As it was for the longest time, the Marvel Universe could be divided into four main pillars: Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. Then you could go further into areas like supernatural, cosmic, street (outside Spider-Man), and miscellaneous. It worked the best this way, because the universe felt whole, with all areas properly represented and, well, a true universe rather than just stuff that revolves around a single team.

In recent years, however, this has changed thanks to an attempt to be in perfect synergy with the movies (which is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole). This really began in 2012 with the success of The Avengers, and while the steps to move the Avengers to the center dates back to the mid-'00s (New Avengers/House of M/Civil War all helped to move the Avengers to the heart of Marvel), it's here where it was kicked into high gear.

The problem with trying to push the Avengers this heavily is that it came at the cost of everyone else. The X-Men were shoved into a corner with no promotion, no video game or animated series appearances, and stuck in an endless loop of regurgitated stories while playing second-fiddle to not just the Avengers, but the Inhumans. God, the Inhumans is one of their biggest misfires I remember. The sole saving grace is Kamala Khan, but I've found many to believe her Inhuman connection is her greatest weakness, and I can see why. The Fantastic Four is another example, given that their title was cancelled for three years and didn't return until it became clear Disney was buying Fox. Like with the X-Men, they got quietly pushed away so they can promote the Avengers above all else.

Marvel is so fixated on events, and all the big line-wide stuff is Avengers. Sure, you had your events for X-Men, but they were on the side such as the Inhumans vs. X-Men (which was a terrible series). Everyone having become an Avenger at one point or another makes the idea a lot less special, and all the most important stuff being related to them makes the others seem like add-ons. This is related to the other media: The video games weren't allowed to have X-Men/FF just because of higher-ups not wanting to promote Fox, giving us the terrible Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite. The X-Men/FF were barred from appearing in animation as well, and that's a sad fact. The Avengers being the total focus of Marvel means everything else takes a backseat, and the characters, lore, worldbuilding and concepts established outside of them don't appear, causing the Marvel Universe to seem only half as big as it really is.

Just look at the MCU: In the movies, Spidey wants desperately to be an Avenger. In the comics, he's always been much closer to the Fantastic Four. A lot of the issue with MCU Spider-Man is that they made him an Iron Man fanboy, too reliant on the shared universe, and of course, the Avengers factor way too much into his story.

And this is another reason why I'm very excited with X-Men and Fantastic Four having their film rights back at Marvel, because it could mean the era of promoting the Avengers this way might finally end. It's hard to say exactly how much of an impact this will have, but we're already feeling it even without the MCU yet. Just in the comics, we have the X-Men getting their own relaunch with over a dozen new titles planned after a "reboot" that completely redefines their place in Marvel, and the Fantastic Four have also returned to being the greatest team in Marvel after being quietly pushed away for a few years (and we get Future Foundation, Doctor Doom and an Invisible Woman mini as a bonus). Both are allowed to appear in media again, as MUA3 proves.

I'd say they're back in Marvel's good graces. All it took was a 71.3 billion dollar purchase.

Overall, as much as I like Marvel, it's bugged me as to how much they've been promoting the Avengers at the cost of everyone else. I feel Marvel was never meant to have a "Justice League" equivalent, because they're just too diverse for that. The Avengers was the place for the lesser heroes to build their own fanbases and draw from various parts of Marvel, much as how the Fantastic Four was the place for adventures, epic storytelling and worldbuilding, the X-Men was the place where the stories of heroic outcasts were told, and Spider-Man was the place for down-to-earth action with a sense of realism. Trying to fit the Avengers as their "Justice League" just seems like a bad fit because the universe was never meant to have one on that level.

Thoughts?