Marvel Legends Spider-man ‘77
Based on Spider-man’s appearance in the short-lived 13-episode 1977 TV show (which were later cobbled together into three movies), this version of Spidey starred actor Nicholas Hammond as the web-slinging hero.
In the 1977 series, Spidey would always pose looking really weird and insect like. It doesn’t help that he rarely spoke whenever he was in costume, too. There were no quips or banters. I remember it being jarring to watch since I knew Spidey was a talker. The silence made him look strange and creepy, as opposed to “friendly neighborhood”.
Then there would be these shots of Spidey poking his head from the side of the building and looking like a muppet. Lol… Not really the cool factor I was looking forward to seeing on live action TV. I think I was 6 years old when I watched the show on TV and even then I knew this was not cool. Lol…
I did like seeing him scale the sides of buildings and ceilings in the show though. I remember having a fear of heights back then and seeing live-action Spidey scale building walls was kind of inspiring, at the same time scary.
Spidey’s outfit in the series had his web-shooter on the outside of his glove. He also only had one web-shooter on his right wrist, instead of both. Spider-man also fashioned a belt in the show. Which would often be used as a flashlight or to shine the Spider-signal on his enemies.
I guess this is one of the few times I’m glad Hasbro didn’t go full “screen accuracy” for this figure. In the series, Spidey’s boots didn’t have any web designs on them (just plain boots) and were more burgundy than red, resulting in a different shade of red for his legs from the rest of his costume.
In the series pilot, Spidey’s costume also didn’t have any eye lenses for his mask, they were just cut out holes which showed Peter’s eyes when he was in costume. Sort of like a kid’s costume. Thankfully, the producers were finally able to cover up the eye holes in later episodes.
The set also comes with some reused web effects parts for Spidey to toss at criminals.
We also get a line of rope for Spidey’s “web-line”.
Lastly, we get this pretty neat backdrop of the classic Manhattan skyline, as seen in the original Movie poster.
Feel free to recreate this movie poster. I really wish Hasbro gave collectors more backdrops with their figures.
Overall, not bad. While not the best live-action Spider-man series fans hoped for at the time (due to the lack of any recognizable supervillains in the show), it still managed to pull in a pretty fair number of fans back then (I guess you can say I was one of them).
I’m just glad someone over at Hasbro managed to get this figure released in the Marvel Legends line, as it is still one of the more iconic representations of Spider-man for TV and the big screen.
Gold
