Geogrpahical bias of the Marvel Universe

[Zombienorthstar]

I was just raising a point about the former Marvel Universe seeming exclusivley United States based and now with Civil War there seems a definite need to expand teams and heroes all over the world....
What do you guys think of this and will it have a good or bad influence on stories?

[static]

one of the big allures of the early MU was that it was in citites that were real! kids in newyork city could walk by the same bridge the goblin tossed gwen stacy off! or recognize timessquare in behind spidey! its not a bias to keep them mostly in the us because most of the readership is US based and people do like seeing the fantasy of spiderman swinging past your apt! talk more about how its so NYC based!

[Chiasm]

I find it amazing that for the most part the only superheroes who ever do anything of significance are based out of New York city or very close to (in the X-men's case). Alpha Flight, Excalibur, and GLX are obvious exceptions.

[innocentboy]

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[Shellhead]

Stan Lee was imaginative guy, but not necessarily a great writer. His greatest strength was his knack for marketing, in an old school carnival barker sort of way. So one thing that he did better than DC in the old days was to put most of the heroes and villains in New York City, so that they could make lots of guest appearances in each others comics, and take turns fighting the limited supply of villains back then. DC at that time had fairly loose continuity, so it served their purposes to have each hero protecting a different city, with minimal contact outside of the pages of JLA.

These days, many Marvel writers ignore continuity with other titles in the same month, except when there is a big crossover, so they don't really need to keep the heroes in NYC anymore. I think that's a mistake, but only time will tell.

[maniacmatt]

The Illuminati seem to not like the NYC thing either. :D

[Bicycle-Repairman]

Another reason why most of Marvel's heroes are based in New York is that at one time the majority of American comic book creators lived there. It was easier for the writers and artists to convincingly depict the city they lived in than some unfamiliar location.

There are a few Marvel characters who had their own series set primarily outside New York. Some examples include:

Alpha Flight (Canada)
Excalibur (Great Britain)
Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu (Hong Kong)
Man-Thing (Florida Everglades)
Ka-Zar (Savage Land)
Shanna the She-Devil (Africa)
Black Panther (Wakanda)
Champions (Los Angeles)
West Coast Avengers (Los Angeles)
She-Hulk (Los Angeles)
Howard the Duck (Cleveland)

In their first issue, the Fantastic Four were actually based in the fictitious Central City rather than Manhattan.