"They were going through all of the books, and when we got to 'Avengers,' Mark Millar and I were doing a lot of talking. We were told to feel free to talk, but sometimes we were the only ones talking which can be embarrassing. Mark and I really got into a tizzy about Avengers," Bendis recalled. "It was just us bitching, saying things like, 'Why isn't it really Earth's Mightiest heroes? What the fuck is Jack of Hearts?' Then Mark, in his lilting Scottish brogue, said, 'You know, when I was a wee young lad in Scotland, I would only buy "Justice League" because I would get all of my DC heroes for just 10 cents. It was a bargain and featured some of their greatest characters.'
"I responded, 'Yeah, why isn't "Avengers" a book made up of the coolest guys? Why doesn't it have characters like Spider-Man and Wolverine?' Then a ruckus broke out in the room. People were screaming and yelling. It was really just madness," Bendis continued. "So it was me, Mr Schmucky, and Scottish Schmucky coming in and going, 'Your book sucks! This could be better.' That's not what we were doing, but there's no way that it didn't come off that way. Meanwhile, as soon as I said that Spider-Man should be an Avenger, people were pounding on the table going, 'SPIDER-MAN WOULD NEVER BE AN AVENGER!'"
Bendis' statement about Spider-Man and the Avengers did not go unnoticed. Joe Quesada and then-Executive Vice President of Marvel Bill Jemas were very pleased by the commotion.
"Chaos had erupted for a good 20 minutes, and I looked over to Joe and Jemas and I literally saw cartoon dollar signs in their eyes because they knew if something was causing this much chaos in the room, it was going to happen. This conversation would be happening all over the internet and in every comic book store in the country," Bendis said. "While this was going on, I had this vision of what the book could be, but I didn't want to do the book. I had my gigs and couldn't be happier with them. Plus, I was scared of the book."
