Supergirl had a very strong debut in the overnight ratings Monday night, scoring higher numbers than any other new show has begun with this fall and the most viewers any comic book-based TV show has debuted with this century.

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12.94 million viewers tuned in for the debut episode according to TVBytheNumbers , with the show posting a 3.2 rating.Airing on CBS, Supergirl easily outdid any other recent/current DC Comics TV show in viewership for a premiere episode -- or any episode they’ve ever aired -- with those 12.94 million viewers. By comparison, FOX's Gotham’s first episode in 2014 had 8.2 million viewers, while The Flash on CW had 4.83 million and Constantine on NBC 4.28 million when they debuted in 2014 as well. In 2012, the CW's Arrow began with 4.14 million viewers.In an unusual situation, Supergirl airs against fellow DC adaptation Gotham. Last night's Gotham had 4.3 million viewers, meaning Supergirl's audience was triple the size.The most viewers for the debut of a a comic book-show based series in the past decade had been Agents of SHIELD, which had 12.12 million viewers in 2013, which has now been surpassed by Supergirl. Of course, the highest rated comic book-based series overall is The Walking Dead, which began with 5.35 million viewers for its first episode in 2010 and saw that number skyrocket since, with the show reaching over 17 million viewers at its peak.

Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman , IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman