One thing I like about the Marvel and DC universes is that even though there's a hierarchy, the big-time heroes and villains and the street-level types, almost any can beat any other character on any given day. The advantage of the shared universe concept, I guess. Decades of different writers and artists working in the same sandbox. Each with their favorites, or their axes to grind, or whatever.
So you end up with a situation where yes, Spider-Man has lost to Stilt-Man - twice! - but he's also beaten the Firelord and stopped the unstoppable Juggernaut. Good day for him, or bad day for Cain Marko, doesn't matter, it happened. And heck, the next time Spidey sees the Juggernaut, he might get trounced
Even if when there's Jim Starlin insisting that Thanos totally never lost ever to anyone other than himself or Adam Warlock, no way, or Jeph Loeb creating the Red Hulk who can beat up everyone, there's gonna be another writer later on that's going to, restore equilibrium, let's say.
It's something I was thinking about in contrast to shonen anime, another thing I generally enjoy. The problem there is the hierarchy is much more rigid. There are boss villains, and they are basically only going to lose to the main character. Krillin and Yamcha are never gonna get to beat the planet-threatening menace of the moment. The best they can hope for is maybe they get to score one good hit.
I sorta touched on this, jeez, fourteen years ago, but I like the notion that if the Big Hero isn't there, the others will find a way to save the day without them. And with Marvel or DC, where plenty of the heroes who can't juggle planets get their own books and their own time to shine, we get to see that. With manga or anime, where there's one series, with largely one creative vision behind it, not so much. The answer to, "How will they win without Series Protagonist?" is apparently, "They won't, they'll just die."
Maybe my issue is that the main characters are usually ridiculously fast and strong and so it feels like they win because they're faster and stronger. That's fine and all. Sometimes it's fun to watch or read a beatdown, especially if the character's got it coming. But I also enjoy characters winning against those sort of odds, whether it's through being sneaky, or clever, or just really determined. (To be fair, there's no shortage of characters in shonen animes winning fights because they're really determined.)
Sometimes, it's just nice to see an unassuming character save the day, get the big win. Even if it was a little lucky, or they just had the approach to exploit a particular weakness or whatever.
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