Batman impersonator Jack Asbury said he took on the alter ego because of the superhero's mission to help others.
Batman is sworn to watch over Gotham City, but when 3-year-old Lydia needed some protection against bullies, the superhero decided he could take on one more responsibility.
Little Lydia, of Spring Hill, Florida, walked to day care Wednesday morning hand in hand with Batman, who saw her off all to give her a little boost of confidence facing her classmates that day.
“I knelt down next to her and told her she is going to have a great day and she will be just fine,” Batman impersonator Jack Asbury told InsideEdition.com shortly after. “While beside her, I looked at [her classmates] and told all of them that she is my very best friend, and I would be back to check on her.”
Asbury, who works as an EMT in Citrus County when he’s not in disguise, said the reason he took up the alter ego in his free time is because of the superhero’s mission to help others.
“An ordinary man becoming superhuman even without powers,” Asbury said.
He got in contact with Lydia and her mom, Erica Calculli, after seeing her post on Facebook about Lydia being bullied at her day care class.
“She’s a very smart, bright child and social,” Calculli said. “Lydia has been coming home with bruises on her face. At first it was very minor and I thought it happened just playing around. Two weeks ago, she had a black eye but didn’t say why. It breaks my heart that other kid are hurting my baby physically and emotionally.”
Her daughter then told her that the bullying had gotten so bad she didn’t want to go to day care.
When she wrote about the experience on Facebook, Asbury reached out and asked if he could walk her to class.
“At first she was shy,” he recalled. “I gave her the superhero dress and explained how she was brave like Supergirl and would love her to be my sidekick.”
She eventually opened up and even asked Batman to sit with her in morning circle time.
“She said she had a good day,” Calculli told InsideEdition.com when her young daughter got home. “She seems to be in a good mood.”
The following morning, Calculli said she watched other young kids start banding around her daughter and calling her their best friend.
“Seriously made me cry,” she said, in a text to Asbury Thursday morning.
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