‘Agents Of SHIELD’ Scores Big In Premiere, Beats ‘NCIS’ And ‘The Voice’

Agents of SHIELD scored big in its series premiere on Tuesday, notching the best debut of a new drama since 2009.

The Avengers offshoot is the first big television effort for Marvel since becoming part of ABC’s Disney Family, and came into the fall season with high expectations attached. The show had the buzz of two successful summer blockbusters and the added expectations of a Joss Whedon project.

ABC has also rolled out an extensive marketing campaign for the show, which must reach beyond comic book fans in order to find long-term success. The show focuses on the police agency behind the superheroes, and none of the popular characters like Thor or The Hulk actually appear in Agents of SHIELD.

None of that mattered with viewers, at least in the first episode. In its debut on Tuesday, Agents of SHIELDbrought in 11.9 million viewers to the often barren 8 pm time slot, making it the top network drama premiere since ABC’s V in 2009. The ratings were good enough to beat out two highly rated shows in The Voice and NCIS.

Joss Whedon, who directed and co-wrote the pilot, said he came into the fall with high hope for Agents of SHIELD, which he said didn’t fit the mold of typical detective shows.

“I’m excited about the show because it’s a very hopeful show,” Whedon told TVLine in an interview shortly after shooting wrapped on the pilot. “It’s not about murder, and it’s not about crime, and it’s not people looking into their own belly buttons. It’s about people who are trying to help each other, and that’s one of the things I loved about comic books. They had costumes and the villains were cool [but] they stood for something, and I like doing a show that does that.”

Agents of SHIELD joins two other new dramas to open with big ratings numbers — Fox’s Sleepy Hollow and NBC’s The Blacklist. Critics now look to the second week to see if the Marvel show can maintain its strong start.