Marvel and ABC's partnership on Inhumans isn't off to the best start with its ratings on par with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four. The wait is finally over for Marvel and ABC's premiere of Inhumans. Following months of criticism for the show's design, lack of understanding the characters, and even the concept of the Royal Family being relegated to the small screen, those interested and unwilling to see it in IMAX at the start of the month have now been able to see what the show has in store.

How much interest there was in Inhumans has always been a question hovering over this series. The box office numbers were fine but hardly anything to get too excited about, although the high levels of criticism also made some wonder if the negativity could give Inhumans a major ratings boost at the start. Well, that certainly did not happen based on the first numbers.

Related: Inhumans’ Failure Hurts the Marvel Cinematic Universe

SpoilerTV has revealed the ratings for Inhumans' series debut last night, and the numbers are right on par with what Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted to in season four. Inhumans posted a 0.9 in the 18-49 demo in the first hour, but dropped to just a 0.8 in the second hour. Overall, the show had 3.94 million viewers in the first hour, before dropping again to 3.63 million viewers. For comparison, S.H.I.E.L.D. debuted to 3.44M viewers, but a 1.1 in the 18-49 demo last season.

MARVEL’S INHUMANS

Even though those numbers are inline with another Marvel property, they do not bode well for the property moving forward - the numbers can only really drop. If there is one silver-lining to get from this, Inhumans still took in a decent amount of viewers on a Friday night - which is typically not a great slot for shows. Plus, this does not account for the Live+7 numbers, which have consistently given S.H.I.E.L.D. significant boosts.

While it may seem as though Inhumans debuting to similar numbers to a show in its fourth season would be a good thing, the recent news surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D. makes it clear that it is not. Reports recently surfaced that Disney forced ABC to keep S.H.I.E.L.D. around for a fifth season despite these ratings. With some already thinking Inhumans is coming dead on arrival, it could take a similar move by Disney to keep the series around longer.

If we compare Inhumans' series debut to that of S.H.I.E.L.D., there's no question that Inhumans is not generating nearly as much interest. The series premiere of S.H.I.E.L.D. drew in 12.12 million viewers and posted a 4.7 in the 18-49 demo. Both of these numbers are three to four times the size of Inhumans. S.H.I.E.L.D. was building off of The Avengers and a resurrected Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Inhumans is a completely new property, so the comparison is not perfect. But, clearly, Inhumans has some work to do to validate a renewal.

NEXT: Inhumans Showrunner Has Ideas For Three Seasons

Inhumans season 1 continues Friday, October 6 with ‘Divide and Conquer’ at 9pm on ABC.

Source: SpoilerTV