Spider-Man acts as a pallbearer at young boy’s funeral.
By Daniel Wood
Whilst Spider-Man is a popular character amongst the likes of myself, adults who like pop-culture, geek-culture and comic-books., it’s easy to forget the effect that Spider-Man has on the younger generation of children and how the character is a very literal hero to them. This story is a rather stark reminder of just how much Spider-Man means to children all over the world, and how things like this shouldn’t be taken for granted.
Five year-old Brayden Denton of Kentland Indiana recently passed away after a battle with an aggressive form of cancer that had a less than ten percent survival rate. However during his fight with the disease Brayden maintained an avid love for superheroes and even got to meet his idol Spider-Man during a trip to Universal Studios in Florida last year.
Before he died he even managed to watch the beginning and the end of the new Spider-Man film, Amazing Spider-Man 2, to which the Daily Mail Online reports he gave his mother a thumbs up. Again this is a reminder that whilst we adults tend to over analyse every detail, and then bicker and squabble over minute points that ultimately these films are there to be loved and enjoyed.
As a result of Brayden’s love of superheroes his mother Staci decided on a rather fitting tribute by having the superheroes themselves act as Brayden’s pallbearers, Spider-Man included. As a result the young boy’s coffin was carried by all of his favourite heroes, including Batman, Thor, Hulk Super-Man and Iron-Man.
His mother told the New York Daily News: ‘The whole time I saw them carrying Brayden he was probably up there going, “This is so cool.” That was his world. That’s what he would have wanted. ‘He could care less about people being in a suits, ties and dresses. He was a five-year-old boy. That’s not what he thought was neat. He loved looking at superhero T-shirts.’
Brayden’s uncle Cory was one of the pallbearers and dressed up as Thor. He told told WLFI: ‘It was hard, but I did it for him. He’s always here with me, and I’ll always watch superhero movies with him because he is always with me.’