Bruce Banner used a machine that turned him into the Hulk and back again at will. No one spoke to the Hulk that way, not even Thor.Īt the time the Hulk was not the super strong child in improbable purple jeans torn only from the knees down that he would later become. Hulk might have just said ‘look who’s talking’ but instead he told Iron Man to tell Thor to shut up or he would boot him back to Asgard for good. This time he seemed to be obeying: then the second issue came out.Īfter Loki drew the Avengers together in the first issue, the second issue opened with Thor asking Hulk if he had to come to Avengers meetings dressed in such a repulsive manner. This was the second time Stan Lee was told by his publisher and uncle, Martin Goodman, to come up with a JLA substitute. It was like trying to sell a new toothpaste by how well it stops cavities.

So like the JLA, the Avengers began with the big guns against the biggest guns the bad guys had to offer. No member of the Fantastic Four crossed over and Spider-Man did not join, which indicates Stan Lee was thinking of the big game. These were the biggest players Marvel had available. The Avengers were Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Green Arrow, Hawkman, and Atom were not included in the JLA when it started. The last two were the minor characters who existed only in back-up features. The JLA had Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter.

Both groups used the major players and a couple of minor players to form their ranks. When they started the Avengers were a direct head-to-head with the JLA. Then he decided to stay and created the Avengers. His first reply was the Fantastic Four, which was what he wrote when he thought he was getting out of the business anyway. Stan Lee was given marching orders to create a competitor to the Justice League of America. With that in mind, let’s look at the Avengers. These are marketing positions rather than descriptions of the product since it’s very possible to invent a toothpaste that does all of them. So in toothpaste, different companies fight cavities, taste good, whiten teeth, or freshen breath. If you have a new company you have to find a new position in the market. Two companies can’t have the same position, so the second company must choose a new position. The point is that when there are several competitors in a market, every one of them to be really successful has to have a position which is both positive and unique, and they have to burn this position into the mind of the buyer. So Coke is the ‘real thing’ and Pepsi has been for younger buyers, the ‘Pepsi generation,’ for over forty years. Basically, you can’t own the whole market for long so you have to associate your product with a position in the mind of the prospect and own part of the market for a long time. Al Ries and Jack Trout came up with a theory about advertising.

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