As superhero movies rise and fall, Syracuse comic book stores persist

A phone rang, yet entire rows of unoccupied seats at the Lincoln Center AMC theater left no one close enough to bother shushing the offender as “Supergirl” played in front of fewer than a dozen people. The DC Universe’s latest cinematic entry (the first being 2025’s “Superman”) brought smaller audiences than Warner Bros. expected, earning $124 million worldwide against a “Variety” reported production budget of $175 million, not counting the money spent on the film’s promotional campaign. Before the overwhelming success of “Spider-Man: Brand New Day”, half-empty theaters for superhero movies had become more common. The genre that dominated the 2010s has struggled since it peaked with the record-breaking 2019 release of “Avengers: Endgame.”

“In 2019, the average worldwide gross of a superhero film was around $1.1 billion, and by 2024 it was down to $453 million,” said Professor David Tarelton, the chair of Syracuse University’s Department of Film and Media Arts. “The term people use a lot is ‘superhero fatigue.’”

Yet despite the growing cynicism toward the genre, even among diehard fans, a box office bomb like “Supergirl” can create a moderate windfall for local Syracuse comic book stores. 

“I literally had somebody in here today looking for the individual issues of ‘Woman of Tomorrow,’ so it boosted Supergirl sales, mostly amongst young girls,” said Mike Longo, game manager at Comix Zone in North Syracuse. “That’s good, because it [diversifies] the demographics of people that usually come in, which are usually younger to older males.”

Longo has been working at Comix Zone for 20 years — starting at the store just before 2008’s “Iron Man” launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the highest-grossing film franchise in history — and has seen the rise of the superhero movie firsthand. The early films brought large numbers of new readers into comic book stores across the region, and even as the films’ popularity declined, the new in-store clientele they attracted have largely remained.

“With the new movie coming out, all of the Spider-Man stuff has been selling out more … so overall, I would say that the movies are very helpful as marketing,” said Victoria Dorge, assistant manager at Newbury Comics in Destiny USA. 

While a big movie provides a boost for Newbury and Comix Zone, titles like Spider-Man, along with other popular favorites such as Batman, Superman and the Avengers, continue to sell in high volume, regardless of whether their movies are well received or not. For more obscure heroes, a successful film can make or break their comic’s popularity. Last year’s “Thunderbolts*” struggled at the box office and Newbury Comics, in turn, sold little merchandise for those characters. Meanwhile “Guardians of the Galaxy,” another ragtag film featuring B-list Marvel characters, led to major sales for Comix Zone when it debuted in 2014.

Both Longo and Dorge said these lesser-known protagonists can make a significant difference to their stores’ margins. Movies are almost guaranteed to generate some interest and increase sales, though their success will decide whether a hero like Black Panther, as opposed to one like Blue Beetle, becomes a fixture at Syracuse shops. 

However as the movies have struggled, streaming shows like “The Boys” and “Invincible” have significantly helped drive sales at Newbury and Comix Zone for titles outside the traditional powerhouses of DC and Marvel. “Invincble” has become one of the biggest sellers at both shops after the popularity of it’s fourth season on Amazon earlier this spring. However the popularity of streamers has itself been a significant hurdle for the superhero movie to overcome. 

“Exactly what people are watching, when they’re watching it, you know, audiences learn to wait, and I feel like anything short of a must-see event can be caught at home within a few” said Professor Tarleton. 

With Spider-Man: Brand New Day proving to be one these ‘must-see events’ of the year and “Avengers: Doomsday” set to release in December, movie producers and comic book stores alike hope that 2026 can be the year that revives the momentum of the superhero genre, bringing viewers to theaters and readers to the comics.