It's hard to say what compels sensible grownups to gather and cheer for a 5-year-old dressed up as Batkid. As Miles Scott was saving San Francisco as Batkid, people were happy to see a happy story dominating the news cycle.
"Everybody wants to be a superhero, so I feel like it was like a wish that tugged at everyone's hearts, especially because it's something that we all thought about and dreamed and getting to see this little kid just go out and live it and the whole city get behind it, was again, super inspiring," San Francisco resident Kimberly Brizzolara said.
The San Francisco Travel Association says it did wonders for the city's image around the world. We now have a super hero in a super city.
"I think this really did help communicate that San Franciscans are different, they are unique and there's something that people want to come visit and get to know us a little bit better," San Francisco resident Joe D'alessandro said.
The charitable organization Make-A-Wish now says more people want to become involved in some way. But Make-A-Wish did not want to sit down for an interview Monday to answer if they will grant similar extravagant wishes to other kids.
And then there is San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar, who posted on Instagram," Wondering how many 1000s of SF kids living off SNAP/FoodStamps could have been fed from the $$." He was blasted for that comment, but he wonders how many people agree with him.
"I'll just say that I will continue my work to really focus the attention on many kids who need help, especially low income kids in our city," Mar said.
Over the top or not, the reality is that Miles touched many hearts.
Make-A-Wish says there are 27,000 children in this country who are diagnosed with some kind of life-threatening medical condition, while they are not able to reach all of them, they hope to do so someday.
The heroic escapades of Batkid have inspired the actors who played batman on the big and small screen.
Christian Bale told Vulture Magazine," "Wasn't that fantastic?...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."
Meanwhile, Hans Zimmer, the man who wrote the theme song for The Dark Knight trilogy, is now writing a special song for Batkid. Zimmer's publicist Rae Murillo told Radio.com that it was not known if the music would be made public but, "Miles will surely be given a personal copy above all else."
And Ben Affleck, who will play Batman in an upcoming movie, tweeted, "Batkid. Best Batman ever."
