Anthony Bergamini
Christopher Chance, the Human Target, was created by comic book writer Len Wein and artist Carmine Infantino, first appearing in Action Comics #419 in 1972. Chance took on unusual jobs where he disguised himself as his clients, making himself the target of any attacks against them. Because of this unique line of work, Chance walked a fine line between hero and villain, generally siding with good when the pay was right. While the character saw some success in his early stories, it wasn’t until Peter Milligan revived him under DC’s Vertigo imprint in 1999 that he gained substantial recognition. However, before that revival, Hollywood had already taken a shot at adapting the concept.
In 1992, the short-lived Human Target TV series premiered on ABC, starring musician Rick Springfield as the titular character. The series stayed fairly true to the central premise but made several changes to suit a television audience. Notably, it introduced a supporting cast, Philo Marsden, Jeff Carlyle, and Libby Page, who added levity to the show’s serious tone. Chance and his team operated out of a large aircraft called the Blackwing, equipped with advanced technology to aid in his missions. These elements felt very “built for TV,” designed to support a procedural format. The episodic structure benefited from these recurring features, ensuring that Springfield wasn’t carrying the show entirely on his own.
One of the show’s strangest aspects was how it used Springfield in the lead role. Since the premise required Chance to fully disguise himself as his clients, audiences often didn’t see Springfield at all when Chance was on a mission. Instead, the actor portraying the client had to pull double duty, playing both their own role and Chance impersonating them. This approach often led to confusion and muddled performances. Viewers expecting to see Springfield as the central figure were left disappointed, as he only appeared in a handful of scenes.
The pilot episode also highlighted a frustrating inconsistency. The entire premise is built on Chance’s total immersion into his client’s personal and public life, even fooling their families. In the pilot, he stresses to his client that he must sell the disguise to the client’s wife and child or risk blowing the mission. Yet later in the same episode, he breaks character and reveals his true identity to the wife. For someone who makes a living this way, such a lapse undercuts the believability of the premise. By contrast, the comics emphasize Chance’s extreme dedication to maintaining his cover, something the show handled less convincingly.
One of the cleverest aspects of the comic, where readers only later discover that Chance had been the character they were following all along, was largely absent from the series. The pilot briefly toyed with this idea, opening with Chance disguised as a priest, but quickly abandoned it. Had the show leaned more into this narrative trick, it might have captured the wit and unpredictability that made the comic so engaging, possibly extending its lifespan beyond a single season.
It’s worth noting that this was not the only Human Target TV adaptation. The character returned in 2010 with a new series that abandoned the disguise element entirely. Instead of becoming his clients, Chance integrated himself into their lives directly. While this version lasted longer than the 1992 show, critics argued that it strayed too far from the original premise. The character has also appeared in other media, most notably in the CW’s Arrow, where his portrayal came closest to the comic’s spirit, convincingly fooling both characters and viewers alike when he impersonated Oliver Queen.
