The fictional character Spider-Man, a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has currently appeared in seven live-action films since his inception. Spider-Man is the alter-ego of Peter Parker, a talented young freelance photographer and aspiring scientist, imbued with superhuman abilities after being bitten by a radioactive/genetically-altered spider.
The first live-action film based on Spider-Man was the 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.
The rights to further films featuring the character were purchased in 1985, and moved through various production companies and studios before being secured by Sony Pictures Entertainment, who hired Sam Raimi to direct Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), and Spider-Man 3 (2007) starring Tobey Maguire. The first two films were met with positive reviews from critics, while the third film met mixed reviews. In 2010, Sony announced that the franchise would be rebooted. Marc Webb was hired to direct, with Andrew Garfield starring, and The Amazing Spider-Man (2012) was released to positive reviews. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) saw mixed reviews.