The Greatest American Hero
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40 free The Greatest American Hero trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Greatest American Hero ran for three seasons in the early 1980s with a premise nobody else was trying: a mild-mannered high school teacher is handed a superhero suit by aliens and has to work out how to use it as he goes. The result was half superhero adventure, half comedy about an ordinary man who never quite got the hang of flying. For many people the show's most lasting legacy is its theme song, a soft-rock single that climbed the pop charts in 1981 and has been sung, parodied and borrowed by films, comedies and commercials ever since. This quiz gives the theme its due, with questions on who wrote and sang it, how it charted and where it has turned up since. The rest covers the suit and its powers, Ralph, Bill and Pam, the cast and guest stars, memorable episodes, the lawsuit the series faced and the attempts to revive it. It suits fans who watched first time round and anyone who knows the tune but not the show.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The chest emblem in The Greatest American Hero was modelled on which object from its creator's desk?
A pair of scissors
A pair of scissors sat on the producer's desk, and the costume designer picked them up, held them upside down and declared them the emblem. He was fine with that.
Q 02Which 1981 news event made The Greatest American Hero hastily rename Ralph Hinkley as Hanley?
The shooting of Ronald Reagan
The shooting of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. on 30 March 1981 made the hero's surname awkward. It was dubbed over within days and only restored in season two.
Q 03The makers of The Greatest American Hero were sued for copyright infringement over its likeness to which superhero?
Superman
Superman owner Warner Bros. lost the case. The court held that Ralph Hinkley, who cringes and cowers under gunfire, was not sufficiently similar to its hero.
Q 04The hit theme from The Greatest American Hero, a number two single in 1981, is best known by which title?
Believe It or Not
Believe It or Not is the subtitle of a single officially called Theme from The Greatest American Hero. For broadcast, the full-length recording was edited down to about a minute.
Q 05Which 1990s sitcom has a character sing a parody of The Greatest American Hero theme on his answering machine?
Seinfeld
Seinfeld gave the parody to George Costanza in the 1997 episode The Susie. Jason Alexander was told to sing badly after his first take was judged too good to be funny.
Q 06The leading man of The Greatest American Hero auditioned in December 1975 for which Star Wars role?
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker went to Mark Hamill, though the Greatest American Hero star was seriously considered, and footage of his audition has featured in many Star Wars documentaries.
Q 07What does Ralph Hinkley lose soon after aliens hand him the super suit in The Greatest American Hero?
The instruction book
The instruction book goes missing at once, so every power is found by trial and error. The aliens later hand over their last copy, and Ralph loses that too.
Q 08Which chart-topping 1981 duet kept the theme from The Greatest American Hero stuck at number two?
Endless Love
Endless Love, by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie, held number one for nine weeks from 15 August 1981, just as the TV theme peaked behind it.
Q 09In which animated sitcom does a father wear The Greatest American Hero costume and sing its theme on a ramp stunt?
Family Guy
Family Guy sends Peter Griffin off the ramp in a season seven episode, after he and his friends watch Jackass and start filming dangerous stunts of their own.
Q 10Which circus job does Ralph Hinkley take while helping bust a crime ring in The Greatest American Hero?
Human cannonball
Human cannonball is his cover in Just Another Three-Ring Circus, while Bill chases a crime ring that works through a phony dating service.
Q 11Which US network, later home to a shelved 2018 reboot, first aired The Greatest American Hero?
ABC
ABC bought the series under two executives who soon left. Their successors pushed it towards the save-the-day stories its creator had wanted to avoid.
Q 12Which agency employs Bill Maxwell, the veteran crime-fighter aliens assign to Ralph in The Greatest American Hero?
The FBI
The FBI agent is named by the aliens as Ralph's partner at their first desert meeting, and Bill's supervisor Les Carlisle is a regular character.
Q 13In which city, whose skyline opens the 1986 revival pilot, does Ralph Hinkley teach in The Greatest American Hero?
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is where Ralph teaches remedial high school students, four of whom, including Rhonda and Tony, appear regularly.
Q 21In which stretch of ocean do Ralph and Bill hunt a sea monster in The Greatest American Hero?
The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle hunt in The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea turns up a stolen-boat ring instead of the creature blamed for vanishing vessels.
Q 22After colliding head-on with a train in The Greatest American Hero, Ralph Hinkley suffers which condition?
Amnesia
Amnesia wipes exactly the wrong memories in Train of Thought: Ralph recalls everything except Bill, the suit and a terrorist plot involving atomic waste.
Q 23In the season two opener of The Greatest American Hero, Ralph joins an underdog team in which sport to foil gamblers?
Baseball
Q 14Which actor, Carrie's prom date in the 1976 horror film, plays Ralph Hinkley in The Greatest American Hero?
William Katt
William Katt found the red suit so uncomfortable that producers modified it and scheduled filming so he would not have to wear it all day.
Q 15Which star of the 1960s spy series I Spy plays agent Bill Maxwell in The Greatest American Hero?
Robert Culp
Robert Culp also wrote and directed two episodes, including the season two finale about a spy sent to learn how Bill catches so many villains.
Q 16Which actress, later a regular on the drama Hotel, plays lawyer Pam Davidson in The Greatest American Hero?
Connie Sellecca
Connie Sellecca was released from her contract when the superhero series ended, just in time to audition for Hotel, where she stayed until 1988.
Q 17Which singer took the theme from The Greatest American Hero to number two on the Billboard Hot 100?
Joey Scarbury
Joey Scarbury had been signed at 14 and spent a decade chasing a hit, singing backup for artists such as Loretta Lynn, before the TV theme made his name.
Q 18Which composer of the Law & Order and Hill Street Blues themes wrote the music for The Greatest American Hero theme?
Mike Post
Mike Post called the premise nuts when he first heard it, then asked his lyricist for words that compared romance to flying in a suit.
Q 19Which producer, also behind The Rockford Files and 21 Jump Street, created The Greatest American Hero?
Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell wanted a superhero show about real-life problems, with the powers in the suit rather than the man, and resisted save-the-day plots.
Q 20Lawyer Pam Davidson first enters Ralph Hinkley's life in The Greatest American Hero by handling what for him?
His divorce
His divorce brings them together. She later meets the aliens herself and, after some coercion, agrees to join Ralph and Bill on missions.
Baseball gives the episode its title, The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fast Ball. Crooks had bet heavily on a game and beaten up the star of the team they bet against.
Q 24Which power of The Greatest American Hero suit does Ralph find by accident just before meeting Pam's parents?
Invisibility
Invisibility proves hard to control in an early episode, just as Bill wants the suit's help recovering a stolen top-secret weapons targeting system.
Q 25In Operation Spoilsport, aliens warn the heroes of The Greatest American Hero that which catastrophe is imminent?
World War III
World War III looms because a fail-safe launch system has been activated, and the culprit turns out to be someone on the heroes' own side.
Q 26In the season two finale of The Greatest American Hero, an assassin from which spy agency targets Bill Maxwell?
The KGB
The KGB sends her after Ralph raids the archives and helps Bill close a string of cold cases, which makes Bill a hero and a target.
Q 27In The Greatest American Hero, what is the stage profession of Carlini, who seems to return from the grave?
A magician
A magician killed performing his greatest trick, Carlini apparently comes back to murder three rivals, so Ralph must use the suit to out-trick the would-be killer.
Q 28Which Elton John hit is covered by the theme's singer in the pilot of The Greatest American Hero?
Rocket Man
Rocket Man suits a hero who can fly but never learns to land, and who never gets an official superhero name.
Q 29In Hong Kong, the red chest emblem of The Greatest American Hero was likened to a piece from which game?
Mahjong
Mahjong has a red centre tile so like the emblem that broadcaster TVB titled its Cantonese dub Flying Red Center Hero.
Q 30After The Greatest American Hero, its leading man joined his real mother in nine TV movies about which lawyer?
Perry Mason
Perry Mason returned in TV movies from 1985, with the former superhero cast as private investigator Paul Drake Jr., son of the original series' detective.