The Original Live-Action Spider-Man Trilogy You Never Saw

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In the 21st-century, Spider-Man is an all too common sight on movie theater screens. Starting with the 2002 movie Spider-Man, the famous Marvel Comics superhero has starred in eight different solo movies. His introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Captain America: Civil War has ensured that the character has only become even more prominent on the big screen. Thanks to his appearances in titles like Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man has managed to appear in a live-action movie in all but one year from 2014 to 2019 (2015 being the lone exception).

Thanks to this barrage of appearances, moviegoers are well aware of Spider-Man's cinematic exploits. But far more obscure is the very first trilogy of live-action Spider-Man movies. These motion pictures were spun off from a CBS TV show entitled The Amazing Spider-Man and were only given theatrical releases internationally. Given these qualities, it's no wonder they've proven more obscure to the public than the MCU Spider-Man outings. Though they may be minor entries in Spider-Man's film history, there are still plenty of strange and notable qualities in these three movies that make it worth remembering Spider-Man's first live-action trilogy.

Despite being based on a TV show, the cast for this trilogy of Spider-Man movies was highly erratic. However, two actors provided a sense of consistency to the proceedings. Headlining all three movies is Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker while Robert F. Simon portrays J. Jonah Jameson in each entry of the trilogy. Otherwise, a primarily new cast appears in each movie. This even applied to major characters who appeared in the comics. Jeff Donnell, for example, portrayed the character of Peter Parker's guardian, Aunt May. Despite May being a crucial character in Spider-Man's life, Donnell only appeared in the 1977 Spider-Man movie. Similarly, Chip Fields and Hilly Hicks portrayed Rita Conway and Robbie Robertson, respectively, for only one movie each.

The directorial approach across the three movies proved slightly more consistent compared to the casting. E.W. Swackhammer directed the original feature-length pilot for Spider-Man while Ron Satlof directed both of its sequels, Spider-Man Strikes Back and Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge. As for the screenplays, Alvin Boretz, Robert Janes and Lionel E. Siegel each wrote an installment of the trilogy. Interestingly, none of these men were prominent writers on the Amazing Spider-Man TV show. The episodes adapted for the silver screen were also the only ones these men ever wrote for the program (though Janes did write the story for one other episode). Once again, we see how the talent on this Amazing Spider-Man production rarely had much in the way of longevity. 

Whereas the 1977 Spider-Man movie dealt with villainy related to hypnosis, the sequel, Spider-Man Strikes Back, is all about nuclear warfare. The topic is explored through Spider-Man's confrontation with Mr. White (Robert Alda). Spidey's newest foe hatches a devious plan that involves bombing the World Trade Center. Much like the infamous finale of the 1976 King Kong, also set on the Twin Towers, Mr. White's evil plan makes watching Spider-Man Strikes Back in 2020 a far more uncomfortable experience than one would expect from a live-action Spider-Man movie. Thankfully, this isn't the only scheme Mr. White has concocted. Because this is two standalone episodes stitched together into a movie, Mr. White eventually moves on from nuclear weapons to an assassination attempt on the President of the United States. The film eventually ends with Mr. White escaping and promising to get his revenge on Spider-Man. Given that Mr. White never appeared again, this was a promise he couldn't keep, which, as Spider-Man knows, is the best kind of promise.

Whereas the previous Spider-Man movie got a general theatrical release internationally, Spider-Man Strikes Back was given a far more restrained theatrical launch. Only a handful of European territories, including Germany, screened the title. Its overseas theatrical presence was so minimal that there are no recorded box office figures for the project. Much like Mr. White leaving the scene of a dastardly crime, Spider-Man Strikes Back vanished from theaters without a trace.

In many trilogies, an overarching story is easily discernible. Across the various Star Wars trilogies or the Lord of the Rings trilogy, trios of movies often function as much as pieces in a broader narrative as they do standalone movies. In many cases, the individual movies in a trilogy even fulfill the same function as the pieces of a three-act story (i.e. the first movie is the first act, and so on). With this inaugural Spider-Man trilogy, no such sprawling narrative exists for the simple reason that these were not meant to be an interconnected series of films. There's a sense of disconnect across the three movies that makes it thoroughly unique among movie trilogies, particularly ones starring superheroes.

The original 1977 Spider-Man is a standalone feature-length pilot meant to introduce viewers to the idea of weekly Spider-Man adventures rather than set up feature-length sequels. As for the two follow-ups, much like the 2008 Clone Wars movie, they're each merely multiple episodes of a TV show jammed together. This explains why Spider-Man Strikes Back, for example, stops and starts its plot for two wildly different evil plans from Mr. White. Each plan was originally the center of its own TV episode rather than two halves of a movie. This results in very little storytelling cohesion across these Spider-Man features as individual properties, let alone across the ramshackle trilogy as a whole.

Varying degrees of reception have greeted the various 21st century Spider-Man movies, but all of them garnered better marks than the original three Spider-Man movies. A retrospective review of the 1977 Spider-Man movie from JoBlo described the project as "just inherently goofy and cheesy at every turn, and proof that you can't really bring a super-powered character to life while pinching pennies." This response established a number of recurring criticisms for the three movies, in particular the low-budget nature of these productions. Though presented theatrically overseas, the TV origins of these Spider-Man movies was readily apparent on the screen.

Reviews for the follow-ups didn't get any better. Spider-Man Strikes Back was reviled by The Dissolve for many reasons, including the fact that "Spider-Man doesn't throw his first punch until the film is half over." Meanwhile, the conclusion of the trilogy, Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge, was declared by Inverse to be "the worst Spidey movie ever made" due to the film's overwhelmingly tedious nature. While each of the individual films drew their own unique criticisms, the critical reception to the first trilogy of Spider-Man movies was subpar across the board.

Worst of all, though, was that Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee was critical of the TV show that spawned these three movies. Echoing modern complaints about the lack of personality in this original Spider-Man trilogy, Lee once said of the show that "They left out the humor. They left out the human interest and personality and playing up characterizations and personal problems."

While comic books are the go-to source of creative inspiration for adaptations of Marvel Comics characters, certain TV shows, like The Incredible Hulk, have managed to leave a lasting creative legacy. Such was not the case with this trilogy of Spider-Man movies. Much like the TV show they spun off from, these Spider-Man films have mostly vanished from the pop culture consciousness.

Part of that is due to the trilogy's reliance on a down-to-Earth vision of Spider-Man. The lack of exciting or strange elements in these films has kept them from turning into a cult hit like the 1970s Japanese Spider-Man show. The lack of a proper home video or streaming release has similarly ensured that the first three Spider-Man movies have become a pop culture footnote. To boot, the property's longevity has been hurt by how it hasn't been referenced in other Spider-Man media. Whereas even the Turn Off the Dark Spider-Man almost got referenced in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the first live-action take on Spider-Man has been ignored.

One exception to this phenomenon came in the 2019 edition of Entertainment Weekly's The Ultimate Guide to The Avengers. Within this special magazine was a small graphic (pictured above) that displayed the various actors who have portrayed Spider-Man in the movies. Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield, and Tom Holland were all pictured... as was Nicholas Hammond. It was a rare moment of recognition for the actor that first took the web-crawler to the movies.