I read an article not too longer ago (wish I could remember where) about the real reason Jason Todd was created to be Batman’s new teen sidekick. Apparently the creative/editorial team behind Batman and Teen Titans back in the day realized that Dick Grayson would be too busy on the Titans and could not logistically or realistically be in two places at once. Grayson’s blossoming maturity lined up with the readers who were growing up with him, and he organically shrugged off the yellow to become Nightwing. Okay, well done and realistic, especially for a superhero comic book. 
 
After reading that I was blown away that the editors did that back then, yet struggle with that nowadays. Using the Avengers as an example, how can the characters below be on so many team and still be used properly or have good character development, or even be in so many places at once?

The Avengers

Iron Man (one other book, Invincible Iron Man)

Thor (one other book, The Mighty Thor)

Spider-Woman

Hawkeye

Spider-Man (at least three books, The Amazing Spider-Man, FF, New Avengers)

Wolverine (too many, Uncanny X-Men, Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Force, New Avengers, Wolverine)

The Protector

Red Hulk (one other book, Hulk)

Maria Hill

New Avengers

Luke Cage (one other book, Thunderbolts)

Spider-Man

Wolverine

Jessica Jones

Thing (one other book, FF)

Doctor Strange

Mockingbird

Ms. Marvel

Iron Fist (one other book, Power Man and Iron Fist)

Victoria Hand

I didn’t realize that Wolverine was so overexposed. I mean, I knew, but seeing it listed out was kind of shocking. I haven’t checked the sales for some of these books, but the fact that they are still around and will be around in the next 3+ months shows they’re doing okay. With a little bit of security in that knowledge, could the creative teams involved maybe switch up the rosters and take some chances? Would you still read Avengers if Wolverine or Spider-Man was not involved? What if Cage wasn’t leading the New Avengers? I love what Jeff Parker is doing with Cage and Thunderbolts, and that character is a much better fit with that team. Yeah, Bendis has greatly developed Cage over the years, but reforming criminals feels right for Cage. 
 
The Marvel universe is huge, practically overflowing with costume superheroes. Would sales really start to hurt either Avengers book if the roster didn’t involve characters already used somewhere else? I know it’s very hard to accept things like Wolverine being on the west coast with the X-Men, but chilling in the Avengers tower drinking a beer in the same month. Same with Captain America (Bucky). Isn’t he in a Russian prison at the moment? Yet he is running around with the Avengers or taking part in Fear Itself. 
 
And that is the segue for the topic next time: do Events hurt characters and their solo titles or make any sense in the grand scheme of things?