>But, really, everyone thought superhero movies were on the
>way out again like six or seven years ago.

X-Men and Spidey have had diminishing returns in that timespan. WB's non-Dark Knight comics films haven't done as well (even Man of Steel was kind of a disappointment given the huge expectations they had.) There hasn't really been a new Hellboy type property to step up and go after that market.

If Marvel's insane idea to build a shared universe populated by their lesser-known (to mainstream film audiences) heroes hadn't paid off, superhero movies would be done.