Long before the CGI-heavy web-slinging of Tom Holland or the multiversal chaos of the modern MCU, there was just a guy in a spandex suit trying not to fall off a Los Angeles skyscraper. That guy was Nicholas Hammond. If you weren’t around in the late 1970s—or if you haven’t spent time digging through the weirder corners of comic book history—you might not realize that Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man was actually a massive deal for a hot minute.
It’s easy to look back now and giggle at the visible silver mesh in the eyes of the mask or the way Peter Parker’s "spider-sense" was represented by a simple camera zoom and some echoey sound effects. But back in 1977, this was high-tech stuff.
Honestly, the show was a bit of a miracle.
The Sound of Music to the Web of Shadows
Nicholas Hammond didn’t come from the world of grit and stunts. Most people at the time knew him as Friedrich von Trapp from The Sound of Music. Going from singing on a mountain in Salzburg to crawling on walls in New York (or, well, a backlot in LA meant to look like New York) was a wild career pivot.
When he took the role for the 1977 pilot movie, Hammond was insistent on one thing: he didn't want it to be a joke. He’d seen the 1960s Batman series with Adam West and, while that show is a classic, Hammond wanted his Peter Parker to be a real human being with real problems. He wanted drama. He wanted the stakes to feel heavy.
A Grounded Peter Parker
Because of this "grounded" approach, the show feels very different from what we expect today. There were no Green Goblins. No Doctor Octopus. No Vulture. Instead, Peter Parker fought:
- Boring corporate terrorists.
- Con artists using mild mind control.
- International thieves.
- Guys with nukes (okay, that one was a bit bigger).
Stan Lee actually hated this. He famously voiced his frustration that the show felt "too juvenile" or simply missed the point of the colorful, chaotic world he’d built in the comics. To Lee, Spider-Man was about the spectacle and the rogues' gallery. To Hammond and the producers, it was a police procedural where the lead happened to have sticky fingers.
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The Suit, the Stunts, and the Mechanical Web-Shooters
One thing the show got surprisingly right—and something that modern fans often appreciate—was the tech. This was the first time we saw mechanical web-shooters in live action. They were bulky, metallic things strapped to his wrists, and they looked like something a broke college student might actually build in his garage.
Then there were the stunts.
Fred Waugh, the stunt coordinator and Hammond's double, did things that would make a modern safety officer faint. To get those shots of Spider-Man scaling buildings, Waugh actually climbed them. No green screens. No digital wires. He used a complex system of cables and a lot of upper-body strength. Sometimes, he’d be dangling hundreds of feet in the air with nothing but a thin wire and a prayer.
You’ve gotta respect that kind of commitment.
Why Did CBS Kill the Show?
The ratings were actually good. Seriously. The pilot movie was the highest-rated program for CBS in 1977. So, why did it only last 13 episodes?
It basically came down to branding and money.
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CBS was terrified of being known as the "Superhero Network." At the time, they also had The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman on the air. The executives—in a move that feels hilarious in 2026—felt that having too many superheroes would hurt the network's prestige. They wanted to be the home of "serious" television.
Also, the show was incredibly expensive to produce. Filming on location and setting up those practical stunts cost a fortune. Between the high costs and the fear of the "comic book" label, CBS pulled the plug in 1979.
The Crossover That Never Was
There’s a heartbreaking "what if" in this story. In the early 80s, there were serious talks about a crossover movie between Nicholas Hammond’s Spider-Man and Bill Bixby’s Incredible Hulk.
Imagine it.
The two biggest Marvel icons of the era, together on screen. Hammond was even set to co-write it. But the project stalled out, Universal and Columbia couldn't agree on the rights, and the dream died. Hammond eventually moved to Australia, where he became a successful writer and actor, but he’s always stayed proud of his time in the red and blue suit.
The Legacy of the First Real Peter Parker
If you watch the 70s series now, it’s a time capsule. It’s slow. The music is very "disco-jazz." The pacing is more like a detective show than a blockbuster.
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But Nicholas Hammond as Spider-Man gave us a Peter Parker who felt like a person you might actually know. He was a working photographer, a struggling student, and a guy just trying to do the right thing without any flashy multiverse backup.
It’s a shame he didn't get a cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Fans campaigned for it, and Hammond himself said he would’ve loved to do it. While he did appear in the background of the 2002 Sam Raimi film, seeing him suit up one last time alongside Holland, Maguire, and Garfield would have been the ultimate tribute.
Practical Steps for Fans Today
If you want to experience this era of Spidey history, you have to do a little hunting.
- Check YouTube: Many of the original stunts and clips are uploaded there. Look for "Fred Waugh Spider-Man stunts" to see the practical wall-crawling in action.
- Hunt for VHS/Bootlegs: The series has never had a proper, high-definition Blu-ray release due to complex rights issues between Disney (who owns Marvel) and Sony (who owns the film rights).
- Read the 70s Comics: To see what Stan Lee wanted the show to be, dive into the Amazing Spider-Man issues from 1977-1979. The contrast is fascinating.
The Nicholas Hammond era might be "forgotten" by the general public, but for those who value the history of the character, he remains the foundational live-action wall-crawler. He proved that Spider-Man could work on a screen, even if the technology hadn't quite caught up to the imagination of the creators yet.
Next Steps for Your Research:
- Track down the international "movies"—Spider-Man Strikes Back and The Dragon's Challenge—which are actually just episodes spliced together for theatrical release in Europe and Australia.
- Compare the 1977 pilot to the 1978 Japanese Spider-Man (Supaidāman) series to see how two different cultures interpreted the character at the exact same time.