If WB gives us....

[Edd Grayson]

The 1970's Spider-Man was nothing like the comics though.

[johnnygobbs]

The 1970's Spider-Man was nothing like the comics though.

I didn't say they were good (they aren't).  But I said that it could be done [to make Spider-Man and Hulk, and other comic-book movie shows and films, with budgetary limitations].

[Edd Grayson]

Yes, but just because you can make a show like that doesn't mean you should... I wish there was a Spider-Man film in the 80's for example, but it wouldn't have been very pleasing. Or Iron Man in the 90's.

[johnnygobbs]

Yes, but just because you can make a show like that doesn't mean you should... I wish there was a Spider-Man film in the 80's for example, but it wouldn't have been very pleasing. Or Iron Man in the 90's.

Superman '78 and Superman II (1980) are both pretty good films, and we all love the late 80s Batman, so a decent 80s/90s Spider-Man and Iron Man was possible.  Chances are they would have sucked (thinking of just about every other CBM made in the 80s apart from Superman II and Batman, oh and Flash Gordon) but that doesn't mean they had to.

[Edd Grayson]

And they made a Batman film and TV show in 1966 which became iconic and also serials even before that, and as far as I know, George Reeves played Superman as early as 1951. So for Batman and Superman,  lack of modern techniques for special effects were not a huge problem.

I have not seen The Incredible Hulk TV show, but I heard it was quite popular...

[johnnygobbs]

And they made a Batman film and TV show in 1966 which became iconic and also serials even before that, and as far as I know, George Reeves played Superman as early as 1951. So for Batman and Superman,  lack of modern techniques for special effects were not a huge problem.

I have not seen The Incredible Hulk TV show, but I heard it was quite popular...

Agreed.

Also, bear in mind that Marvel's big name characters only debuted in the 60s, 25/20 years after Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman first made their comic-book appearances.  By the 60s sci-fi orientated films and comics were more popular than they'd been in the 40s (when they were practically non-existent, and film noir, warfare and horror-orientated stories took precedence).  Even many of Superman's early villains were gangsters and scientists rather than other super-powered aliens. 

But by the 60s movie special effects had vastly improved so you had films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes that demonstrated that there was a market for bigger-budget (i.e. non-B movie) sci-fi fare.  I certainly think the same effects team that brought 2001 to life could easily have made a great Spider-Man or Iron Man movie circa 1960s/70s.

[Edd Grayson]

That's a good point.

And now that I think about it...although Spider-Man was always popular, even if not as old as DC's heroes, doing his web swinging AND fighting the various costumed foes with superpowers of their own was perphaps too costly for a TV budget...

And as a consequence even Stan Lee disliked the 70's show with Nicholas Hammond. The Incredible Hulk with Bixby and Ferrigno was a hit while Spider-Man was not.

There was a Japanese Spider-Man though, with a giant robot too. 

[johnnygobbs]

Do you think a 1980s Spider-Man franchise could have worked?

I think I'd cast a young Christian Slater as Peter Parker circa mid-1980s.  He has the right smart wise-cracking mouth for Parker, plus he's played bookish bespectacled characters before.

But who could have directed the film, and what villains would feature?

I'd probably favour James Cameron as director as long as he was faithful to the comic-book characters (his leaked draft for a 1990s Spider-Man deviated a little too much from the source material) or maybe someone like Joe Dante or John McTiernan.

And I think the mid-80s Jack Nicholson would have been perfect as Norman Osborn/The Green Goblin (in an ideal world, I'd have swapped Willem Dafoe for Nicholson, and have the former play The Joker and Nicholson play The Green Goblin).

[Edd Grayson]

I've heard rumors like Arnold Schwarzenegger as Doctor Octopus. Also with Cameron involved. I think Ock would've been a fitting role at the time for the Terminator.

I like Christian Slater, he could've done been a good Spidey.

Cameron's unnmade 90's film had Electro and Sandman planned for villains but the characters were not set to respect the comics... don't think I've read much else about it.

Nicholson could have played the cold and ruthless version of Norman Osborn who was not a good person to begin with.