Film

The Death of the Incredible Hulk

Name: The Death of the Incredible Hulk
Genre: Action, Drama, Science Fiction, TV Movie
Released: 1990
Cast: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Elizabeth Gracen, Philip Sterling, Barbara Tarbuck

The final TV movie in Bill Bixby's decade-long run as Dr. David Banner. A spy thriller wrapped around the Hulk mythos, where Banner pursues one last cure while embroiled in Cold War intrigue. It's melodrama filtered through 1990s action-movie logic, aiming for genuine tragedy but landing somewhere between earnest and unintentionally campy. For anyone who watched the series or loves sincere, slightly awkward genre TV.

TMDb rating

2.9

If you liked this

Darkman1990

Another superhero origin built on pathos and sacrifice rather than spectacle. Sam Raimi finds genuine emotion in body horror and disfigurement, with Liam Neeson as a man driven by loss into something he never wanted to become.

But The action is intentionally cartoonish, and the tone whiplashes between camp and melodrama. If you want grounded superhero drama, this isn't it.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes1970

Another franchise entry that dares to end its hero's story definitively rather than keep him alive for sequels. Charlton Heston in a bleak, philosophical action film that takes its premise seriously enough to ask hard questions about survival.

But It's a 1970 film made on a TV budget, so it looks it. The pacing is glacial by modern standards, and the ending is genuinely bleak.

The Incredible Hulk2008

Edward Norton's Hulk grapples with the same curse: a man hunted, unable to control himself, desperate for a cure. It's martial arts action with real emotional weight beneath the spectacle, and it understands why the Hulk mythology resonates.

But It's caught between wanting to be serious drama and Marvel spectacle, so it satisfies neither completely. Long stretches without action if you're here for punching.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Death of the Incredible Hulk

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Eolomea1972

Both are stories about a man losing his humanity piece by piece, watching himself become something he cannot control or understand. But where the Hulk uses that as a premise for action, Eolomea makes it the entire point.

A Bulgarian science-fiction film about a man slowly transforming in isolation, becoming something other than human. It's surreal, melancholic, and entirely unconcerned with action—pure existential dread wrapped in sci-fi. Like the Hulk but as a poem instead of an action movie.

But It's obscure, slow, and strange. There is virtually no plot. You're watching someone's internal dissolution, and if that doesn't interest you, you'll find it tedious.

The Fly1986

Cronenberg's masterpiece of body horror as tragedy. A scientist's transformation into something inhuman, watched by someone who loves him. Like the Hulk, it's about losing yourself to science gone wrong, but it commits fully to the horror and pathos.

But It's genuinely grotesque and disturbing. The final act is not easy to watch, and there's no heroic triumph—only loss and decay.

I, Claudius1976

Operatic tragedy in a historical frame, where every character is trapped by circumstances beyond their control. Derek Jacobi's Claudius has the same resigned, trapped quality as Banner—a good man in a story designed to destroy him.

But It's British television from 1976, which means it's theatrical and very slow. If you need action beats every five minutes, this will feel inert.

Altered States1980

Ken Russell's fever dream about a scientist chasing transcendence through forbidden experimentation, watching himself transform into something primal. It's the Hulk myth played as horror and philosophy instead of action adventure.

But It's genuinely disorienting and surreal. The science is pseudoscience, the logic dream-logic. Some viewers find it pretentious; others find it exhilarating.

Daredevil2003

Another superhero struggling with the curse of his own power, pursued by forces larger than himself. It's melodramatic, action-heavy, and sincere about its hero's suffering—very much in the same spirit as the Hulk TV movies.

But It's widely mocked for tonal confusion and a sometimes unintentionally funny approach to its own darkness. The action can feel dated and the script clunky.

The Terminator1984

A relentless, escalating chase where the hero is hunted by an unstoppable force. Like Banner fleeing from his own nature, Sarah Connor runs from something she cannot outrun forever. Tight, propulsive, genuinely thrilling.

But It's a 1984 action film, so the special effects show their age. For modern viewers raised on CGI, the Terminator itself may not scan as threatening.

The Twilight Zone1959

If you loved the serialized emotional payoffs of the Hulk series, the Zone offers the same DNA: thoughtful science fiction, men trapped by circumstance, resolutions that sting. Each episode is a miniature tragedy.

But Most episodes are 25 minutes, so they feel rushed by modern standards. The morality tales can feel heavy-handed. And there are duds—you'll need to pick your episodes carefully.

Pecker1998

Both follow a protagonist at odds with themselves and society, hunted (metaphorically or literally) for what they are. But Banner seeks a cure; Pecker's hero eventually accepts himself. It's the emotional inverse.

A John Waters film about a working-class kid whose art is misunderstood by the world around him. Like Banner, the protagonist is trapped between his nature and other people's expectations—but Waters plays it as absurdist comedy rather than tragedy. It's what happens when the curse is reframed as just being alive and weird.

But John Waters' sensibility is not for everyone. It's camp, trashy, and deliberately ugly. If you don't already know his work, this will be a shock.

A Ghost Story2017

Both are about a man imprisoned by circumstance, unable to move forward or break free. Banner seeks escape through action; this film suggests escape is impossible, and the only path is acceptance. Same trap, opposite philosophies.

Casey Affleck as a man trapped in existence, unable to move on, watching the world change around him. It's science fiction dressed as a supernatural drama—a meditation on loss, time, and the impossibility of escape. Slow, haunting, deeply felt.

But There are sequences of pure stasis—long shots of the protagonist sitting, watching. If you need conventional narrative momentum, you will be frustrated. Some find it pretentious rather than profound.