Abilities and Flagship

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

So I was thinking about how strong and necessary Spider-Man is shown in events and in some of the games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Marvel vs Capcom
Do you think who would have been needed this much? Or as strong and skilled as they made him to be if he was not the flagship character of Marvel since he was relatively new back in the 60s after the end of the Ditko era?

I think about the abilities of the Flash in comparison, Flash is possibly one of the most powerful characters in the DC Universe, and his abilities are usually downplayed in events and in several of Justice League stories, same thing kinda happens with any Green Lantern that is not Hal Jordan

[Mister Mets]

It's complicated.

For video games, popularity matters. Famous street-level characters are in the same game as the likes of Thor, Iron Man and Storm, performing the same roles. Marvel VS Capcom 3 isn't going to make Doctor Doom significantly tougher than Spider-Man, even if that fits the comics better.

In a team-up, raw power isn't as essential. Spider-Man's skills come in handy in many ways, and it's been happening since Marvel Team-Up.

[Vegeta]

So I was thinking about how strong and necessary Spider-Man is shown in events and in some of the games like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and Marvel vs Capcom
Do you think who would have been needed this much? Or as strong and skilled as they made him to be if he was not the flagship character of Marvel since he was relatively new back in the 60s after the end of the Ditko era?

Well even before he was considered the flagship character back in the 60's you see that Stan and the other writers back in those days often depicted Spidey as easily being able to hold his own against the other heroes of the day. Spidey walloped the entire roster X-Men a couple of times, and a robot duplicate created by Kang even defeated the Avengers (Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Pym and Wasp) the only reason they weren't destroyed was because the real Spidey happened upon the scene and took down the robot for them. These events didn't happen in Amazing
mind you, it happened in each teams respective title. So if you were an Avengers fan back in the 60's, you were probably slightly pissed that your heroes couldn't defeat one lone Spider-Man robot, as decreed by Stan himself. Even the Fantastic Four marveled at his abilities. "If a teenager can be so blamed strong, how strong'll he be when he gets older?"

But honestly, in most events (Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War, etc.) Spidey is rarely one of the major players in the resolution of the conflict (It's usually Cap, one of the science guys like Reed Richards, or some cosmic space "god" like Adam Warlock leading the charge and saving the day.) He gets some page time mostly because he's super popular and can be the "everyman" thrust into a "bigger than life situation" whose just trying to wrap his head around it, proxy for the readers.

[Huntsman Spider]

Well even before he was considered the flagship character back in the 60's you see that Stan and the other writers back in those days often depicted Spidey as easily being able to hold his own against the other heroes of the day. Spidey walloped the entire roster X-Men a couple of times, and a robot duplicate created by Kang even defeated the Avengers (Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Pym and Wasp) the only reason they weren't destroyed was because the real Spidey happened upon the scene and took down the robot for them. These events didn't happen in Amazing
mind you, it happened in each teams respective title. So if you were an Avengers fan back in the 60's, you were probably slightly pissed that your heroes couldn't defeat one lone Spider-Man robot, as decreed by Stan himself. Even the Fantastic Four marveled at his abilities. "If a teenager can be so blamed strong, how strong'll he be when he gets older?"

But honestly, in most events (Secret Wars, Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War, etc.) Spidey is rarely one of the major players in the resolution of the conflict (It's usually Cap, one of the science guys like Reed Richards, or some cosmic space "god" like Adam Warlock leading the charge and saving the day.) He gets some page time mostly because he's super popular and can be the "everyman" thrust into a "bigger than life situation" whose just trying to wrap his head around it, proxy for the readers.

And even in those, he actually gets a few decent showings just to remind us all that he is someone to be taken seriously. In Secret Wars, he thrashes the hell out of the new super-villainess Titania, high on having defeated She-Hulk (it was a gang-beating, so she doesn't deserve that much credit), using sheer speed and skill to get the better of her and keep out of her range while darting in and out to strike again and again, and it's such a bad beatdown she's arachnophobic for years in both real-time and comic-time. In Civil War, he holds his own against Iron Man once he chooses to side against registration and before that would've easily trounced Captain America if he hadn't been so conflicted about fighting against him, not to mention that in the final showdown, he thrashes several pro-registration heroes (and villains recruited by the pro-registration heroes) in the space of seconds if you count those panels as all happening right after one another. While Spider-Man may not be the focal point of most big events or their resolution, he does handle himself quite well despite his own misgivings and the underestimation of his (often) considerably stronger foes.

[Heasensy32]

In his own media. He can beat the breaks outta anyone in the marvel hero roster or villian. Spidey needs to be needed and gimped due to star power reasons because marvel events would make the Avengers and xmen useless while Spider-man could defeat all the bad guys himself.

[Huntsman Spider]

In his own media. He can beat the breaks outta anyone in the marvel hero roster or villian. Spidey needs to be needed and gimped due to star power reasons because marvel events would make the Avengers and xmen useless while Spider-man could defeat all the bad guys himself.

Bit of an exaggeration, but it's awesomely funny, so I'll go with it, anyway.

"The Phoenix Force has been reborn and is coming for us!"

"Send Spider-Man."

"What!?"

"You heard me. Send Spider-Man. The Phoenix won't know what hit it."

"Galactus is gonna eat us all!"

"Send Spider-Man."

"WHAT!?"

"You heard me. Send Spider-Man. He'll take care of Galactus."

"Apocalypse is upon us! RUN FOR YOUR NO-GOOD LIVES!"

"Eh, whatever. Send Spider-Man."

"What!?"

"Yes, you heard right. Send Spider-Man. Apocalypse won't know what hit him."

"THANOS IS GOING TO SACRIFICE US ALL TO DEATH!"

"You know the drill by now."

"SPIDER-MAN?!"

"Yes. Get him. Now."

[Speed Force League Unlimited]

These are all interesting answers
And I love the "send Spider-Man for the job", reminds me of his day dream in Amazing Spider-Man 246