Every Marvel Comic Book TV Show Ranked From Worst To Best

6. The Incredible Hulk

The Incredible Hulk TV Show
CBS

When looking back at Marvel TV shows, and just superhero TV in general, The Incredible Hulk is certainly an important and defining part of that history.

The series follows Dr David Banner, played by Bill Bixby, a scientist everyone believes is dead, as he travels across America (using different pseudonyms) helping people in need, while trying to protect his secret: that when he gets angry, he turns into the big green monster known as The Hulk.

Again, there were plenty of differences to the comics, and not just in the name David rather than Bruce - this Hulk was smaller and weaker than on the page - but it made up for it by actually taking its characters seriously, something that had been lacking in the genre up until that point, and marked a big shift in the perception of live-action comic book media.

It was a pretty formulaic procedural, with Banner stopping in a different town each week and saving the day from a low-level bad guy, Hulking out a couple of times an episode, and it does now look pretty dated. But Lou Ferrigno is an iconic version of the Hulk, it was the first real comic book TV show to not be a bit of a joke, and Bixby made for an excellent Banner.

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Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.