By Bill Wine

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The superheroes had a super weekend.

The Avengers, an assemblage of Marvel Comics superheroes, not only took the weekend box-office crown with a vengeance, but set the record for the biggest debut in movie history.

The action-adventure epic kicked off the summer movie season by earning an estimated $200-million in its weekend debut, thereby eclipsing the record of $169-million set last July by the final installment in the Harry Potter series.

The ticket-selling leader of the last two weekends — the romantic comedy, Think Like a Man — fell to a distant second, taking in $8-million in its third weekend.

Rounding out the top five with modest totals were The Hunger Games, The Lucky One, and The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

With The Avengers itself earning more than all the movies in release combined last year, industry-wide totals were obviously well ahead of those on last year’s counterpart weekend.