Originally Posted by
Revolutionary_Jack
Not always. In fact the movies shoehorn Avengers into stories that were much broader. The original Infinity Gauntlet covered cosmic-level characters and Adam Warlock was the main lead hero.
SECRET WARS 1984 was a big crossover that didn't center on any hero or group, and its main protagonist was Doctor Doom. SECRET WARS 2015 was a FF story.
There's never been an Avengers story where Spider-Man gets to save the day or make the big contribution to victory, whereas it has been there with Wally West and the DCAU and the Justice League. There's never a classic moment with Spider-Man and the Avengers in any title and story since 2004. He's always the mascot character, the cheerleader, the jokes guy and so on. If you are a fan of Spider-Man, and that's a big community to be a part of, there's nothing to be gained reading his adventures with Avengers. It touches no one.
Ultimately having Spider-Man in a story where he's insulted and talked down to by other Avengers adds value to the Avengers as a team, and having Spider-Man consider Stark a mentor adds value to Iron Man. They get to vampirically feed of Spider-Man's great fame and equity but in exchange Spider-Man gets nothing in return.
It sucks because Spider-Man is the senior character. He was an active superhero before Iron Man, before the formation of the Avengers. Way back in Roger Stern's run on the Avengers, he had him point out this inconvenient fact:
"Hey, I'm Spider-Man, Remember? I was sticking to walls when you guys were still looking for a clubhouse, I'm no green rookie!"
-- The Avengers #236