‘The Falcon And The Winter Soldier’ Finale Got Beat In The Nielsen Ratings By… ‘NCIS’ Reruns?

Despite a huge showdown that saw Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson fully embrace the mantle of Captain America and show off his awesome new suit, complete with collapsible wings, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale just didn’t have what it takes to stop reruns of NCIS on Netflix. Yup, you read that right.

According to the latest Nielsen ratings, the numbers for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier actually dipped for its final episode after mopping up the week before. Turns out the draw of an all-new Captain America wasn’t enough to defeat the country’s love affair with crime procedurals.

Via Deadline:

After claiming the crown in its penultimate week, with 855 million minutes of total viewing, the show finished the week of April 19-25 with 796 million across its six episodes. That was good for second place in the rankings of overall shows. NCIS, a mainstay on Netflix, finished No. 1.

While being bested by NCIS reruns probably wasn’t what Disney+ had in mind when it entered the streaming wars, for the most part its flagship series like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and The Mandalorian have been pop culture juggernauts, and the real test of Marvel’s massive investment in streaming series is still a ways off.

Within hours of the Falcon and Winter Soldier finale, Marvel announced a fourth Captain America movie that will star Mackie’s new Cap, and it will be the ultimate test of the Disney+ series if the show fuels ticket sales for the film. Or vice versa: The film funnels moviegoers to Disney+ to see the new Cap’s origin story.

We’re guessing Marvel is hoping for both.