Too Busy Working For The Weekend To Save The World

During Thanos Imperative: Devastation, there was only member of the Annihilators that was against joining initially, Beta Ray Bill. He was busy helping to rebuild the damaged world of Navis Koana Five by using Stormbreaker as a post driver. Bill's argument was the people need help rebuilding their lives, not a bunch of high-minded ideals. Cosmo's counterpoint was there isn't much point in rebuilding if there's no one to stop the next problem that would destroy everything. That seemed to sway Bill.

What I remembered was in the first issue of the current volume of Avengers, as Steve Rogers goes around recruiting everyone, there was one guy who said no: Wonder Man. He was helping clear out rubble leftover from the devastated Solider Field. Not quite construction work, but they have to clear out the rubble before they can rebuild.

I guess the point is to contrast that kind of work with what superheroes normally do. Helping to rebuild damaged homes and businesses is something concrete where heroes can help*. As opposed to being a peacekeeping force where the job is stopping world-threatening (or universe-threatening) problems. If the heroes succeed, odds are the public never realizes it, which limits their appreciation of the work. If the heroes fail, and people's lives get wrecked, then what good were heroes anyway? Then there are the arguments that heroes invite attacks by villains just by existing, the concerns about vigilantism, the accountability concerns, etc.

Then there's also the fact both examples used a strongman type character, but I think that boils down to them being well suited for that kind of work, and there's an bit of intimidation when the really strong person says they aren't interested (or they think you're out of your mind). It gives the objection more weight, adds more character conflict to the story.

* Then you get into the issue of whether they're taking jobs from qualified professionals, and so maybe they should butt out.