It's no secret that New York City is the superhero capital of the world in Marvel Comics, known specifically for its occupation by numerous street-level vigilantes. But an issue of Astonishing Ant-Man by Nick Spencer and Ramon Rosanas expands on this in a humorous conversation between a few D-tier villains.
In Astonishing Ant-Man #8 by Spencer and guest artists Brent Schoonover, a fledgling criminal creatively named "The Magician" is drawn into alliance with three other laundry list bad guys. The most known of these is likely Whirlwind, an occasional enemy of Iron Man. He's ed by a Purple Man wannabe called The Voice and a woefully incompetent thief named Hijacker. After regaling the young man with anecdotes about serving under various egomaniacs à la Wilson Fisk and Count Nefaria, they decide to advise him whose territory to avoid should he ever make a trip to New York. However, it isn't the super villains they caution him against, but the superheroes.
In a full splash page, Whirlwind and the rest emphatically warn Magician to "STICK TO MIDTOWN!" during any business trips to the Big Apple. When asked why, they respond: "cause getting webbed up is always better than a concussion." Of course, most experienced villains know what happens when Spider-Man runs out of webbing, but these four aren't the Sinister Six—they'd never push him to that limit. They tell the Magician that Spidey tends to take it easy, especially if you laugh at his jokes. If you go further west you're in Hell's Kitchen: Daredevil's turf. The villains cite his "genuine anger issues" as due cause for any criminal to avoid crossing 8th Ave. They even suggest going uptown to Harlem and taking chances with Luke Cage before that. But of course the absolute worst New York hero to encounter is the Punisher, against whom the only defenses are to "run," "hide," and "pray."
The Avengers and Fantastic Four aren't mentioned despite being based in the city as well—then again, they can't always be around, since a lot of their missions take them overseas, off-planet, or between dimensions. These bench-warming baddies may not have as much experience with them, but what experience they do have reveals a lot about the criminal underground in this universe. Manhattan specifically is swarming with Marvel heroes, but if you're a drug lord who believes risk and reward rise commensurately then you don't mind sinking money and manpower into moving your merchandise. It makes sense that henchmen would have developed a ranking of heroes to encounter based on survivability. It shouldn't go unnoticed that the less objectively powerful a hero, the more dangerous they can be. The Punisher is the Grim Reaper, and he's just a well-trained man; imagine if Spider-Man had his same outlook on life.
New York City in Marvel Comics is like Townsville in The Powerpuff Girls; constantly bouncing back from near physical obliteration and/or systemic collapse. It's the absolute trial by fire for heroes and villains alike. The difference is that superheroes typically have a stronger internal system, while villains like Kingpin are known to turn on each other the moment an advantage presents itself. With that in mind, seeing these second-rate stooges attempt to take a new criminal under their wing is sweet. But with heroes like these patrolling the streets in Marvel Comics, they'd probably be helping him more if they told him to avoid New York City altogether.
