NEW YORK: “Captain America” continued to flex its Marvel muscle at the global box office, as “The Winter Soldier” took in $41.4 million domestically and $60.6 million overseas.

The strong second-week performance for the Walt Disney release in North America was enough to narrowly edge 20th Century Fox’s “Rio 2” in a springtime battle of sequels. The animated Amazon jungle tale “Rio 2” debuted with $39 million, according to studio estimates Sunday, almost exactly the opening weekend total of the 2011 Oscar-nominated original.

But “Captain America” has grown considerably in stature since its 2011 original, “The First Avenger.” With a global cumulative total of nearly $477 million, “The Winter Soldier” has (in two weeks domestically, three weeks internationally) easily surpassed the $370 million total of “The First Avenger.”

For a superhero whose costume is draped with the US flag, Captain America (played by Chris Evans) has proven particularly popular abroad. The international appeal of such a traditionally patriot figure was once doubted.

“The traditional rules just don’t apply anymore. It’s really about that Marvel brand,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. “’Captain America’ can play in Peoria just as well as Hong Kong.”

Two other new releases opened in a distant third and fourth place.

The low-budget supernatural horror film “Oculus” took in $12 million for Relativity Media.