‘Batkid’ gets nod from Caped Crusaders Ben Affleck, Christian Bale
San Franciscans weren’t the only ones touched by “Batkid” Miles Scott’s adventures Friday — Caped Crusaders Christian Bale and Ben Affleck applauded the 5-year-old hero as well.
“Batkid. Best Batman ever,” Affleck, who will don the cape in the upcoming “Man of Steel” sequel, tweeted Saturday.
“Wasn’t that fantastic?” Bale told Vulture. “This little kid, oh my God — what a wonderful day for the little fella! It’s just fantastic, seeing all those people who were out there to support it.”
Nearly 12,000 volunteers and adoring fans holding signs lined the streets Friday for Miles, who has been battling lymphoblastic leukemia since he was 20 months old and wanted to spend the day as Batman. The Make-A-Wish Foundation coordinated the adventure.
“He likes to be a superhero,” Miles’ mother, Natalie, told KNTV-TV. “He is one. He beat an awful disease.”
Miles’ cancer is in remission, and with the last of his chemotherapy in June, “he wanted to be Batman,” Patricia Wilson, the Bay Area Make-A-Wish executive director, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The bat signal went out Thursday night, a beam shining on the side of Miles’ hotel. At 10 a.m. Friday, San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr issued a televised plea for help on a local newscast.
“Please, Caped Crusader, we need you,” Suhr begged.
Miles, dressed in the trademark batsuit, rode in a donated Batmobile — a black Lamborghini tricked out with Batman logos — along streets thronged with people holding signs and rooting him on, occasionally dabbing their eyes.
“This wish has meant closure for our family and an end to over three years of putting toxic drugs in our son’s body” his mother told the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “This wish has become kind of a family reunion and is our celebration of his treatment completion.”
More than 230,000 tweets with the hashtag #SFBatkid were sent out by the time Batkid’s adventures had finished, according to the Twitter analytics site Topsy.
Over 19,000 Instagram photos were posted by Friday afternoon, and more than 750,000 people had over 1.1-million Facebook interactions related to Batkid. Facebook estimated that the numbers would continue to grow: “We tend to see sustained and building conversation with events/moments like this.”
Custom Batkid shirts sold for the boy’s big day were made by San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr’s son, Matt, according to KGO-TV. The T-shirt designer ended up selling 1,800 shirts — 1,300 more than he expected — raising $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Shirts are available again for preorder, though they are only available for pickup in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Chronicle published a special edition of the Gotham City Chronicle, to be handed out in Union Square. After demand for copies soared, Managing Editor Audrey Cooper said the paper would reprint a special edition.
“This is what I love about San Francisco,” Cooper said by email. “We’re a quirky city that loves freethinkers. We totally understand a 5-year-old cancer survivor who wants to dress up like Batman.”
ALSO:
Restaurant worker found stabbed to death in Venice
Man gets 50 years to life for killing wife near Irvine preschool
Elderly Glendale man dies after severe beating in possible burglary
Twitter: @Sam_Schaefer
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
