5-year-old Miles Scott from Siskiyou County traversed the city Friday, maneuvering through huge throngs of admirers as a superhero fighting crime with the help of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Volunteers, businesses, the San Francisco Giants and even the city's mayor and police department all pitched in to make the adventure as realistic as possible.
Miles, whose leukemia is currently in remission, has become an internet sensation as the project which has taken on a life of its own through social media.
Just after 10 a.m. Friday, Miles emerged from a Union Square garage in the Batmobile, accompanied by a second Batmobile, in front of a throng of onlookers, well-wishers and reporters held back by police barriers.
The vehicles - two black Lamborghinis with Batman decals - were escorted by police, who also blocked off roads.
© CBS SF Bay Area
Miles had some help...in the form of a full-sized Batman - played by inventor and acrobat Eric Johnston - encouraging him along the way as he confronted dastardly foes like the Riddler and the Penguin.
There was a damsel in distress saved on the Hyde Street cable car tracks, and the Riddler was foiled after trying to rob a bank vault on Montgomery Street.
© CBS SF Bay Area
Batkid reportedly chased them down in the Batmobile, saving Lou Seal and saving the day.
Friday's caped crusades ended with a special honor - a key to the city - from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at City Hall. President Obama even acknowledged his efforts in a video posted on Twitter.
Organizers hope Friday's day-long celebration of Miles will give him new powers. "Some new skills, to face things that are changing too fast, that you're not sure how it's going to go and just charge into it doing backflips," said Johnston.
The Make-A-Wish Foundation, which turns dreams into reality for sick children, will be using social media to describe Miles' journey throughout the city on Friday. People can follow along using the hashtag #SFBatkid on Twitter.
"This wish has meant closure for our family and an end to over three years of putting toxic drugs in our son's body," Miles' mother Natalie said in a statement. "This wish has become kind of a family reunion and is our celebration of his treatment completion."
More information on how to donate to the foundation, can be found online here.
I'm happy for Miles and his family, and I expect a full recovery of the child. But the problem is that in a country with completely privatized health care , the poor people can only hope to help them batman or an NGO, and there are millions of children and adults in risk, when health care is a universal right. Americans believe in superheros. They are an appendage of the control system. And with these propaganda and fireworks, give false hope of change. Most remain uninsured (and Obama never thought of giving it). The crazy thing is that whether private health is completely normal for most. From other places can be seen as inhumane.