Poking at the ashes of memory: Some flighty ephemera
Checking into it, I was right when I estimated that these would have come out in '66 - both from the characters and art, and that being when Marvel was getting a little mainstream media traction with those limited animation cartoons, the artwork lifted directly from comics.
These looked very familiar, but at the same time I don't recall getting any of them. As best I can piece together from the dates, selection, and (uncorroborated) memory, I probably only saw these at the decades-gone Kay's 5 &10 on Woerner Ave. back in Levittown, PA in '67 -- possibly even '68, depending on how long they sat on their wooden shelves. I was likely only seeing them at the end of their run in the store. I vaguely recall the display and the envelopes, both of which had been mauled by the passing interest of who knows how many kids as they tried to decide what treasures to spend their money on.
As a six or seven year-old I was still a couple years away from warming up to Hulk or Thor, or even Namor, the Sub-Mariner - I distinctly remember being put off "the stupid guy and the hippie", and didn't give even that much thought to the guy in swim trunks - and I'd have been mortified if I'd paid 10 cents and gotten the Wasp (::gasp!:: ::choke!:: a girl!). I also remembered being put off both by how several of these were character who didn't fly, and how none of them would with their arms in wing positions. Add in the blind buy aspect of these - you didn't know which one you had until it was bought and the envelope torn open - and that for several of the characters they looked goofy flying, I may have just never committed to buying one, especially with so many other things competing for my scant pocket change.
Still, the display seems so familiar, I can almost see it on the store's wooden shelves.
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