Australia can be a pretty wild place at the best of times (we're the land of "Mad Max" after all), but thankfully one superhero has landed in Sydney to save the day. Introducing Iron Boy!
He's Sydney's answer to Batkid, the pint-size hero that swept into San Francisco in 2013. Iron Boy is the alter ego of Domenic, a 9-year-old local boy who lives with the life-threatening illness cystic fibrosis.
On Thursday, Make-A-Wish Australia -- with the help of the New South Wales Police force and the tick of approval from Disney -- transformed Domenic into Iron Man's primary-school equivalent, in full body armour and face mask, complete with his very own Arc Reactor.
It all started when NSW Police Chief Andrew Scipione sent out a distress call, pleading for help in rescuing Make-A-Wish reporter Hope Joy, held captive by the villainous robot Ultron's evil goons.
Domenic was flown by chopper to police headquarters where he was suited up ready to go. His 12-year-old brother, Joseph, was in tow playing the part of Iron Boy's faithful sidekick, Captain Rhodes, aka "War Machine."
From there, Iron Boy jumped into a rigid-hull inflatable boat with his family and sped off to Clark Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour to fight off some tough-looking goons. With the Sydney Harbour Bridge in the background, young Domenic rescued a grateful Hope Joy.
But the battle wasn't over yet. Back on the steps of Sydney's iconic opera house, Iron Boy had to fight off Ultron's evil henchmen. His brave defeat was watched by hundreds of Sydneysiders who heard about the daring plan via Twitter.
But it wasn't just Sydneysiders who got behind Iron Boy and cheered him on. Sydney's favourite hero soon had a much bigger following, winning support from Aussie actor-turned-Hollywood superstar Liam Hemsworth; the original Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr.; and even the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey.
In a week when Twitter has faced its share of negative press about stalling user numbers and a falling share price, the escapades of Iron Boy give a timely reminder of what Dorsey would no doubt want the world to remember: The social platform has the power to turn one boy's wish into a major event, drawing crowds from across the city, and bring an online community together to rally around the hero we all need.