Film

The Trial of the Incredible Hulk

Name: The Trial of the Incredible Hulk
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Drama, Action, Science Fiction
Released: 1989
Cast: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Marta DuBois, Nancy Everhard, Nicholas Hormann

Vigilante

A 1989 TV movie bridging Marvel's solo heroes: Bill Bixby's haunted Bruce Banner stands trial for a crime he didn't commit, defended by a blind lawyer who moonlights as Daredevil. It's earnest, oddly touching, and caught between the grounded intimacy of the Incredible Hulk series and the emerging superhero spectacle of the late eighties. Perfect for anyone who loves underdog legal drama wrapped in spandex.

TMDb rating

3.2

If you liked this

The Incredible Hulk1977

The series that made this film possible—four seasons of Bill Bixby as a man running from his own body, with genuine pathos beneath the action. The pilot alone will remind you why this character endured.

But Paced for 1978 television, which means plenty of downtime and a formula that repeats. The Hulk himself is less Hulk, more green-painted Lou Ferrigno in a purple pants.

Daredevil2003

Ben Affleck as Matt Murdock navigates courtroom drama and rooftop justice with genuine swagger. Michael Clarke Duncan's Kingpin is the opposite of scenery-chewing—he's terrifying because he's controlled. Colin Farrell steals every scene as Bullseye.

But The tonal whiplash is real. It can't decide if it's noir lawyer thriller or neon superhero fantasy, and neither confidence nor execution quite lands either one.

Spider-Man2002

Sam Raimi made the film that proved solo superheroes could matter again. Tobey Maguire's vulnerability, the practical effects, the sense that every power has a cost—this is the template eighties heroes were building toward.

But Knowing how the MCU evolved from here can make the earnestness feel quaint. Some of the dialogue hasn't aged with grace.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Anatomy of a Murder1959

Both films trust that a trial—a man's fate decided in a room by argument—can carry an entire story. The Hulk inherited its structure from legal thrillers like this one.

Otto Preminger's three-hour courtroom procedural that treats the trial itself as the entire story—no action setpieces, no interruption, just law and argument and truth. If you loved the courtroom half of the Hulk film, this is the masterclass it was learning from. Sexually frank for 1959, morally complex, and absolutely riveting.

But It's a trial with no explosions, superpowers, or even a score. The pacing is glacial by modern standards. If you need action to stay engaged, this will test you severely.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace1987

Christopher Reeve's final flight is a mess—cheap effects, fractured plot, visible studio interference—but his performance carries real moral weight. A superhero hero genuinely troubled by the ethics of his power, made on a shoestring.

But It's visibly a B-movie. The special effects are threadbare even for 1987, and the editing suggests significant studio meddling. Watching it requires love.

The Rocketeer1991

A period adventure that trusts charm and practical effects instead of irony. Billy Campbell is perfectly likable, the action sequences sing, and the whole thing feels like a love letter to classic Hollywood. Watched now, it's wonderfully earnest.

But The plot is straightforward to the point of simplicity, and some of the supporting characters are thin. It can feel slight if you're in the mood for complexity.

The Flash2014

John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen trying to solve his mother's murder while learning to harness impossible speed. The first season balances genuine mystery with the wonder of discovering superhuman ability. Shot in that specific late-eighties warmth.

But The production values are modest and the pacing uneven. Later seasons lose the thread almost entirely, but the first eight episodes are gold.

Timecop1994

Jean-Claude Van Damme in a film that actually bothers to develop its premise: using time travel for profit, the moral complications, the paradoxes. It's smarter than it has any right to be, and Van Damme is surprisingly touching when given material that cares.

But The dialogue can be functional to a fault, and some supporting performances are stiff. The action is competent rather than thrilling, and Ron Silver's villain is broad.

Nightman1997

A short-lived series about a vigilante who can hear crime through the darkness. It has the same split-personality loneliness that made the Hulk series work, with practical stunt work and a genuine attempt at atmosphere despite tight TV budgets.

But Only three seasons and it was clearly building toward somewhere it never got to. The mythology gets muddled and the tone wavers. Finding it now requires patience.

The Phantom1996

Billy Zane as a hero operating from shadows and mystery rather than power, with art deco design and a genuine attempt at adventure-serial fun. It's handmade charm in an era trending toward CGI overwhelm.

But The plot is thin and the humor lands unevenly. Some dialogue feels like it's winking when it should be committed. Catherine Zeta-Jones has little to do but look perfect.

Fleabag2016

Both are about a person fundamentally at war with themselves, running from something internal they can't escape. Both find depth by treating that struggle as real rather than as an excuse for spectacle.

A woman breaking the fourth wall, narrating her disaster of a life while courts and institutions close in. Phoebe Waller-Bridge constructs comedy and tragedy in the same sentence. Sharp, intimate, and it expands into genuine tragedy by season two without losing its wit.

But The humor is dark and the narrator is deeply flawed—not antihero-cool flawed, but genuinely difficult. If you need likable characters, Fleabag will frustrate you. And the Catholic guilt in season two is heavy.

Kiss Me Deadly1955

Both are about men hunted by systems and their own natures. But while the Hulk finds tragedy in powerlessness, Kiss Me Deadly suggests that power itself is the trap—that the only winning move is not to have answers.

Robert Aldrich's film noir remake of Spillane's pulp detective novel, but inverted—the detective is almost a villain, the city is corrupt bone-deep, and the case leads to atomic terror. Shot in black-and-white with DP Ernest Laszlo making every frame architectural. It's cynical, brutal, and astonishingly modern for 1955.

But The protagonist is close to irredeemable, the violence casual and pitiless, and the ending doesn't provide catharsis—it provides dread. If you're watching for a hero, you'll be disappointed. The pacing is deliberate to the point of slow.