Credit: Warner Brothers/Facebook
If you’ve become disenchanted with social media thanks to an endless election cycle and the dumb ramblings of everyone from your aunt to
international rap stars, this story will certainly remind you of the good side of the Internet (yes, there is one).
48-year-old British Batman super-fan Barry “Bazz” Henderson was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in October 2014. When the disease spread to his lymph nodes, he was given only 11 months to live. Bazz survived beyond his grim prognosis, but he feared that he wouldn’t be around to see the highly anticipated new film
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
That’s when Bazz’s sister Gwen came to the rescue.
She launched the #Batman4Bazz campaign on Twitter and Facebook, trying to catch the eye of Warner Bros. to help grant her brother’s wish of seeing two awesome superheroes beating the living daylights out of each other before he passed away.
Unfortunately, Bazz succumbed to his disease on February 21, leading the thousands of people who helped the #Batman4Bazz campaign grow to think that Bazz never got to see the film, until Gwen posted this on Facebook two days ago:
Due to a nondisclosure agreement, Gwen was unable to let supporters know if Bazz got to see the movie until this week. Pat yourselves on the back, Internet, we finally did something we can be proud of.
This isn’t the first time Warner Bros. has treated a super-fan to a special experience. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, noted Batman fan, was given cameo roles in
The Dark Knight and
The Dark Knight Rises, having the honor of being attacked by the Joker and being held hostage by Bane.
Bazz’s story also comes only a few months after a similar tale of
a terminally ill Star Wars fan was able to watch an early screening of
Star Wars: The Force Awakens before passing away.
Let’s hope that studios and filmmakers continue to keep their hearts open to fans.
Oh, and if you were wondering what Bazz had to say about the movie, “It’s the greatest…I’ve waited all my life to see it!”
