Avengers is doing extremely well right now. It'll make a billion dollars worldwide, no question, but that 3D money definitely helped.
Here's the thing though. The Dark Knight is legendary. We all knew that Avengers was going to be huge; Marvel spent 4+ years marketing, developing and creating origin stories for its most popular characters leading up to this moment. But The Dark Knight was never pegged to by anything but a successful follow-up to a well-received reboot by an up-and-coming director. Maybe it was Heath Ledger, maybe it was the paltry line-up in Summer 2008, maybe it was the stellar reviews (Avengers has gotten largely positive reviews, but The Dark Knight was legitimately pegged as an Oscar contender) whatever it was, it skyrocketed Dark Knight into pop culture phenomenon territory.
Will The Dark Knight Rises exceed what the previous film made? Not sure- second sequels usually see less retainment than immediate sequels. But pegging this as the "final" Batman tale, the follow-up that fans have been waiting for 4 years to see, that should help. Will it become legendary like its predecessor? Won't bet against it. If Christopher Nolan can make a largely introspective, dense psychological thriller with only one proven star & a completely original property and ride it to over $800 million worldwide, what makes you think that the biggest, most popular superhero of all time won't make history?
EDIT: Sorry, wanted to add a bit more to this. Iron Man is the most popular non-Spider-Man film in the Marvel line-up. Even though Hulk is considered a more popular comic book hero, his two films have more or less disappointed at the box office, with both Thor and Captain America outselling them handily, even adjusted for inflation, though the latter two films didn't even make as much as Batman Begins did way back in 2005, without those pesky 3D prices. The whole Avengers films from 2008 on are clearer in our minds, but the fact of the matter is that Batman is much more popular, straight up. Iron Man has his buddies backing him up, but if we just base their popularity with how their films did, Dark Knight made more than Incredible Hulk, Captain America & Thor COMBINED. So you kinda can't really make the assumption that the audience is less familiar with Batman's films as they are with the Avengers' solo efforts.
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