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Fox Lawyers Watching 'Watchmen,' Warner Bros.

A lawsuit complicates the effort to bring DC Comics' classic graphic novel to the silver screen.

Gallery: Star Wars, Aliens and Outta-This-World Lines at Comic-Con

: Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comSAN DIEGO -- More people, more lines and more crazy costumes. Welcome to Day 2 of Comic-Con International, where even hot pretzels can command an impressive queue. Left: Mina Castillo, 7, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, dressed up as Jupiter and attended Comic-Con with her grandmother, Cynthia Lucia of San Diego, at left, dressed as Saturn. Her aunt, Cher Delacy of San Diego, came along as Mars. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com "Masquerade is a big thing for us," said Nicole Roberts, 32, of Van Nuys, California. "Packing for Comic-Con is always a nightmare." Roberts is dressed as Barf from Spaceballs and is having lunch with her friend Kent Elofson, of Pasadena, California. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comThe line for autographs wraps all the way around the DC Comics booth Friday morning. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comTwo stormtroopers ascend to the second level of the San Diego Convention Center on Star Wars day. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comRay Park, who played Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace , signs autographs Friday afternoon. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com"Awesome," said Dwight Boyd, 47, of Palo Alto, California. This is his second year in a row attending Comic-Con. Even the caped crusader needs a little relief sometimes. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comKaan Toy, 23, of Turkey, sports a Superman cape while working Comic-Con. The cape was great for business, but didn't make pedaling the bike any easier. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com Leroy Harper eyes a potential buyer at the Dale Roberts Comics booth Friday. The vintage comics sold by the store fetch big bucks, with some going for thousands of dollars. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comJay, aka Christopher Duncan, and Silent Bob, aka Robert Boughuer, take a little break from the action. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comKathy Valdoria, 25, and Ben Peterson, 26, both of San Diego, came to the show to look at all the crazy toys. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comMavrick Roberts, of Salt Lake City, is one of an estimated 35 Ghost Busters in attendance at Comic-Con, and he proudly chairs the Salt Lake City Ghost Busters branch. : Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.comBoba Fett, aka Wayne Riehm of San Diego, stands guard at the entrance to the show floor at Comic-Con. : Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.comGreg Nelson of San Diego makes the perfect Shrek, with his big green head, tattered brown outfit and mildly grouchy personality.

'The Dark Knight' -- 'Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?'

Batman is just a gadget geek at heart. A very, very wealthy gadget geek. But until recently, he's employed some tech that's, well, pretty unbelievable. Ice skates popping out of boots? Come on! Not in The Dark Knight. Director Christopher Nolan's version of Batman is an almost-believable early adopter, with every high tech gizmo at his disposal firmly grounded in real-world technology. To get the lowdown on the five coolest pieces of gear from the film, we sat down with the film's Oscar-nominated production designer, Nathan Crowley, to find out where the inspiration for each Bat-gadget came from. Bat-Pod After the Batmobile (aka the Tumbler) is destroyed, Batman is forced to continue his pursuit of the Joker on this machine-gunning, shoulder-navigated, gimbals-sporting two-wheeler. This is a vehicle made for multitasking, allowing Batman to fire its guns, steer hands-free and maneuver hard without much risk of a wipeout. Says Crowley, "If you go over on its side, it keeps you upright." Real-World Counterpart: Dodge Tomahawk The Bat-Pod most closely resembles the V-10, 500-horsepower Dodge Tomahawk concept vehicle. But designwise, Crowley says, the 'Pod draws most of its inspiration from the general design of the Tumbler itself. Just compare the front tires on the two vehicles: They're the same. "We didn't want it to be anything more than raw function, and that's why it looks like it does," says Crowley. Cowl Past Batmen have had a hard time turning their heads (paging Michael Keaton), because the cowl was a solid piece of rubber attached to the suit itself. Not this time. Able to move independently of the suit, Batman's new mask now allows him to crane his head up and down and side-to-side with ease. Real-World Counterpart: Motorcycle Helmet When racing a Hayabusa at 180 mph, visibility and flexibility are everything. That's why the independently pivoting design of a motorcycle helmet and racing suit served as the chief point of reference for Batman's cowl design. The Batsuit The new Batsuit is designed with mobility in mind. Batman can now turn his head up and down and side-to-side. Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures/TM, © DC Comics "We really wanted to change up the suit," Crowley admits. Adding more protection in addition to more flexibility (and less nipple) than previous versions, the armor worn by Batman comprises hundreds of interlocking plates that move independently of each other. The result? Batman is more mobile, can do more stunts, and can kick a lot more ass. Real-World Counterpart: Samurai Armor The interlocking plates of the Batsuit -- while made of modern materials like Nomex, titanium and Kevlar -- share their design with ancient armor once worn by Samurai warriors in feudal Japan. These lightweight, lacquered get-ups were strong, contained hundreds of interlocking pieces, and allowed their wearers a full range of motion. Sticky-Bomb Gun When Batman has to apprehend a villain in Hong Kong, he utilizes a weapon that fires sticky, orange bomb pellets that adhere to glass. The gun is collapsible, breaking down to small pieces that Batman can store on his belt. "It's more like a piece of origami than anything else," says Crowley. Real-World Counterpart: Collapsible Rifle The sticky-bomb gun owes its DNA to any collapsible weapon. Just have a look at the M-40 rifle (.pdf) favored by Marine Corps snipers: The gun can be broken down into multiple parts for easy transportation. The explosive, sticky ammo, though? That's 100 percent pure Crowley. 3-D Sonar System Since the Joker does not have a lair or a base, Batman must track the constantly mobile madman through the streets of Gotham. To do this he uses a cowl-mounted sonar device that triangulates the baddies' cellphone signals and then renders the sound of their communication into a 3-D visual map. Real-World Counterparts: Lidar and Sonar Usually utilizing lasers, a Lidar system measures reflected light to find the range, dimensions and other properties of far-off objects. Sonar, of course, is the technology of bouncing sound waves off faraway objects to get a realistic picture of where those objects are. Combine the two, and you've got the 3-D system Batman uses to hunt his quarry.