The Spider-Man And Hulk '70s TV Show Stars Wanted To Do A Crossover
We live in an era lousy (and I mean that lovingly) with superhero crossovers on screen. From The CW's ArrowVerse on the TV side, to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we see superheroes interacting so frequently these days it's easy to take for granted that, back in the '70s, it was nearly unheard of. But Nicholas Hammond, who starred as Peter Parker in the short-lived "The Amazing Spider-Man" TV show, tried to make it happen. Specifically, he wanted to see Spider-Man meet Hulk from "The Incredible Hulk."
Hammond recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about his time in the suit for the CBS show, which ran for just 13 episodes between 1977 and 1979. That was right around the same time that Bill Bixby was playing Bruce Banner alongside Lou Ferrigno's Hulk on "The Incredible Hulk," also on CBS. Hammond revealed during the interview that they were pals and discussed the prospect of a crossover.
"We talked about crossing the TV series, making a two-parter about Spider-Man and the Hulk joining forces. But it never got past the stage of two actors talking at the end of the day over a beer."
Considering we got a Thor appearance in the made-for-TV movie "The Incredible Hulk Returns," something like this could have been possible. Unfortunately, it will only ever exist in the land of what could have been.
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Both of these shows were produced at a time before Hollywood special effects made superheroes truly plausible on-screen. They had to make due. Stan Lee, the Marvel Comics legend who co-created these characters, and many others, had some thoughts — mainly that he liked "The Incredible Hulk" but did not like this iteration of "The Amazing Spider-Man." Hammond weighed in on that in the interview as well, saying the following:
"I think what Stan was disappointed by was a choice we made — that frankly, I felt was the right choice — which was to root it all in reality. Meaning, we did not have fantasy comic book villains. We had people, we had drug dealers, blackmailers, criminals. So in a way, we turned it slightly into a crime show where there were issues about pollution and nuclear waste. I think he wanted comic book villains that Spider-Man fights. We thought it was better to have this guy with his power trying to stop people who were doing serious harm to the planet and to people. So we had a parting of ways there."
Lee's position is understandable there. Elsewhere, Hammond also confirmed that he won't be showing up in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," even though seemingly every other villain and all of the Spider-Mans will be.