Syracuse football legend Jim Brown has played an action hero in movies, but he's also a hero in real life to the man behind some of the biggest superheroes in comics history.

TMZ reports Stan Lee, the co-creator of Marvel characters like Daredevil, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Black Panther, X-Men and the Fantastic Four, lost his dog last week. Sources say the 95-year-old comics legend's mini Pomeranian, Charlotte, got loose in the Los Angeles area and had been missing for several days.

Lee's team posted "Lost Dog" flyers around his Hollywood Hills neighborhood, but hadn't heard anything for several days.

Brown, who lives about a mile away from Lee, and his wife Monique found Charlotte in their yard with no collar. They contacted several neighbors and took the pooch to a vet, but had no luck.

"The Browns then went old school and canvassed several neighborhoods and BAM," TMZ wrote. "They saw the posters, called the number and just like that, Charlotte was reunited with Stan."

That's good news for Lee, who's had a rough year. His wife of 69 years died in July; he was accused of sexually harassing nurses in January; $1.4 million went missing in a possible financial elder abuse case; and he was hospitalized last month due to pneumonia and other health issues.

It's unclear if there'll be a reward for Brown, an NFL Hall of Famer who excelled in football, basketball, track and field, and lacrosse while at Syracuse University. Maybe the 82-year-old No. 44 can get a role in a Marvel superhero movie; he's got acting experience in films like "The Dirty Dozen," "The Running Man," "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and "Any Given Sunday."