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The Falcon and the Winter Soldier soars to become the biggest Disney+ debut yet

The hype around The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was — and still is — very real.

Nielsen released new metrics for the Disney+ show this week and the series, starring Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan, now stands as the streaming platform's biggest debut since the service launched in 2019.

According to Nielsen, in the week of March 15-March 21, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's premiere episode drew in 495 million minutes for its premiere episode, a bump from the 434 million minutes of the WandaVision premiere episode watched by Disney+ subscribers.

The Walt Disney Co. said The Falcon and the Winter Soldier touts a bigger premiere audience than any of its release so far, including both season premieres of The Mandalorian. The studio did not provide specific numbers. Nielsen had noted The Mandalorian season 2 had counted more than 1 billion minutes, but that was across nine episodes.

It's worth noting that, while WandaVision did mark the first live-action TV series from Marvel Studios, buzz around the Elizabeth Olsen- and Paul Bettany-led show grew as the show progressed with its twisty, reality-bending premise. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which also benefited from all the fan love out there for its two leads, was coming off of that WandaVision success and likely benefited from it.

Another big plus is the growing number of Disney+ subscribers. WandaVision premiered on Jan. 15, whereas The Falcon and the Winter Soldier dropped on March 19, a week after Disney announced its platform had surpassed 100 million subscriptions.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier will drop its penultimate season 1 episode this Friday, touting a showdown between Marvel's current Captain America (Wyatt Russell's John Walker) and the combined force of Sam and Bucky. Emily VanCamp, Daniel Bruhl, and Erin Kellyman also star.

This article has been updated with Nielsen data on The Mandalorian.

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