Spider-Man in film
The first live-action film based on Spider-Man was the unauthorized short "Spider-Man" by Donald F. Glut in 1969. This was followed by "Spider-Man", an American made-for-television film that premiered on the CBS network in 1977. It starred Nicholas Hammond and was intended as a backdoor pilot for what became a weekly episodic TV series.
List of unproduced Marvel Comics projects
The Marvel Comics character Eddie Brock, an antagonist of Spider-Man, was first introduced in cinema in the May 2007 film "Spider-Man 3", with Topher Grace in the role. The character was initially intended to play only a minor role that did not explore his alter-ego Venom, but this was eventually changed to a major villain role for the latter because producer Avi Arad felt the series had relied too much on director Sam Raimi's personal favorite Spider-Man villains and not characters that modern fans were more interested in. Raimi had been hesitant to explore the character due to his "lack of humanity". Arad revealed plans for a spinoff film focused on Venom in July 2007. By July 2008, Sony Pictures was actively developing "Venom" alongside direct sequels to "Spider-Man 3", hoping the character could "add longevity" to the franchise in a similar fashion to Wolverine in 20th Century Fox's "X-Men" films. Jacob Estes had written a script for the film, but the studio was considering taking it in a different direction from that draft and was seeking new writers. Sony was also not yet convinced that Grace could "carry" the film.