George R.R. Martin Reveals the Two Classic Marvel Shows He Never Liked

George R.R. Martin has never hidden his Marvel obsession, and he talks about it the way only George can: blunt, specific, and with a soft spot for messy, complicated characters. He also doesn't pretend to love everything Marvel has ever put on a screen. In fact, a couple of the old TV efforts were one-and-done for him.

The 70s Marvel shows he bounced off

Martin says he gave the 1970s Marvel TV offerings a shot and tapped out fast. The Bill Bixby-led The Incredible Hulk and the made-for-TV Captain America movies didn't do it for him. Knowing his taste, that tracks — he's big on layered characterization and moral ambiguity, which those shows weren't exactly built for.

• The Incredible Hulk (TV series) — 1978–1982 — Rotten Tomatoes: 74%
• Captain America (TV movie) — 1979 — Rotten Tomatoes: 78%

His simple rule for Marvel movies

Even with his writing schedule, Martin keeps up with comic book movies in theaters and is not shy about calling out choices he thinks miss the point. Case in point: 2012's The Avengers. He liked the movie overall, but thought Black Widow and Hawkeye were sidelined compared to how interesting and involved they are in the comics. On his site, Not A Blog, he laid down what he considers the guiding principle:

"My own golden rule for these Marvel movies is simple - stay with the way Stan Lee did it, and you won't go far wrong. THE AVENGERS should have done that."

That comment won't shock anyone who watched Game of Thrones pull away from the books and then spiral. Martin has opinions about adaptation fidelity, and he tends to be right when he says the character work is what holds the house up.

Stan Lee was a blueprint, not just an influence

Martin has said more than once that Stan Lee shaped how he writes. In a conversation with John Hodgman on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, he spelled it out:

"Stan Lee introduced a whole concept of characterization to comic books and conflict; maybe even a touch of gray in some of the characters. Looking back on it now, I can see that probably was a bigger influence on my own work than I would have dreamed."

He contrasted that approach with classic DC, which he felt kept its heroes static and consequence-free. Marvel, in his view, constantly shuffled the deck — unpredictable plots, evolving rosters, and characters who actually changed. If you've read A Song of Ice and Fire, that DNA is obvious. The man basically built Westeros on the idea that people are complicated and the ground is always shifting.

So yeah, even a lifelong Marvel fan like GRRM can bounce off the old TV stuff while still loving the universe — because for him, it begins and ends with character. Stick to Stan's playbook and the rest tends to fall into place.