I mean, after all, this film was made by a pair who thinks Superman's too powerful to make a good movie about him, but found it within themselves to make this double-header which, between the two films, combines the might of Thor, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, War Machine, as well as a number of less-powerful Marvel heroes.
But anyway, before I can begin, I have to reveal a spoiler.
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Everyone who "dies" at the end of the last one by crumbling into sand and vanishing comes back from the dead. Yes, including Spider-Man, which is a real surprise, I know. But there he is, in the final battle.
And now, the comic book orthodoxy has a bit of a conundrum on their hands. One of the talking points in the subculture of comic book know-it-alls is that my beloved death and return of Superman "ruined comics forever," by showing that a hero could die, but then come back. Of course, this had been done in comics, movies and animation before, but it didn't matter: somehow, once again, it was all Superman's fault, or at-least the people who were writing the material. And, of course, the people making this complaint could have done a far better job.
And yet, here we are in 2019, we've got Avengers: Endgame in which a veritable army of superheroes returns from the dead. In fact, this might even be literal: how many of Black Panther's forces bit the big one? Eh, whatever. The point is that Spider-Man, Black Panther, Falcon, Scarlet Witch... they are all fine and dandy.
Now, let's be honest: nobody is surprised. This movie was selling so many tickets before it hit the screens that people were actually scalping tix on eBay. I don't think that's ever even happened before for a movie. And yet, who predicted that this wouldn't happen? And if there was any doubt at all, the Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer pretty much cemented the fact that, at the very least, Marvel's most famous hero would be back.
And yet, according to the fandom orthodoxy, this same idea: "let's kill off a famous superhero," is what "ruined comics" thanks to Superman.
Of course, the movie just came out, so if it does suddenly plummet in ticket sales next week, beyond what anyone would expect, maybe I'm wrong. Of course, even if that's the case, we'll have to see how other movies do. Superhero films, non-superhero films. But I don't think that'll happen. Yes, "Endgame" will be the top film of the year, no question about it, but if it continues to sell tickets, I don't think the dynamic was that people stopped going to the movies because this movie made people lose faith in unrelated movies.
And that's what we have to look at with Reign of the Supermen. While it wasn't as big as the death issue, the simple fact is that before the death issue, Superman wasn't selling well. After the death issue, his comic sales improved for a while, something that can be confirmed by reading Wizard mags from the period.
Even if that weren't the case, did people expect him to be gone forever? Maybe some people, but if so, would that mean they couldn't bring him back in another comic "universe?" Or in a movie? Or on TV? After all, this was set in motion because Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman was in the works.
Then there's the question of why that issue would effect what was going on in other comics. This had happened before in the X-Men with Jean Grey. Yet, their sales were high after that event and, by the early '90s, they were the kings of comics. Then there was Spawn. He was popular in comics at the time and his whole origin is that he was killed and brought back to life as a demonic figure.
The narrative of Reign of the Supermen killing comics is simply tripe. Avengers: Endgame looks like another example of WHY it's tripe.
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