The Avengers were originally the Justice League of Marvel — a team composed of powerful superheroes who each starred in their own independent features.
But with the 16th issue, that changed. Writer/editor Stan Lee said readers had complained that Marvel’s “realism” was being undermined when characters fought multi-issue menaces in their own titles yet somehow managed to turn up for Avengers meetings at the same time. Always eager to accommodate readers’ suggestions, Lee dropped the characters who had their own contemporary features from the title.
That left Captain America to run the show, which now included three lower-powered recruits who had seriously sketchy backgrounds. Dramatic potential was baked in there. The world beaters were replaced by a team that suffered an inferiority complex. It became the Legion of Substitute Avengers.
Captain America was left to ride herd on an ersatz Green Arrow, a faux Flash and a weak sister who could fretfully wave her hands and vaguely make things fall over (ironically, she would eventually become one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe). But having characters unconstrained by their own features meant that Lee could indulge in the soap-operatic, melodramatic personal interplay that was making Marvel so popular. The title thrived.
“There’s something about stories that involve a team, like the Avengers or the X-Men, which really grabs me,” Lee wrote. “I think it’s because there’s so much opportunity for interesting characterization. Just think, when you have a lot of characters, all interrelating to each other in a story, there are so many things a writer can do to introduce conflicts, jealousies, romances, tensions, almost all the emotions and social crises that we encounter in our day-to-day existence. Working with a team gives such a broad spectrum of plot potential, such a colorful palette of possibilities for a comic book creator to dip into.”
Finally, think of poor Jarvis. First he’s trussed up like a parcel by Hawkeye, then he has his ropes SHOT OFF by three arrows fired simultaneously.
Naturally, none of the other Avengers even bother to object to having their faithful butler subjected to this dangerous stunt. Jarvis should have given Tony Stark his notice on the spot.
But then, the servants of crusading crimefighters have always had to put up with a great deal. Sherlock Holmes’ landlady Mrs. Hudson endured similar indignities.
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