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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
Some Assembly Required is the title of the second episode of the Earth's Mightiest Heroes cartoon, in which the Enchantress manipulates the team into battling the Hulk.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Actually, Daredevil was originally supposed to be in Bendis' Avengers, as mentioned here
. Anyway, even if it was only about introducing popular characters into the Avengers (which I think is half-truth at best, since Spider-Man and Wolverine may have been popular, but Luke Cage, Sentry, and Spider-Woman surely weren't, I'm pretty sure they were included mostly because Bendis likes them), there was no need for Bendis to do that in a way that, A) completely ignored the Avengers continuity previous writers had built, and B) ruined the characters of Wanda and Vision for years to come.
edited 16th Jun '15 8:16:10 AM by Tuomas
It was. Much like Spectacular Spider-Man, which came out about the same time, Earth's Mightiest Heroes was a mash-up of early Avengers stories and concepts mixed with more recent developments and ideas. They even got the Founding Avengers right, with Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, and Wasp. Cap only joined the team a few episodes into the run.
edited 16th Jun '15 8:39:11 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Actually, back in the 80s there was an arc in the Avengers comic where Spider-Man did try to join them, after he heard from She-Hulk how big an Avenger's salary was (it was quite big). IIRC they were reluctant at first, but they did eventually agree that he could become an Avengers trainee, but then the guy who was the Avengers' government liaison or something said that Spider-Man can't become a member, because he's considered a public menace. Of course most readers knew the story was just a tease, back then it was unthinkable that Spider-Man could become a permanent member of any team.
edited 16th Jun '15 9:16:42 AM by Tuomas
I guess then you could say that making him a reserve member in the early 90's was a way of trying to ease readers into the idea, so that it eventually wouldn't be so far-fetched if he did join a team for realz. (Which he did.) Although, I think John Byrne wanted to let Spidey have a decent stint on the team, before he just up and left the East Coast book, which dashed any hopes of Spidey being more than a mere reservist for a good long while.
To be honest though, Spidey being on a regular team still doesn't make a lot of sense. Superheroes have a ton of crap to deal with as a general rule, but Spidey always just seems to have more than most everyone else. It seems like it'd be enough to drive anyone nuts, especially Peter, so you'd think that being a regular Avenger on top of that would the point where Spidey eats a web bullet.
edited 16th Jun '15 9:56:38 AM by kkhohoho
I never got the specific complaint about him populating the team with his "favorites". The Avengers have pretty much always been a mix of more notable characters and obscure people. In my mind, Luke Cage and Spider-Woman joining the Avengers isn't anymore egregious than many of the roster choices over the years (Sersi, Black Knight, D-Man, flippin' Gilgamesh). I'll maybe agree on Sentry but that's because Sentry sucks.
Author Appeal has always factored into who did or didn't get a slot on the roster.
edited 16th Jun '15 11:11:56 AM by comicwriter
They were prepared to make Hellcat a member and she had been a superhero for roughly a day at that point.
But then Moondragon Worst Avenger ruined everything.
Relatedly, they were prepared to make Moondragon a member.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersAmusingly, Marvel is currently printing a comic about an alternate universe Captain America who rides a Tyrannosaurus.
It's the Planet Hulk title under the big Secret Wars event going on.
edited 16th Jun '15 11:48:53 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Yes, that's exactly who it is.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.But then Moondragon Worst Avenger ruined everything.
Relatedly, they were prepared to make Moondragon a member.
The Avengers were always very open to inviting random people to enter their ranks, it seems. Back in the day, Hawkeye was just some criminal and Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were freaking terrorists. The Avengers allowed them without much thought. They just came and said, "Look, we are sorry, can we join the team?" and the Avengers were all just "Sure, we senior members wanted a vacation anyway!".

There was a Spider-Man story where he broke into the Fantastic Four's HQ and decided to beat them up and break their stuff so he could gain membership.
I half-jokingly assume that to be the reason Spiderman never gets invited to be on anyone's team.
I guess that's one positive about Spider Man being isolated in the films, having him be poor and exist in the same world as any New York-based superhero team doesn't make sense.
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