Well every character has taken a loss at some point and they aren't infallible. So hopefully it won't be a shock if Storm doesn't solo the villain by...
The Thing was invited to be a West Coast Avenger, and he accepted the invitation. However, he left soon after and he never acted as an actual member...
Most of the time, villains drive the plot of the story. There was a great FF run, from around 195-#200 where all they did was react to whatever Doom...