The fictional character Spider-Man, a comic book superhero created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko and featured in Marvel Comics publications, has appeared in six 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 was an American, made-for-television film-special that premiered on the CBS network in 1977 (intended as a backdoor pilot for what became a short-lived, weekly episodic TV series). It starred Nicholas Hammond as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.