Originally Posted by
Kurt Busiek
Bob Harras asked George and I to create a new Avenger, like the Vision had been created in Roy's run, or Mantis is Steve's, or the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel -- who debuted in a Spider-Man annual, but was created for Roger's Avengers run.
I figured we should create two, so readers couldn't predict which might join (though both did), Silverclaw and Triathlon.
Silverclaw came from some visual ideas I'd had earlier for Animal Man, though George didn't follow my visual ideas, and treated her more like Changeling -- so maybe I'll use those ideas again elsewhere -- but that was the starting point. I also liked the idea that Jarvis had signed up for one of those "sponsor an orphan" programs, and they realized he was the Avengers' butler and made sure he got the superpowers troublesome orphan.
You'd have to ask the other writers why they didn't use her; it wasn't up to me, not once I was gone. I assume they just wanted to use other characters.
I did want to transition her to a more superhero-y outfit once she became an actual Avengers, but at the time we were shifting artists a lot and Tom Brevoort suggested we leave her as is until we had more stability. And then I was gone, and it never happened. So it goes, sometimes.