With flawed main characters who are not always heroes,
but actually normal people who make mistakes and don't always have favourable odds.
With people who have to deal with powers which don't necessarily aim for the good of all?
What is wrong with Earth forced to rely on more powerful allies,
instead of seizing all the best techno-trinkets and outsmarting those who engineered them,
instead of using them as leverage for behaving like masters of the universe
who don't need to respond to anyone for their acts?
Really, what was wrong with the formula during the franchise's first years?