New York City, as we all know, is the center of what happens in Marvel. It's a major thing that separates them from DC, which is geographically diverse but uses fictional cities of a vaguely-defined location. All the superhero action either happens in NYC, or at the very least, that's where they are based.

For example:
  • The Avengers are based in the Avengers Mansion, or Avengers Tower, in Manhattan.
  • The Fantastic Four are based in the Baxter Building, also in Manhattan.
  • Spider-Man, the quintessential New York superhero, is from Queens and the majority of his stories are set in NYC.
  • Daredevil primarily operates in Hell's Kitchen.
  • Punisher is a New York native, and operates around that area (though he's gone to other areas, even foreign countries).
  • Moon Knight is also based in NYC and patrols primarily around that area (despite being from Chicago).
  • Individuals of other origins have a high tendency to wind up in New York. Examples: Hawkeye is from Iowa, Ant-Man (Scott Lang) is from Florida, the Power Pack are all originally from Virginia, the Wasp is from New Jersey, Carol Danvers is from Boston, Hulk is from Ohio, Doctor Strange is from Philadelphia, Venom is from San Francisco etc. yet many if not most of their stories have them in NYC.
  • The X-Men is a big exception... and by that I mean they're based in Westchester, an hour's drive from the Big Apple.
  • Kamala Khan's big deal is that she's not based in NYC, but rather she's based in New Jersey, across the bay.

Of course, there are exceptions. You have cosmic stuff (but guess where that stuff ends up if it reaches Earth?), the Runaways are from Los Angeles (where that factors in their plot), the West Coast Avengers is... West Coast, Kaine as the Scarlet Spider became the big hero of Houston, Excalibur is in the UK, and Ant-Man's series took him back to Florida, and so on. But those the exceptions, not the rule.

I know some people have taken issue with this, having all the fantastic stuff centered around one location. The MCU took great efforts to diversify, to make sure the cinematic universe didn't seem small. In my opinion though, I feel like it's a good thing that works in Marvel's favor.

By that, here are some examples of what I mean:
  • Using NYC as the hub keeps everything focused and gives a sense of realism added to the superhero world ("The world outside your window" after all), whereas DC's method of fictional cities makes them feel more like smaller micro-settings.
  • It's also well-defined, which helps because Marvel has always been based there and thus they have first-hand knowledge of the place, giving each part of NYC a distinct feel whether positive as a city of hope and inspiration, or negative as a place where dreams become nightmares, because the location is consistent and can easily be both.
  • It gives a sense of community. You know how cultural stuff in the real world has a "hub", like how grunge music has Seattle and automobile culture have Detroit? I like to think that can be applied here: Superheroes in NYC. To be fair, NYC in the real world is considered the cultural capital, giving rise to a lot of things, it's what comes with being the biggest city in the country. Really, it's not that hard to believe all the supers would end up somewhere, and I doubt it'd be in Portland.
  • It also lends itself well to crossovers. If Spider-Man and Daredevil want to team up, it's easier for them to do so in NYC, while it would be a lot harder if Spidey was in NYC and DD was in Chicago.
  • The opposite end, such as having villains fight heroes they're not normally associated with (like Mysterio fighting Daredevil) is a lot easier to believe as well, when they're in the same town.

I believe the NYC is too core to Marvel for them to diversify their locations on a massive scale, and if they ever try, it'll backfire miserably.

But that's my opinion. What do you think?