deleted scenes). I do not mean to say death is the only way to replace to a character, but that this example shows even a character created and perfected by one actor can be evolved to fit a new actor.

I think the main thing to remember is franchises are meant to continue on and on. While it might get annoying to see an 11 after a movie title, fans of that series have kept it going and should get to enjoy more and more stories as long as they’re willing to watch them. No franchise ever runs out of stories to tell. A run of bad films should not ruin a franchise. It just needs to be fixed and renewed. As long as the characters interest people, there are good stories to tell. And I hope these stories get told…whatever they may be.

Rich people are great to watch, but sometimes the staff is even better. While the rich makes fools of themselves, their butlers have to clean up the mess - whether its chocolate sauce all over the living room or a dented Batmobile. These butlers make our lives, the viewers, better for all the work they do…and don’t do.

7. Geoffrey Butler

An accomplished Olympic runner and Oxford University alum, Geoffrey Butler left England after cheating in a race and getting slapped by the Queen. Thus his career in buttling was realized in the sitcom the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, providing the Banks family with much needed sarcasm.

6. Edwin Jarvis

Iron Man’s invaluable butler Edwin Jarvis has become a staple of the Marvel Universe, offering his skills to the entire Avengers and Fantastic Four, helping host alien dignitaries and babysitting super powered children. He’s even served the Avengers for their entire existence, longer even than Captain America.

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In 1960, DC Comics realized if you add popular characters together, they equal a more popular comic book. With all new versions of their staple characters like the Flash and Green Lantern, DC Comics decided to join them with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman for the juggernaut of all super-teams. Gardner Fox wrote the Justice League of America and their adventures fending off foes that each hero couldn’t handle on their own. The result was a massive success leading DC’s publisher Jack Liebowitz to brag to the Martin Goodman, the publisher of Marvel Comics. Goodman then charged write and editor Stan Lee to create Marvel’s own super-team. And well, nothing much came of that.

Yes, Prodigeek is turning into the geek’s Dr. Ruth.  This may be a little more risque than my readers are use to (sorry Mom), but this is just a natural progression of the Geek Chic column.  Sexual fantasies are a fun and healthy way to "spend time" with your partner and us geeks have some creative ideas of our own (not me, I’m all about missionary style with a member of the same sex).  So for the more adventurous of you, it might be worth adding some of these ideas to your love play.  Remember costumes and props only add to the realism.  And plan your safe words ahead of time. 

Spider-Man upside-down kiss

While harnesses might be above your price range, you can re-enact this classic comic book movie scene by simply leaning over a couch or chair.  The key is begin kissing with your heads facing opposite directions and see where they end up…

Batman and Robin

Just read any Batman comic pre-1954 and you’ve got a picture book with more creativity than the Kama Sutra.  From bondage to black leather to spandex, Batman and Robin offer a large assortment of variation in just one fantasy.  And while this is great for gay couples, don’t forget there have been girl Robins…

Superman and Lois Lane

It’s the classic love story of comic books.  And while the really kinky fetishy stuff might be sadly ignored (Superman, the Blue Boy Scout did grow up in small-town Kansas with old people), you can still replicate the romance.  A nice spandex suit, a dainty reporter’s outfit, and who knows, maybe another harness.  How else are you going to go flying…

Slave Leia

A fantasy with the princess once involved flowing cloaks and hair in buns transforms into a skimpy bikini and chains.  George Lucas, you dirty, dirty man.  The big question for geeks is will you be Jabba the Hut controlling your slave, or Han Solo freeing her, cause I can see it swinging either way…

Angel and Spike

For the Buffy fans, Angel and Spike are two sides of the cliched coin.  You’ve got the soul-bearing and brooding hero and then the rocker, bad ass with a British accent.  So sure the accent might challenge some people, but who cares about talking, right?  Sadly, the two never hooked up (that we know of), so it’s up to our imaginations and fan fiction to make this happen (or you can always check out Spike’s appearance on Torchwood for some ideas).  Spoiler warning, but that might be a good thing here.