Swinging with Ada’s Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man By Sunnie Dawn Smith
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t all began in the fall of 2017. Aaron Branson’s daughter, Allie, who was age three at the time, decided she wanted her dad to dress up with her for Halloween. She was going to go as the Flash, and she wanted her dad to be Spider-Man. They were going to go trick-or-treating and keep a close eye out for supervillains. How could her dad say no? He had always been into comics and when his daughter requested he dress up as Spider-Man he did so with glee. This is how Ada Spidey was born. Branson found a cheap Spider-Man suit on Amazon and donned it with pride. His daughter and he went out dressed as their respective heroes, and both of them had a great time. However, he was surprised at how much joy he brought to others, just being a grown man in a Spider-Man suit. They had so much fun that he thought he would probably do it again the next year. However, 6 • www.adahub.com
things took an unexpected turn. One of his Facebook friends told him about a group out of Oklahoma City called “The League,” which is a DC and Marvel costume charity. Essentially, it is a group of people with good quality costumes who get into character and help benefit children’s charities and other forms of charitable outreach. Branson and his daughter went up to Oklahoma City to check it out, and they both fell in love with the idea. He joined the organization and began his transformation. The other people in the group were incredibly helpful to Branson. Other people who would play Spider-Man, as well as other characters, gave him advice on where to find good quality suits – he now has four – and also how to do the upkeep on them. He also started working on himself as a person. Even though he was already pretty healthy and in good shape, Branson started paying
