A five-year-old boy dressed as Spider-Man became a real life hero when he saved a baby girl from a burning house in Brazil.

Pint-sized superhero Riquelme Maciel stepped into the house to pull the 1-year-old to safety after he saw her mother crying.

The boy had been playing with a friend in his back yard when they spotted smoke coming from the window of a wooden house.

Using his Spidey senses, he ran to tell the baby's mother, Lucilene dos Santos, but she was too afraid to enter the blazing house.

Without hesitating, the tiny masked crusader decided he would brave the flames to save baby Andrieli from her cradle.

Santos told reporters: "He said, 'don't cry, don't scream because I'm going to save Andrielle.'

"Then I began shouting for him not to go because I was scared he would die in the fire."

But Riquelme did not think twice. After the rescue the Spider-Boy simply said: "I decided to go inside the house and save her."

Fire department's chief Jose de Macedo praised the boy's bravery, but warned parents and children about copying his actions.

He said: "It is very dangerous. This requires a trained crew and proper gear. So we pass on this warning that it is not recommended."

After his heroic act, Riquelme became the talk of the town, making it on to the front pages of local newspapers.

He says he wants to become a firefighter and save more lives - although whether he will be allowed to wear his Spider-Man costume while he does it remains to be seen.