Published May 31, 2026, 11:32 PM EDT
Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, and conducts interviews. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His novella, The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain,** **was released in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil’s Left Hand, received the Spur Award for “Best Western Short Fiction” from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
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Fifteen years ago, we were still a few years out from the major superhero craze that hit television, but longtime DC Comics fans still had plenty to celebrate. Sure, Smallville was about to end, but that didn’t mean DC adaptations were down for the count. In 2010, Fox introduced a mid-season replacement series in the style of Burn Notice and other action-spy programs titled Human Target. Like many, you’ve likely forgotten about this stellar short-term action drama, but if you’re looking for some comic book-inspired entertainment that fits stylishly into the 21st century, look no further than this Mark Valley-led series.
If you’ve never heard of Human Target, that’s probably because it’s not DC Comics’ most popular brand. The television series was based on a DC Comics character created by comic legends Len Wein and Carmine Infantino back in the ’70s (not to be confused with another “Human Target” from the ’50s), updating the role for modern day. That character? Christopher Chance, a former assassin and private contractor who assumes the identities of those he’s hired to protect to weed out the threats against them, thus becoming a literal “human target.”
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Chance wove in and out of comics for decades, appearing in issues of Detective Comics, Action Comics, and a handful of solo series in that time, but it wasn’t until Jericho co-creator **Jonathan E. Steinberg **took a stab at bringing him back to the small screen that Christopher Chance really got his due. Although this wasn’t the first Human Target series — back in the ’90s, ABC ran a seven-episode Human Target show with Rick Springfield as Chance — the Fox version is the most memorable, and is still highly worth the binge.
Played by Mark Valley, Human Target breathed new life into the Christopher Chance character, introducing a supporting cast that added a completely different dynamic. His close friendships with Winston (Chi McBride) and hitman Guerrero (Jackie Earle Haley) not only make Chance better at his job, but help fill out the world beyond Chance’s complicated personal history. **Human Target was particularly notable for its infusion of humor in the midst of intense action and dramatic sequences, **long before that became the standard for every action-based Hollywood project. Though the show itself was certainly a departure from the original comic book series, the basic concept of Christopher Chance and his mission remained, with plenty of on-screen charisma from the show’s leads to keep fans glued to the screen. And that’s not to mention how fun the promos were.
Over the course of two seasons and 25 episodes, Human Target put Chance (and the audience) through a brand-new case of near-death, high-octane adventure with every installment. Each episode was jam-packed with recognizable guest stars, explosive action sequences, and witty banter between the three leads that you could never quite get enough of. **Bear McCreary **of Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fame was responsible for the show’s rousing and orchestral score (at least during the first season), establishing that Human Target was a serious network television drama that fans ought to pay attention to. Whether you were familiar with Chance’s DC Comics roots or not, it didn’t matter, because just as Chance brought everyone up to speed about each new weekly job, so too was the show easily accessible for anyone with an interest.
Fresh off his time on Fringe,** Mark Valley was the perfect performer to embody the part of Christopher Chance**. Always exuding an air of confidence, no matter the situation he found himself in, Valley’s charisma and skills made him stand out compared to most action heroes who grace the screens of network TV. It certainly helped that Valley had a military look about him, having served in the U.S. Army in his youth. But despite that, Valley once told Collider* *that what Chance goes through on-screen is far more exhilarating than his actual military experience. Still, we can see that Valley — who previously starred in Boston Legal — is clearly at home on a show like this, strolling through spy-like missions with the swagger of James Bond and the investigative capabilities of Batman.
Throughout the show (though especially the first season), we follow Chance as he runs from his past by trying to make a new life in the present. Since his complicated backstory threatens to put his team in danger at any moment, Chance often finds himself at the crosshairs with the assassin types he once called family, namely his former brother-like figure, Baptiste (played by the ever-talented Lennie James). But Chance is a man who believes in second chances. Having been on the wrong end of the gun barrel for too many years, this former assassin has turned over a new leaf and has vowed to protect lives as best he can rather than take them. It’s an age-old tale, but one that Human Target makes its own with a likable cast and clever plots that breathe fresh air into the action TV genre.
After a first season that exceeded fan expectations, Fox decided to switch things up going into Season 2. Steinberg left the show in favor of Matt Miller, who introduced two new characters to Chance’s team: financier Ilsa Pucci (Indira Varma) and former thief Ames (Janet Montgomery). Ahead of Season 2, Valley and Hailey spoke to *Collider, *where the former noted his excitement for the upcoming changes. “I think it’s a show that’s already started on a very interesting, very adventurous and very fun path, and it’s just going to continue,” Valley explained. The results were fairly mixed, with some claiming that Fox ruined a good thing by adding new characters and expanding the world. Others were taken by these female additions to the male-dominated show, which opened the door for fascinating new stories to explore.
But Human Target wasn’t meant to be a long-term investment. After the show’s second season, Fox cancelled the drama, and Christopher Chance hasn’t been back since. Well, Mark Valley’s take on the character, anyway. Another version of Chance was introduced in the Arrowverse several years later, played by Wil Traval, but sadly, there was no connection between them. Instead, Human Target fell to the wayside. The second season wasn’t even released on home video like the first, making it generally a tough show to find online.
For many, the action drama was swept up and forgotten, which is a shame considering how much potential Human Target had long-term. The good news is, this one doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, so the quick two-season binge won’t feel like you’re missing a definitive conclusion by the end.
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