1 Billion Minutes Later, Agatha All Along Still Co...

Marvel has released quite a few series over the years. Although every show is not all cannon to the MCU, many have been well received by fans and critics alike. Agatha All Along, The Kathryn Hahn-led series that acts as a spin-off of WandaVision, is the latest in a long line of shows that performed well with audiences and reviewers.

According to a report from Luminate Data (via GamesRadar+), the show streamed for over 1 billion minutes in 2024, making its success quite clear. However, other less well received shows, like Secret Invasion, that debuted on Disney+ last year seem to have outperformed Agatha All Along. Per the data, the polarizing Samuel L. Jackson-led show managed to hit the 3 billion minute mark.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1 was the only Disney+ original series to reach the 3 billion minute viewership mark in 2024. The project, based on the book series of the same name by Rick Riordan, was followed by The Acolyte with 2.6 billion minutes viewed and X-Men ’97 with 1.4 billion minutes viewed.

On paper, 2024 was the year of Agatha Harkness, the centuries-old witch who took over Wanda Maximoff’s Hex-like prison of Westpoint. Agatha was defeated by Wanda, who took on the mantle of The Scarlet Witch and trapped her in a personal prison. With Maximoff seemingly biting the dust in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Agatha was free again to terrorize. However, lacking her powers, she had to seek out The Witches’ Road to reclaim her lost magic.

The Show That Out-Streamed Agatha Harkness

Losing to Percy Jackson might not be such a humiliating loss for Agatha; when you match a witch against the son of Poseidon, it’s going to be a tough battle. Though it’s not Percy Jackson beating Schaffer’s show that may surprise some Marvel fans. It’s that Secret Invasion – the series starring Samuel L. Jackson that is the lowest-rated MCU canon show to date – beat Agatha All Along with 3 billion minutes of total streaming.

The reason this might be surprising is because, in terms of its reception, Secret Invasion wasn’t very well received by fans and critics. Based on a Marvel comic of the same name, the series was aiming to tell the story of a covert operation by a rogue Skrull with plans to conquer the Earth. This was already a problem for the story, since Captain Marvel had established the Skrulls were Fury, SHIELD and SWORD’s allies.

Beyond this, however, the series – set to be a spy-thriller, a very different direction from previous MCU projects – holds critics and audience scores of 53% and 43% on Rotten Tomatoes. Even its big twist, which showed one of the Avengers had been replaced, added to the backlash. Because of the reception, it’s rumored that it may have had a knock-on effect on Don Cheadle’s upcoming Armor Wars and may even kill the project. Given all this, it could be difficult for some fans to understand how a show that was criticized beat one that performed much better, with respective RT scores of 84% and 83%.

The answer, though unconfirmed, seems simple, however. Secret Invasion, unlike Agatha All Along, had name recognition. Its name comes from a massive comic book crossover event, its star is arguably one of the biggest names on the planet, and it recruited some weighty names to its cast roster, such as Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke. Agatha had some big names, and it had some spectacular moments, but prior to WandaVision, it’s doubtful the average MCU fan or passive comic reader would have had much awareness of the character.

Though ultimately being out-streamed by Secret Invasion must be a blow below the belt, Schaeffer’s project definitely came out the better of the two in the long run in terms of fan reception. The wacky witchy series got the better response, got the adoration of the fans and a Golden Globe for its main star. And, if rumors are to be believed, fans will probably be seeing Agatha Harkness again at some point in the MCU.

Agatha All Along is streaming on Disney+.