There aren’t many things that capture little kids’ imaginations like superheroes.
Growing up, the world of comic book heroes and villains is a colourful, intriguing place where anything is possible. From being a billionaire who decides to take it upon himself to rid the city of bad guys, to getting bitten by a radioactive spider and waking up the next day with the ability to shoot webs out your wrists, the fantasy of being a superhero is almost irresistible to kids.
However, everyone was a kid once, weren’t they. So these days, we’ve now got dads who are just as into comics – if not more so – than their own children. And though the dads may seem more mature, the opportunity to play and bond with their children over superheroes is too good to pass.
As this dad realised, and helpfully obliged when his son said he wanted to be Spider-Man. Dressing him up in the perfect costume and even helping him fly through the room as if he had his own webs coming from his wrists, the little guy makes a pretty convincing Peter Parker.
Check it out:
The mini superhero was filmed in Piketberg, Western Cape in South Africa, by August Koch.
August said:
I came from a friend’s birthday on a Sunday afternoon to visit one of my lifelong friends Ben on the farm he runs. As I got there, a little Spiderman figure was clinging to the glass entrance door, only to discover it is a little boy with his dad holding him up from behind. I loved it and said he must show me how Spiderman flies. I got my phone out and the video you saw is the first and only take. Such a treat!
As Ben carries his son through the room, the boy seems to have got the look and moves on point while he scrambles and climbs the walls in true Spider-Man fashion.
It’s a touching moment to see between a young boy and his dad. Let’s just hope their relationship stays as kind-natured, unlike this father and son pair.
Another dad who had to adopt his own Spidey-senses to save his son was a man in South China’s Guangdong province, who scaled a building to rescue his seven-year-old who was dangling from the eighth floor.
The heart-stopping incident took place last month, August 15. According to local news reports the son was left at home by himself and was found in the precarious situation after he thought burglars were trying to break into the apartment.
When the dad returned home after being told of the situation, he quickly scrambled out of the window to reach his son.
The dad used the same eighth-floor window, which is the equivalent of a seven-storey building in the UK, and was able to reach his son in a matter of minutes.
The footage of the father’s heroic deed was recorded by one of the witnesses at the scene. The recording shows the man hanging on for dear life with his right hand while trying to push his son upwards to safety with his left.
Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt during the ordeal.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.