Marvel Almost Started The MCU In The 1970s

The CBS version of the MCU began with the 1977 TV movie Spider-Man which led to an ongoing series called The Amazing Spider-Man. Starring Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker, the show was a rating success, but it was mostly popular with children which concerned the network. It was reworked to be more appealing to adults in its second season before CBS pulled the plug on its first Marvel show in 1979.

Following the same release formula as Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk began as a TV movie that served as a backdoor pilot for the series. Starring Lou Ferrigno and Bill Bixby, it was by far the most successful of the CBS Marvel shows, running for seven seasons. Unlike the other CBS shows, The Incredible Hulk has endured in pop culture, with the MCU even referencing it in She-Hulk. 

CBS’s third attempt at a Marvel adaptation was Dr. Strange, another TV movie designed as a backdoor pilot. Starring Peter Hooten as Stephen Strange and Jessica Walters as the villainous Morgan Le Fay, it didn’t do well enough to warrant a series. Despite its poor rating, it’s the closest to a comic-accurate take on its character, which also makes it the closest to feeling like an older, low-budget version of an MCU movie. 

The final attempt to adapt a Marvel character came through a pair of Captain America movies, which both flopped. Both were released in 1979, and their failure was likely the final nail in the coffin of the CBS version of the MCU. They starred Reb Brown as Captain America and significantly changed his origin story and characterization, making the character feel generic. 

Plans were made for crossover episodes between The Incredible Hulk and The Amazing Spider-Man early on, but the concerns over Spider-Mans young fanbase prevented the MCU-style team-up. After both series had ended, actors Bill Bixby and Nicholas Hammond pitched a Hulk/Spider-Man TV movie, and while three more Hulk movies were made, they never brought Hammond’s Spider-Man back. If the crossovers had happened, they easily could have evolved into Dr. Strange and Captain America joining for a campy ’70s Avengers. 

Inconsistent ratings were a hurdle for CBS attempting its TV version of the MCU, but it also faced two major corporate problems. One was that CBS wanted to avoid becoming synonymous with superheroes, which was part of why Spider-Man was canceled despite its ratings success. The other was that Marvel was increasingly dissatisfied with CBS and worried about the network creating new characters, which led to the creation of She-Hulk to avoid CBS owning the idea of a female Hulk. 

The interconnected universe has been a huge part of Marvel comics since the 1960s, and CBS almost brought that to the small screen nearly 50 years ago. While the campy style of the CBS productions might have prevented MCU-level popularity, a full universe with the impact of The Incredible Hulk could have shifted the whole genre. While the idea feels very modern, shared superhero universes easily could have become the hot trend of the 80s.