Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ratings Improve; The Flash Drops Slightly

In the next six years, over 40 DC and Marvel films will hit theaters (including second-party studios Fox and Sony). In recent weeks, Marvel Studios and DC Entertainment have both laid out plans for their shared movie universes with surprise announcements including Suicide Squad, a Green Lantern reboot, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Infinity War, and more! Comic book adaptations are set to dominate the big screen for years to come a trend that has also filtered down to the television side as well.

With Supergirlshow on CBS, a rumoredKrypton prequel from David Goyer, and Netflixs Defenders team-up series (including standalone seasons of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist), the small screen is experiencing its own superhero boom. For two years,Arrowhas proven to be a solid replacement for Smallville (which ran 10 full seasons) but 2013 saw Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.struggle to maintain its viewership leading many to wonder how three new comic book series, The Flash, Gotham, and Constantine would fair in 2014.

As weve previously reported, Constantine debuted to solid, albeit not record-breaking,numbers for a Friday night show (especially when going up against the World Series) and, despite a mixed response from die-hard fans, Fox was satisfied enough with initial ratings of Gotham to order an extra six episodes.

So how are the rest of the superhero shows faring? As mentioned, Arrow is holding steady, mostly coasting on its established audience from the pasttwo seasons. That said, Oliver Queencould certainly see a boost whenthe highly publicized Flash crossover event occurs later-on in the season given that DCs speedster debutedto the CWs best premier ratings in over 5 years.

Yet, after fourepisodes, it sounds as though The Flashs momentum may be slowing only slightly. TV Linereports that this weeks episode dipped six percent in overall viewers (down to 3.4 million)and shed thirteen percent offthe key age 18-49 demo rating (which is now 1.3). To put that in perspective, the seasonpremiere drew 4.5 million viewers for a total demo rating of 1.8. Nevertheless, Barry Allenfans have little reason to be worried. Its typical for ratings tofluctuate week-to-week and the decrease could also be attributed to Flash viewers settling in for the long haul- meaning that, even if though theyre enjoying the series, they may not feel the same immediacy to watch live and havestartedletting episodes build-up on their DVRs for laterbinge viewing.

Of course, its also possible that longtime CWviewers are starting to losesome of their enthusiasm especially considering howclosely The Flash is following in Smallvilles footsteps. Mostepisodes, The Flash is facing a new lightning (as opposed to meteor rock) freak of the week andthe titular hero has already been branded withanondescript Red Streak nickname similar to Clark Kents original monicker The Blur. Even if The Flash is a better show than Smallville(as some have argued) isit a bit too familiar to keep CW viewers engaged?Thecomparison drew semi-heated debate on the latest Screen Rant Underground podcastbut well have plenty of time to see how ratings track in the coming months since the network recently gave the series a full season order.

On the other side of thefence, after hitting an all-time series low (4.36 million viewers) with the episode A Hen in the Wolf House, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.bounced back slightly this week upping their numbers to4.5 million viewers and a 1.7 demo rating. Marvel fans eager to troll DC fans will likely point out thatthe Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. numbers are normally higher than The Flash butits worth noting theseratings are still a major drop from the original series premiere (12.12 million viewers) as well as the season 2 premiere (5.98 million viewers).

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Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ratings Improve; The Flash Drops Slightly