History WolverinePublicity / MarvelUniverse

* Similarly, when the X-Men were red hot back in The80s, the cover to ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #267 prominently featured ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/{{Colossus}} rushing into battle alongside the Avengers against Kang the Conqueror, implying a team-up of some kind. In the actual comic, alternate universe versions of Storm and Colossus briefly show up as members of the Avengers on Earth-267, [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse but are killed off alongside their teammates within four pages]]. The actual canon versions of those characters never appear or interact with the Avengers.

** Deadpool has appeared multiple times in the Marvel Legends toy line, sometimes getting two figures in a single wave. Even the 2020 Venom wave, which was ostensibly released to cash in on the ''Film/{{Venom|2018}}'' movie sequel, had Venompool (the symbiote-infused Deadpool from the ''VideoGame/MarvelContestOfChampions'' game) as the Build-a-Figure. Additionally, ''Deadpool 2'' was the most heavily featured film in the aforementioned series of X-Men movie Legends, with Deadpool, ComicBook/{{Cable}}, ComicBook/{{Domino|Marvel Comics}} and [[Characters/DeadpoolSupportingCharacters Negasonic Teenage Warhead]] all getting figures. By comparison, a number of major characters from the earlier films like Cyclops, Jean Grey and ComicBook/{{Storm}} were excluded entirely.

** Like Wolverine, Iron Man has been featured multiple times in the 6" Marvel Legends series, receiving at least 8 figures under [=ToyBiz=] and (as of 2023) at least ''30'' figures under Hasbro. These also include instances of Iron Man figures being included in waves produced for movies that he doesn't actually appear in, like ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' and ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. And that's not even counting the figures produced in the other scales or sub-series that comprise the overall Marvel Legends brand. In probably the perfect example of this trope, when Hasbro later did an MCU 10th Anniversary line, Iron Man received ''five figures'' (Tony Stark and the Mark I armor from ''Film/IronMan1'', the Mark VII armor from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', the Mark XXII armor from ''Film/IronMan3'' and the Hulkbuster armor from ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''). For comparison, every other character in the anniversary line only got ''one'' figure each, and quite a few characters didn't even appear at all.

* Marvel released a collection of ComicBook/{{Thanos}}' earliest appearances after he made a surprise cameo in TheStinger of ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Even though the collection only contained two issues of ''The Avengers'' and more heavily featured other series like ''ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'', ''[[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]]'' and ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', it was still titled ''The Avengers vs. Thanos'' to capitalize on the success of the movie.

* ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} has been living out this trope in the wake of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' live-action movie. For a time, he was in several team books in addition to his own solo title, and was previously added to the cast of ''ComicBook/AvengersAcademy'' in order to help boost sales. Beyond that, he was one of the most heavily promoted new additions to ''VideoGame/UltimateMarvelVsCapcom3'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' animated series. That's in addition to appearing in ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersEarthsMightiestHeroes'' and ''[[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Ultimate Spider-Man]]''. He's also appeared in the ComicBook/IronMan [[Anime/IronManRiseOfTechnovore Anime film]].

* [[http://i.newsarama.com/images/i/000/137/994/original/swars-lores2-e8ee8.jpg?1415214988 One of the variant covers]] for ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'' focuses almost entirely on characters who either have had or are getting their own movies, MCU or otherwise. The only exceptions are ComicBook/MilesMorales, [[ComicBook/Thor2014 Jane Foster as Thor]] (both of whom got a bunch of publicity in their own rights) and [[ComicBook/SubMariner Namor]].

** Related, but the cast of 2018 ''Avengers'' relaunch by Jason Aaron and Ed [=McGuinness=] was also very obviously influenced by the popularity of the MCU, with Black Panther even being elected as the team chairman for the first time in his published history (so admittedly, it was a long time coming). Black Panther's various supporting characters like Shuri and Okoye have also taken on more important roles within the Marvel Universe, and are now seeing way more use in just a year or two than they did in the years before he got his movie. This even extends to Wakandan characters in general, such as in ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'', where it was revealed late in the series that the characters [[spoiler:Fuse and Ramone were the children of an exiled Dora Milaje member who had moved to the United States]], the use of the Wakandan mutant Gentle in ''ComicBook/XMenRed'', and Creator/GailSimone's ''ComicBook/{{Domino|MarvelComics}}: Hotshots'' mini-series, which featured a new Wakandan heroine named Atlas Bear as part of Domino's team.

* ''ComicBook/TheInhumans'': Around 2013 or so, Marvel began aggressively pushing the Inhumans, as a result of Disney and Marvel's decision to begin downplaying the ComicBook/XMen due to their film rights being held by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, in a move that was meant to lead up to a massive ''Inhumans'' live-action movie in Phase 3 of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. The TV division heavily featured the Inhumans in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' and guest spots on ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'', ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'', and the Inhumans got significant appearances in games like ''VideoGame/AvengersAcademy'' and ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes2''.

* Doctor Doom was involved in Marvel {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing of this in ''Strange Tales 122'', at the time a ComicBook/HumanTorch series. Doom's face (or rather, mask) appears in the bottom-left corner of the cover, above the caption "Doctor Doom does ''not'' appear in this story! We just felt like drawing his face!"

* The ComicBook/FantasticFour were pretty much this for most of The60s and The70s; ''Strange Tales'' (which introduced a ComicBook/HumanTorch solo feature in Issue #101, which was later {{retool}}ed -- unofficially in Issue #123, and officially in Issue #124 -- into a series with ComicBook/{{the Thing}} as his costar) and ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne'' (the Thing's TeamUpSeries) were just two ways Creator/MarvelComics tried to turn the Fantastic Four into a CashCowFranchise. The Fantastic Four even show up in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, back before the Web-head could start making his rounds (coincidentally, the Fantastic Four's own book featured [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] that same month in an attempt to boost sales for the Hulk's then-fledgling magazine, which was soon cancelled anyway).

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} of the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, virtually any character who was supposed to get their own title would either appear in ComicBook/SpiderMan first, or have Spider-Man appear in their title's first issue -- in fact, there's a phrase to refer to most of Marvel's Silver Age that basically amounted to "Spider-Man is in the third issue". Trades soliciting comics to shop owners would often carry a picture of the title's third issue's cover. Thus, Spider-Man wound up on a huge number of these, encouraging owners to feel that at least up to that issue the title would be a sure seller. In the nineties, replace Spidey with Wolvie, and it still works.

* During the [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]], ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' was a cameo in some Marvel property about once a month.

* A bizarre example was ''Models, Inc.'' The mini-series starred several old [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] girls' comics characters like ComicBook/MillieTheModel and ComicBook/PatsyWalker, but the cover of the collected edition omitted all of them in favor of the alternate cover of the first issue, an image of Iron Man and Tim Gunn from ''Series/ProjectRunway.'' While Gunn does appear in the series, it's only in that issue in a comedic backup story. Likewise, Iron Man doesn't appear ''at all,'' even though his armor does show up in the aforementioned short story. The actual main characters were regulated to the back cover. Another case is how ComicBook/MaryJaneWatson is the cover of issue 3, where she appears very briefly in the start.

* The first-ever issue of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil|1964}}'' featured a pretty blatant case of this trope, where a quarter of the cover page was dedicated to the likes of ComicBook/SpiderMan and the ComicBook/FantasticFour, Marvel's most popular characters at the time... Who didn't appear in the story at all. The use of those characters was meant to set Daredevil up as a Marvel hero worthy of being compared to them, although it doesn't make the trope's usage any less shameless.

** Like Wolverine, Iron Man has been featured multiple times in the 6" Marvel Legends series, receiving at least 8 figures under [=ToyBiz=] and (as of 2023) at least ''30'' figures under Hasbro. These also include instances of Iron Man figures being included in waves produced for movies that he doesn't actually appear in, like ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'' and ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings''. And that's not even counting the figures produced in the other scales or sub-series that comprise the overall Marvel Legends brand. In probably the perfect example of this trope, when Hasbro later did an MCU 10th Anniversary line, Iron Man received ''five figures'' (Tony Stark and the Mark I armor from ''Film/{{Iron Man|1}}'', the Mark VII armor from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', the Mark XXII armor from ''Film/IronMan3'' and the Hulkbuster armor from ''Film/AvengersAgeOfUltron''). For comparison, every other character in the anniversary line only got ''one'' figure each, and quite a few characters didn't even appear at all.

** ''ComicBook/WhatIf #8'' features an humorously awkward example. While Spidey at least has a role in the issue's inciting incident, the core plot is entirely about {{ComicBook/Daredevil}}. So the cover features a massive battle between Daredevil and the Owl... and a sticker of Spidey's face with a caption mentioning that he's in it too.

%%Administrivia/WeblinksAreNotExamples** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d on [[http://marvel.wikia.com/File:Excalibur_Vol_1_53.jpg this cover]] of ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}.

* In 1991, Marvel parodied their own tendency to do this with a three part ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' story headlined "The World's Most Commercial Comics Magazine" which starred Wolverine and Spider-Man, as well as the then-hot ComicBook/GhostRider and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Gray Hulk]], as a RagtagBunchOfMisfits brought together as "[[TakeUpMySword The New Fantastic Four]]". The issue also had another unnecessary cameo by ComicBook/ThePunisher in the last page (lampshaded on the cover blurb-- "World's Most Exploitative Cameo"), coming over pursuing a [[{{kaiju}} giant flying monster]] returning to Monster Island where the last part of the story takes place. When he sees the FF and the aforementioned "new FF" coming out of the island together, he went ''ah forget it'' and breaks off his pursuit.

* The first-ever issue of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' featured a pretty blatant case of this trope, where a quarter of the cover page was dedicated to the likes of ComicBook/SpiderMan and the ComicBook/FantasticFour, Marvel's most popular characters at the time... Who didn't appear in the story at all. The use of those characters was meant to set Daredevil up as a Marvel hero worthy of being compared to them, although it doesn't make the trope's usage any less shameless.

** The variant cover for ComicBook/IronMan issue #527 consists of portraits of every major character from Matt Fraction's run... and Spider-Man, who is prominently featured swinging from a web behind Tony, even though his role was restricted to a brief team-up in an earlier arc. Spider-Man makes no appearance in the issue whatsoever.

* In 1991 Marvel parodied their own tendency to do this with a three part ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' story headlined "The World's Most Commercial Comics Magazine" which starred Wolverine and Spider-Man, as well as the then-hot ComicBook/GhostRider and [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk Gray Hulk]], as a RagtagBunchOfMisfits brought together as "[[TakeUpMySword The New Fantastic Four]]". The issue also had another unnecessary cameo by ComicBook/ThePunisher in the last page (lampshaded on the cover blurb-- "World's Most Exploitative Cameo"), coming over pursuing a [[{{kaiju}} giant flying monster]] returning to Monster Island where the last part of the story takes place. When he sees the FF and the aforementioned "new FF" coming out of the island together, he went ''ah forget it'' and breaks off his pursuit.

** In the ComicBook/MarvelNOW relaunch, not only did he have his own title, but is a main character in ''two'' different ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' titles (''Avengers'' and ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'').
** He was a lead character in ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''.
** He was the leader of the team in ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' and the mentor of ComicBook/TheFalcon, the show's AudienceSurrogate.

** He starred in four shows at the same time for a while (The Marvel Anime IM series aired during the run of ''Armored Aventures'', and of course there was an ''Avengers'' series and the ''Super Hero Squad Show'' going on at the same time.
** In addition to another [[Film/IronMan3 live-action blockbuster]], he had two DVD films, ''Anime/IronManRiseOfTechnovore'' and ''WesternAnimation/IronManAndHulkHeroesUnited'' out in 2013.

** Iron Man is also one of the few Marvel characters who have been granted two concurrent monthly books. (Again, the movie had a lot to do with this.) For about a year, ''Iron Man: Director of SHIELD'' and ''Invincible Iron Man'' were both on the stands. This is the case again with ''Invincible Iron Man'' and ''The International Iron Man'', plus starring in ''All-New All-Different Avengers.''. When he was put out of commission after ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', two new books starring his [[LegacyCharacter successors]] were launched: ''[[ComicBook/{{Ironheart}} Invincible Iron Man]]'' and ''[[ComicBook/DoctorDoom Infamous Iron Man]]''.

** Around 2011, Spider-Man was catching up with Wolverine for the number of books he's in per month. Besides his own book, he was also on two [[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]] teams (same as Wolvie), and with the Human Torch's death, Spidey had taken his spot in the ComicBook/FantasticFour.
*** This was {{lampshade|Hanging}}d in the first issue of ''Avenging Spider-Man''. While talking about how he has very little free time, Peter mentions that he's on ''two'' different teams of Avengers with an emphasis on the "two", as if to highlight how ridiculous that is.
*** Lampshaded as well in the first appearance of Yellowjacket in ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' (who, [[LateArrivalSpoiler as you should know by now]], was actually Henry Pym with a double-personality crisis). After introducing the characters, we have two pages with J.J. Jameson praising the new hero and Spider-Man making fun remarks from the window. Then, the caption text reminds us that it was an Avengers comic book, and continued with them. Spider-Man's influence in the actual plot? [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Zero]].

** Like Wolverine and Iron Man, Spidey has been featured multiple times in the 6" Marvel Legends series, receiving 5 figures under ToyBiz (Urban Legends box set, Fearsome Foes box set, Sinister Six box set, Sentinel BAF wave and the SDCC Stan Lee), (Not counting his movie and Classics line) and (as of 2023) at least over 40 figures under Hasbro (counting all the civilian Peter Parker figures). This doesn't even include the figures of his alternate counterparts like Miles Morales and Spider-Gwen. If we included them, then he would have over 90 figures!
*** He was also the most prominent character in ToyBiz's Spider-Man movie 6 inch figure lines. Spider-Man 1 had 7 figures of Spidey himself (counting the Peter Parker figure) out of the 14 figures released for the movie. Spider-Man 2 took it up a notch, as out of the 16 figures released for the movie, Spidey got 14 figures, while poor Doc Ock only got 2 figures.

* ComicBook/ThePunisher seemed to be ''everywhere'' in the Marvel Universe in the early '90s.

* ComicBook/{{Gambit}} of the X-Men followed in Wolverine's wandering footsteps for a while too.

* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} has been appearing everywhere since the late [=2000s=]. Within one year (Fall '08–Fall '09) alone, he was granted three of his own ongoing titles (more than ComicBook/IronMan and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica ''combined'') and a confirmed place as a regular character in ''ComicBook/XForce'', given his first animated speaking role (''[[WesternAnimation/HulkVs Hulk vs. Wolverine]]''), confirmed as making his first speaking television debut (Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperHeroSquadShow''), made one of the most prominent characters of ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance 2'', ... errr... "featured" in a live-action film, and later [[Film/Deadpool2016 rebooted in a new timeline. ]]
** In 2010, there was a ''Marvel Team-Up'' between Deadpool and It the Living Colossus. For all that Deadpool actually did to help, it was basically an It one-shot. It seems Deadpool's role in this team-up was just to get people to buy the book. Sorry, did we say ''Marvel Team-Up''? Our mistake -- the book's called ''Deadpool Team-Up''. Yes, Deadpool was the star of a ''Marvel Team-Up'' book -- meaning Marvel editorial already considered Deadpool a flagship character. Oh, and ''Deadpool Team-Up'' started with issue ''900'' and counts down from there. Granted, this was a joke about the then-current release of ''[[ComicBook/{{Superman}} Action Comics]]'' 900 -- the series got canned after a little over a year.

** In 2013, Deadpool [[VideoGame/{{Deadpool}} got his own video game]]. The last line of the [[http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/07/14/comic-con-deadpool-video-game-announced-trailer teaser trailer]]? "[[LampshadeHanging Suck it, Wolverine!]]"

** In the lead-up to his [[Film/Deadpool2016 first solo movie]], Deadpool got a lot of additional exposure. There's not only a Deadpool series, but also a ''Deadpool & Cable'' series, a ''ComicBook/SpiderManDeadpool'' series, and a miniseries. Oh, and if that's not enough, the omnibus collection of the popular ''Cable & Deadpool'' series? It's called the ''Deadpool & Cable Omnibus''. Yep.

* Similarly, Marvel released a collection of ComicBook/{{Thanos}}' earliest appearances after he made a surprise cameo in TheStinger of ''Film/TheAvengers2012''. Even though the collection only contained two issues of ''The Avengers'' and more heavily featured other series like ''ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'', ''[[ComicBook/Warlock1967 Adam Warlock]]'' and ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'', it was still titled ''The Avengers vs. Thanos'' to capitalize on the success of the movie.
* Likewise, whenever a formerly B-list property shows up in a movie, Marvel likes to release a collection of stories featuring them. However, they'll often make sure to prominently place "Avengers" somewhere in the title (or at least allude to the team), such as ''[[ComicBook/TheFalcon Avengers: Falcon]]'', ''[[ComicBook/ScarletWitch Avengers: Scarlet Witch]]'', ''[[ComicBook/{{Quicksilver}} Avengers: Quicksilver]]'' and even ''[[ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy Guardians of the Galaxy: Tomorrow's Avengers]]'' and ''[[ComicBook/ShangChi Shang-Chi: Earth's Mightiest Martial Artist]]''.
* Along those same lines, the collected edition of the short-lived ''Force Works'' team book from the 90s is called ''Avengers/Iron Man: Force Works'', with those two logos being displayed far more prominently than the series' actual title.

* In yet another example, to cash in on ComicBook/{{Beast|Marvel Comics}}'s major role in the then-upcoming ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' movie, Marvel reprinted some issues of Steve Englehart's ''Avengers'' run under the title ''Avengers: The Coming of the Beast''. Beast even had the cover all to himself, something that would seem quite ludicrous after the way the Avengers exploded in mainstream popularity following the release of [[Film/TheAvengers2012 their own movie]] just a year later.

* Villains have started getting in the act too. ComicBook/TheHood and ComicBook/NormanOsborn especially. ComicBook/DoctorDoom did it before them though; he was even the first villain defeated by ComicBook/SquirrelGirl.
** Doctor Doom was involved in Marvel {{lampshad|eHanging}}ing of this in ''Strange Tales 122'', at the time a ComicBook/HumanTorch series. Doom's face (or rather, mask) appears in the bottom-left corner of the cover, above the caption "Doctor Doom does ''not'' appear in this story! We just felt like drawing his face!"
** The first few issues of the Creator/WarrenEllis revamp of Marvel's ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' have Norman Osborn dressed in his Green Goblin suit displayed prominently in all the covers, despite the fact that he does not wear it until much later in the series.

** With the growing popularity of the comic, Marvel has started making a habit of inserting ComicBook/RocketRaccoon into media, including his own mini-series being included with the first volume of The Annihilators to help boost sales, his surprising appearance in ''VideoGame/UltimateMarvelVsCapcom3'', his confirmed playable appearance in Marvel Heroes Online, and the raccoon even holds a prominent position in the promotional image for Marvel's upcoming ComicBook/MarvelNOW series, standing in the front next to Wolverine himself. Marvel has also included him as one of the four heroes on the banner of their News preview images on the Marvel website (alongside Iron Man, Thor and Nova). In 2014, alongside the Guardians' [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014 film]], he got an ongoing series.

** Most egregious is his role in ''ComicBook/OriginalSin''. Rocket shows up out of nowhere in the latter half of the series to rescue ComicBook/{{Gamora}} and the other heroes after they are left stranded by the [[ComicBook/BuckyBarnes Winter Soldier]], and then travels with them to confront ComicBook/NickFury. You can almost hear the editors saying "Remember, this guy has a movie in theaters right now!" whenever he's onscreen.
** The Guardians in general have become way more prominent in the Marvel universe because of the movie. Before 2012, they were a mostly obscure group of D-list characters with a book [[AcclaimedFlop that while acclaimed, very few people actually read]]. They mostly stuck to their own little corner of the Marvel Universe and didn't really factor into much. Now they're treated like A-list rock stars with a family of titles, prominent roles in big {{Crisis Crossover}}s, and frequent guest appearances in other books. Marvel even attempted to boost sales for lower-selling characters like [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]] and Agent ComicBook/{{Venom}} by making them members of the Guardians and then relaunching their solo books.

* Fellow movie Avenger ComicBook/BlackWidow has also gotten a boost in terms of this trope. In comics, she starred in ''Avengers Assemble'', ''Avengers'', ''Secret Avengers'', and was also featured in ''Winter Soldier'' as a main character before getting her own solo feature in 2014. In addition, she was one of the leads in the ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'' animated series, and the co-lead in the film ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', before finally getting her own solo movie announced for the MCU's Phase 4. She also appeared alongside Hawkeye in the aforementioned Iron Man anime feature, and even got [[Anime/AvengersConfidentialBlackWidowAndPunisher her own animated film co-starring the Punisher]].
* ComicBook/TheFalcon got in on this in the wake of ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', with Marvel temporarily making him the [[AffirmativeActionLegacy new Cap]] due to the sudden influx of interest in the character. In addition to his own solo book, he was also made a member of the Avengers (even becoming the leader in ''ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentAvengers''), ''[[ComicBook/TheInvadersMarvelComics All-New Invaders]]'', the ''ComicBook/MightyAvengers'' (renamed ''Captain America and the Mighty Avengers''), and the ''ComicBook/UncannyAvengers''. This was spoofed in a solicitation for an issue of ''ComicBook/AntMan'': The solicit excitedly pointed out that Sam Wilson was showing up in the comics to team up with Ant-Man just like he did in [[Film/AntMan1 the movie]], but then reluctantly noted the number of ways both he and Ant-Man differed from their movie counterparts. It ended with a desperate plea for moviegoers to buy the comic anyway.
* Around the time ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' came out, Marvel seems to have decided to pimp out the six characters featured in the film above all others, along with Coulson, Hill, and Nick Fury as the go-to SHIELD team. As well as each one now having their own book [[note]]though, Hawkeye's ongoing is ending soon[[/note]] and the above listed points of publicity-giving-ness, they now regularly appear as the ''default'' Avengers line up in any book besides the main Avenger book, with ''Secret Avengers'' being relaunched to be a SHIELD-focused team book that had the characters from the film featured heavily in promotional material but notably left out characters yet to be featured [[note]]notably, Mockingbird, Taskmaster, and Daisy Johnson, who were not only the most plot-relevant characters in the book, but were then ''written out'' to give the others more room[[/note]]. As well as that, these six, plus Falcon, now also have their [[WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble own animated show]], appear regularly in [[WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012 Spidey's animated series]], and alongside Wolverine and Spider-Man (both of whom, as noted, are VERY guilty of this trope) were the main characters of ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes''.
** It got to the point that when Marvel published their ''Avengers: Season One'' graphic novel, the artist made sure to omit ComicBook/AntMan and ComicBook/TheWasp from the cover because they hadn't yet been introduced in the movies.
** Some of the marketing for ''Film/AntMan1'' basically consists of Marvel shouting "Hey, remember the Avengers?" One of the TV spots shows [[StockFootage recycled footage]] of the Avengers from their various movies, while a trio of posters for the movie have Ant-Man standing on Cap's shield, Thor's hammer, and Iron Man's armor, respectively.
* Relatedly, the same year the ''Avengers'' movie came out, ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' was retitled ''ComicBook/DarkAvengers'', seemingly to cash in on the prominence of the brand.
* Phil Coulson is a weird example of a CanonForeigner-turned-CanonImmigrant who benefits from this. Not only did he get [[Series/AgentsOfSHIELD his own TV show]], but he appeared as a major character in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ultimate Spider|Man2012}}-Man'' (until he was PutOnABus in Season 3), was a main character in ''ComicBook/SecretAvengers'' and ''ComicBook/{{Ultimate F|antasticFour}}F'', and has become the go-to guy to use whenever ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} makes a guest appearance in any other series.

* A stated goal of the ''ComicBook/AllNewAllDifferentMarvel'' books is to avert this when it comes to team books. The general rule is that a character can only regularly appear in one team book and their own ongoing. Though it's already being played straight by Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers who is a member of A-Force and the Ultimates on top of having her own book. However, Marvel has said this was an oversight on their part and have reduced Carol to a guest character in future ''A-Force'' issues.

* [[ComicBook/CarolDanvers Captain Marvel]]:
** Marvel has been doing this with Captain Marvel (formerly Ms. Marvel) in the wake of the Marvel NOW! relaunch. In addition to her own solo book, she had a guest arc in ''Avenging Spider-Man'', is present on two different Avengers teams, and is slated for team-ups in several other titles. She was also the main focus of the ''Enemy Within'' BatFamilyCrossover featuring her solo title and the ''Avengers Assemble'' comic[[note]]coincidentally, both series were written by Kelly Sue [=DeConnick=][[/note]]. This push also unfortunately included some less than sterling examples, such as making her one of the two leads in ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'', a move that was ostensibly done to help raise her popularity among readers, but ironically led to the exact opposite happening for many of them.
** The push also began seeping into other media in anticipation of [[Film/CaptainMarvel2019 her then-upcoming movie]], such as joining the cast of the aforementioned ''Avengers Assemble'' cartoon during the third season. She was also the first new Marvel character revealed for ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomInfinite'', and played a prominent part in the game's story mode, even getting to take down the final boss with Dante from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry''. She was announced during the February 13th, 2019 editon of ''WebVideo/NintendoDirect'' to be part of the roster for ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder''. With her solo film now officially a massive hit at the box office, TheStinger for the second ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' trailer was even devoted to introducing her to the rest of the team.
* In an example with decidedly more mixed results, we have ''ComicBook/TheInhumans''. Around 2013 or so, Marvel began aggressively pushing the Inhumans, beginning with the ''ComicBook/{{Inhumanity}}'' event and eventually [[ComicBook/InhumansCharlesSoule Charles Soule's run on]] ''Inhuman''. This coincided with Disney and Marvel's decision to begin downplaying the ComicBook/XMen due to their film rights being held by Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox, and was meant to all lead up to a massive ''Inhumans'' live-action movie in Phase 3 of the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse. The Inhumans push touched all corners of Marvel as a company, with the publishing division launching a veritable family of titles (including ''Uncanny Inhumans'', ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors2017'', ''Royals'' and solo ''ComicBook/BlackBolt'' and ''Karnak'' books), the TV division heavily featuring the Inhumans in ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' and guest spots on ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'', ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSMASH'', ''WesternAnimation/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2015'' and ''WesternAnimation/AvengersAssemble'', and the Inhumans getting significant appearances in games like ''VideoGame/AvengersAcademy'' and ''VideoGame/LEGOMarvelSuperHeroes2''. Even though the company seemed to have a vested interest in making the Inhumans the next big Marvel franchise (including the big ''ComicBook/InhumansVsXMen'' crossover event), most of the books struggled to sell, even though a select few characters like [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]] and ComicBook/{{Moon Girl|AndDevilDinosaur}} managed to break out and become pretty popular (especially the former). Many fans began to resent what they saw as a transparent attempt by Marvel and Disney to replace the X-Men with a bunch of {{Suspiciously Similar Substitute}}s. Things only got worse when the planned ''Inhumans'' movie was dropped by Marvel Studios, leading instead to an ill-advised [[Series/{{Inhumans}} live-action series]] that was panned by critics and cancelled after just one season. The failure of the TV show, coupled with Disney later enacting plans to purchase Fox (and thus regain the X-Men's film rights, which eventually happened in 2019) led to Marvel rolling back its push of the Inhumans, with the franchise itself essentially placed on hiatus after the ''Death of the Inhumans'' mini-series.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Not only was she promptly given the Wolverine treatment, appearing in team titles, her own minis, a couple ongoings, and countless guest appearances, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose justification for how she manages to be in two places at once. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so they brought her back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. Then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men titles: the clone goes by Wolverine II while the original one is Talon.

** Related, but the cast of 2018 ''Avengers'' relaunch by Jason Aaron and Ed [=McGuinness=] was also very obviously influenced by the popularity of the MCU, with Black Panther even being elected as the team chairman for the first time in his published history (so admittedly, it was a long time coming). Black Panther's various supporting characters like ComicBook/{{Shuri}} and Okoye have also taken on more important roles within the Marvel Universe, and are now seeing way more use in just a year or two than they did in the years before he got his movie. This even extends to Wakandan characters in general, such as in ''ComicBook/WestCoastAvengers2018'', where it was revealed late in the series that the characters [[spoiler:Fuse and Ramone were the children of an exiled Dora Milaje member who had moved to the United States]], the use of the Wakandan mutant Gentle in ''ComicBook/XMenRed'', and Creator/GailSimone's ''ComicBook/{{Domino|MarvelComics}}: Hotshots'' mini-series, which featured a new Wakandan heroine named Atlas Bear as part of Domino's team.

* During the [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze]] [[TheSeventies Age]], ''ComicBook/GhostRider'' was a cameo in some Marvel property about once a month.

* The ComicBook/FantasticFour were pretty much this for most of TheSixties and TheSeventies; ''Strange Tales'' (which introduced a ComicBook/HumanTorch solo feature in Issue #101, which was later {{retool}}ed -- unofficially in Issue #123, and officially in Issue #124 -- into a series with ComicBook/{{the Thing}} as his costar) and ''ComicBook/MarvelTwoInOne'' (the Thing's TeamUpSeries) were just two ways Creator/MarvelComics tried to turn the Fantastic Four into a CashCowFranchise. The Fantastic Four even show up in ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #1, back before the Web-head could start making his rounds (coincidentally, the Fantastic Four's own book featured [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk the Hulk]] that same month in an attempt to boost sales for the Hulk's then-fledgling magazine, which was soon cancelled anyway).
* Parodied in ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' #27, which was released when the ComicBook/XMen craze of TheNineties hadn't yet cooled. [[ComicBook/WarrenWorthingtonIII Archangel]] is featured on the cover, with a blurb asking if he'll join the Thunderbolts as their newest member, only for a second blurb at the bottom to state "Nah, he's only a guest star... But doesn't he look cool on this cover?"
* Similarly, when the X-Men were red hot back in TheEighties, the cover to ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' #267 prominently featured ComicBook/{{Storm}} and ComicBook/{{Colossus}} rushing into battle alongside the Avengers against Kang the Conqueror, implying a team-up of some kind. In the actual comic, alternate universe versions of Storm and Colossus briefly show up as members of the Avengers on Earth-267, [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse but are killed off alongside their teammates within four pages]]. The actual canon versions of those characters never appear or interact with the Avengers.

* The first-ever issue of ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'' featured a pretty blatant case of this trope, where a quarter of the cover page was dedicated to the likes of Franchise/SpiderMan and the ComicBook/FantasticFour, Marvel's most popular characters at the time... Who didn't appear in the story at all. The use of those characters was meant to set Daredevil up as a Marvel hero worthy of being compared to them, although it doesn't make the trope's usage any less shameless.

** In 2010, there was a ''Marvel Team-Up'' between Deadpool and It the Living Colossus. For all that Deadpool actually did to help, it was basically an It one-shot. It seems Deadpool's role in this team-up was just to get people to buy the book. Sorry, did we say ''Marvel Team-Up''? Our mistake -- the book's called ''Deadpool Team-Up''. Yes, Deadpool was the star of a ''Marvel Team-Up'' book -- meaning Marvel editorial already considered Deadpool a flagship character. Oh, and ''Deadpool Team-Up'' started with issue ''900'' and counts down from there. Granted, this was a joke about the then-current release of ''[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Action Comics]]'' 900 -- the series got canned after a little over a year.

* Similarly, when the X-Men were red hot back in TheEighties, the cover to ''Comicbook/TheAvengers'' #267 prominently featured Comicbook/{{Storm}} and Comicbook/{{Colossus}} rushing into battle alongside the Avengers against Kang the Conqueror, implying a team-up of some kind. In the actual comic, alternate universe versions of Storm and Colossus briefly show up as members of the Avengers on Earth-267, [[ExpendableAlternateUniverse but are killed off alongside their teammates within four pages]]. The actual canon versions of those characters never appear or interact with the Avengers.

** Although it hit new levels with the movie, Iron Man's wide publicity in the comics began a bit earlier with ''ComicBook/CivilWar''. Tony was the face of superhero registration, and as such he appeared in almost every Civil War tie-in, often seeming to be everywhere at once -- and serving whatever political purpose [[WriterOnBoard each writer wanted]].

** While it's not as bad as Wolverine and Iron Man, Spidey has been featured multiple times in the 6" Marvel Legends series, receiving 5 figures under ToyBiz (Not counting his movie and Classics line) and (as of 2023) at least over 40 figures under Hasbro. This doesn't even include the figures of his alternate counterparts like Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Superior Spider-Man, Silk, Ben Reilly, Takuya Yamashiro, Ashley Barton, Spinneret and Spider-Woman Jessica Drew, if we included them, then he will have over 90 figures!
*** He was also the most prominent character in ToyBiz's Spider-Man movie 6 inch figure lines. Spider-Man 1 had 7 figures of Spidey himself (counting the Peter Parker figure) while Spider-Man 2 took it up a notch. Spidey got 14 figures, while poor Doc Ock only got 2 figures.
***

** Like Wolverine and Iron Man, Spidey has been featured MULTIPLE times in the 6" Marvel Legends series, receiving 5 figures under ToyBiz (Not counting his movie and Classics line) and (as of 2023) at least over 70 figures under Hasbro (including alternate versions like Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Superior Spider-Man, Silk, Ben Reilly, Takuya Yamashiro, Ashley Barton, Spinneret and Spider-Woman Jessica Drew).
** He was also the most prominent character in ToyBiz's Spider-Man movie 6 inch figure lines. Spider-Man 1 had 7 figures of Spidey himself (counting the Peter Parker figure) while Spider-Man 2 took it up a notch. Spidey got 14 figures, while poor Doc Ock only got 2.

* To cash in on the ''Film/CaptainMarvel'' movie, Marvel collected a mishmash of various stories featuring Kree characters like Ronan the Accuser and Dr. Minerva under the title ''Captain Marvel: Starforce''. This is despite the fact that none of the stories in the collection actually feature Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, as they were all published decades before she started using that name. In fact, because Danvers is now best known to the mainstream public as Captain Marvel because of the MCU, even some of her old ''ComicBook/MsMarvel'' stories have been republished under that name. For instance, Brian Reed's 2006-2010 ''Ms. Marvel'' run was collected as ''Captain Marvel: The Ms. Marvel Years''.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Not only was she promptly given the Wolverine treatment, appearing in team titles, her own minis, a couple ongoings, and countless guest appearances, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose justification for how she manages to be in two places at once. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so they brought her back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. Then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men titles: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Not only was she promptly given the Wolverine treatment, appearing in team titles, her own minis, a couple ongoings, and countless guest appearances, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so they brought her back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. Then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Not only was she promptly given the Wolverine treatment, appearing in team titles, her own minis, a couple ongoings, and countless guest appearances, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so they brought het back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. Then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Not only was she promptly given the Wolverine treatment, appearing in team titles, her own minis, a couple ongoings, and countless guest appearances, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. Use of the character was kept to reasonable levels (for a literal Wolverine clone) for several years, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. For years, use of the character was kept to reasonable levels, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' when ExecutiveMeddling demanded more Wolverine but the animators wanted to keep the series focused on the teen cast, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. At first, use of the character was kept to reasonable levels, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die, but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] has a...complicated relationship with this trope. She was introduced in the cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/XMenEvolution'' as an alternative to putting lopsided focus on Wolverine per ExecutiveMeddling, but she was popular enough with fans to be [[CanonImmigrant brought into the comics]]. At first, use of the character was kept to reasonable levels, but then she was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's female clone/adopted daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The ladies meet once and agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: the original goes by Wolverine II while the new one is Fang.

* Wolverine's female clone/adopted daughter [[ComicBook/{{X23}} Laura Kinney]] was given perhaps the most on-the-nose lampshading of this trope possible. First she appeared to die but the X-Men couldn't recover her body, so she was brought back to life in a cloned body with backup memories per their resurrection protocols. But then the ''original'' Laura turned up alive and well. The two ladies meet once only to agree to avoid each other, and thus there are now two Laura Kinneys active in the X-Men books: one goes by Wolverine II while the other is Fang.