Secret comic book movies: The Amazing Spider-Man TV pilot (1977)

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NEW ORLEANS, LA – JANUARY 06: Stan Lee participates in a Q&A during Wizard World Comic Con at Ernest N. Morial Convention Center on January 6, 2018 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images) /

“Are you on drugs?”

…forget about seeing any members of Spidey’s rogue’s gallery, even his more street-level foes… But at least [the TV pilot’s villain] has one thing going in his favor: a trio of brainwashed, shinai-wielding karate assassins!

One thing we tend to overlook about Marvel is that their comics were extremely popular right out of the gate. We also tend to forget that Stan Lee had Hollywood aspirations for his superheroes long before the creation of Marvel Studios. This may explain why, during the 1970s, Lee sold to CBS the television rights to two of his most popular characters: The Hulk and Spider-Man.

Some of you folks may remember I did a retrospective of the pilot episode of The Incredible Hulk (1977) starring Bill Bixby. What you may not know is that the pilot episode of The Amazing Spider-Man, created by Alvin Boretz, aired on CBS first – almost two months before The Incredible Hulk’s premiere. Moreover, while Lee would later criticize the series, The Amazing Spider-Man’s pilot episode would become the network’s highest-rated television show for 1977. It was so popular that Columbia Pictures, CBS’ parent company, actually re-released it as a feature film in other countries. Though you certainly wouldn’t think so while watching it.

Unlike future live-action portrayals of Spidey, this version of Peter Parker (Nicholas Hammond) is already taking and selling pictures for the Daily Bugle to pay his way through graduate school. It’s while he’s conducting a radiology experiment at his University’s lab that Peter is accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider and gains powers.

After inadvertently stopping a mugging while testing out his wall-crawling, the news quickly starts circulating about a “Spider-Man.” Peter then claims to a skeptical J. Jonah Jameson (David White) that he not only saw this Spider-Man, but that he has photographs of him. Thus, after making his signature red-and-blue costume, Peter sells Jonah his “exclusive” photos and begins fighting crime on the side.

More from Spider-Man

Now unlike Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002), the pilot does a great job introducing both Peter and the Daily Bugle without the later feeling like it’s being shoehorned in for the fans. Also, tying together Peter’s initial impulse for being Spider-Man in order to make a quick buck with one of the comic book’s best running gags is a near stroke-of-genius. What’s not so great is that this Peter already knows that “with great power comes great responsibility” from the get-go. Even stranger, there’s no appearance or mention of Uncle Ben whatsoever. As far as Spider-Man origins go, this is the least comic-accurate adaptation ever put to celluloid.

You can also forget about seeing any members of Spidey’s rogue’s gallery, even his more street-level foes. Instead (because new-age therapy was all the rage back in the 1970s) the “villain of the week” is one Edward Byron (Thayer David), a self-help guru who uses microwave-induced hypnosis to make respectable New York citizens commit bank robberies. Just picture Wilson Fisk with a full head of hair crossed with Tony Robbins, and it’s easy to see that this particular bad guy isn’t exactly a top-tier nemesis for the webslinger. But at least Byron has one thing going in his favor: A trio of brainwashed, shinai wielding karate assassins! Did I forget to mention that martial arts movies were also all the rage back in the 1970s?

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