A few characters would be good for promotion, to gain a star. Their powers would stay as they are, but would get that extra star, and be eligible to go to a higher level. They would also become a bit rarer, but anyone that has them would not lose anything. This would make covers more collectible in a way, if they can improve in value.
This allows the easier introduction of new 1 and 2 star characters, and rewards collectors. I wouldn’t do all of these promotions … maybe just one of each level, every few months.
1 star characters to promote to 2 stars:
Modern Storm, Venom, Juggernaut, Iron Man 35
2 star characters to promote to 3 stars
Thor, Classic Storm, Wolverine, Daken, Black Widow Original
3 star characters to promote to 4 stars (Rags, Mags, Spidey are powerful enough)
The Hood, Doctor Doom, Captain America
Character to Demote – current levels and progress would be frozen if they are over the new level limits. They would become more common.
Invisible Woman, Loki.
Characters to join Devil Dinosaur – covers no longer available:
Bagman, Yelena Belova.
The demotions/discontinuations would also be a minor boon for the rare collectors that maxed out IW or Bagman – they’d be the only ones that had them.