Not sure I'd call him a coward, exactly, but I imagine his "victories" over the Avengers and FF relied on sneak attacks and blitzkrieg tactics, all of which befits a supervillain.

Anyway, I love how it played out, with them fleeing in terror.

The combination makes for both a dangerous alt-Magneto and Brotherhood, while not making the heroes of that world into dupes.  It works.

I also like, as far as I can tell, that while we know the alt-FF is dead (and considering even that team isn't always the original 4), that we don't know who the dead Avengers are.  I see a lot of people speculating it is core members like Cap, Iron Man, etc.  But for all we know the 9 dead Avengers are Hellcat, Jocasta, Moondragon, and other second tier characters.  And considering that Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Beast were never Avengers in that world, there could be any number of other characters who had joined instead - lesser tier heroes like Torpedo or Stingray, one of the Inhumans, who knows?

Most likely, it's a combination of classic core (which includes non-founding but popular iconic members like Hawkeye, Vision, Wonder Man, etc.), second tier, and new Avengers.  Close enough to enrage Thor, but by no means implying its all the best ones.  If published in contemporary times around 1980-1982, the Avengers had a roster of far more than 9 members.  None of the main or iconic Avengers might be among the dead, and all the solo titles still being published!

It's good if we don't know them, as we'll have a better story in our heads if we don't know.  For those who imagine a tragic but dramatic last stand by Captain America defending some teammates who escaped, it happened.  For those that would feel it'd be too painful and would rather have less popular members die in the attack, that happened.  For those who think its dramatically best if the founding members except Thor perished, then it's so.  If the Vision or Jocasta were destroyed, they might be rebuilt.  Maybe Iron Man or Black Panther is forming a new team now of the survivors and inactive members.  Lots of possibilities.

It's only in our heads, so it's just what each of us wants it to be.

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And on top of that, it's a whole rabbit-hole of speculation as to the ripple effect of not having Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch as part of "Cap's Kooky Quartet" after the original Avengers left.  There are a ton of stories that rely on Pietro and Wanda and their actions as Avengers.

The dude can build an asteroid base with his powers, but he's terrified of an enraged Thor. That sure tells me a lot about how powerful Thor is!

His Magneto was a bit more refined, a bit less unhinged.

Side note  -----

Both Thor AND Gladiator in the mix?  Can you imagine that cage fight?

Throw a little Norrin Radd in there to boot?

Just a little fantasy 3-way mix-'em-up that would be very difficult to bet on.

Geek musings 101