Yeah, I see your point. This story was written by Stan Lee, probably? In real life, he IS a pushy, ambitious take-charge personality, so it wasn't so much wish fulfilment for him so much as straightfordward identification. It would be interesting to see if any writers of romance novels are wussy little mousy guys in real life or (more likely) beefy middle-aged men with bald spots and cigars.
You're never sure with stories like these, or those thousands of paperback romances that get published every year, whether the writers believe what they're telling or if they're just hacking out what they know will sell. A mainstream novel is more likely to reveal what the author really believes, but stuff like this comic or Harlequin Romance novels are almost certainly following the formula they know the public will buy. ((