Will "The Avengers" make people go back and see Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and Hulk's movies? Probably a few but for the most part, the earlier franchises are what will make people want to check out The Avengers movie. Even the philosophy about how The Avengers came about in comics was this: Getting all of the characters in one place seemed like an amazing deal for the customer. Instead of buying Thor, Cap, and Iron Man's comics, they only had to buy one comic to see all of their favorites.
So, I'm voting for "no". Not on any noticeable scale, anyway. Otherwise, Metroid, Fire Emblem, and a host of others would have had huge followings. It adds to the notoriety of the characters but it doesn't really compel me (and I guess, a lot of people) to go out and try the games. I still have no desire to play Pokemon or Earthbound. And even the game used as an example, Starfox, hasn't had incredible sales in a long time.
