Not Tom Holland, not Andrew Garfield: this was the first Spider-Man of the cinema long before Tobey Maguire
Remembering the First Live-Action Spider-Man Movie Released in the U.S. in 1977—A Film Most Fans Have Never Heard Of
While Spider-Man: No Way Home is considered by many to be the ultimate Spider-Man movie, aside from the brilliant animated Spider-Verse adaptations of Miles Morales, the truth is that Marvel Studios’ blockbuster overlooked one version of the web-slinger: the first-ever live-action Spider-Man in an official feature-length adaptation. We’re talking about Spider-Man, a 1977 live-action film directed by E.W. Swackhamer and starring Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man/Peter Parker.
The First Live-Action Spider-Man
Following the massive success of Spider-Man comics in the 1960s, thanks to the legendary duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, the next logical step was to bring the character to live-action. This film would serve as an early attempt at the superhero genre in cinema, paving the way for Superman (1978), which would take a far more serious, high-quality, and faithful approach to adapting comic books for the big screen.
But going back to the 1977 Spider-Man movie, it was directed by E.W. Swackhamer, a filmmaker known for his extensive work in television on shows like MASH*, L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, The Flying Nun, and Law & Order, among many others. The film starred Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man/Peter Parker and Robert F. Simon as J. Jonah Jameson.
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Originally a TV production,though it was released theatrically in some regions, the film had a low budget, weak performances, and even worse visual effects. Despite these shortcomings, it served as a pilot for the The Amazing Spider-Man TV series, which ran for 14 episodes between 1977 and 1979.
The movie told Spider-Man’s classic origin story but introduced completely absurd plotlines that had little to do with the comics. Even Stan Lee himself admitted that he wasn’t a fan of this TV adaptation of his character. Aside from the Japanese Supaidaman series—which was loosely based on Spider-Man—fans had to wait until 2002 for Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire, to see a live-action adaptation that truly did justice to the character. But it wasn’t the first.