Quote Originally Posted by Matternativ View Post
True although I'll say I enjoyed the aspect of "smaller" Villains banding together to take on a weakened version of the Avengers at the time.
Absolutely. That sort of thing can be great. The problem lately is that the groups have been getting too big, and including characters who are either too powerful or whose personalities don't make sense to be working in that sort of an alliance. And then we end up with just a mass of 'action figure' villains being thrown at the heroes as cannon fodder, with no strategy, personality, etc.

Its also a problem we sometimes see the other way around with "every Avenger ever" gatherings. When done right, they are fantastic and warm the fans' hearts. But the writers and artists have to remember to make sure that all of those characters get even just a single panel to shine--otherwise they are nothing more than a face in the crowd, and the whole thing backfires on you. Instead of the fans being happy and excited to see old favourites, we get disappointed and frustrated.

Whether its heroes or villains the creative teams have to remember that its not just enough to have the faces show up. They have to use them in some way that displays either their personalities or their power sets, to show that they have actually put some thought into that character's appearance in the story.