I understand where Mr M is coming from with the Brothers. I really do.
However, I think Spectre+LT merging them or w/e was just a really bad case of PIS. After all, the Brothers had to get nerfed *somehow*, in order to introduce the Amalgam Universe... And it's not like them getting forcibly merged was the only stupid thing that happened in that ridiculous crossover, lol.
Anyway, I say this because we saw the true difference between the Brothers and Spectre+LT at the end of the series, when the Brothers finally went on the offensive...
"Power is unleashed that none have EVER witnessed... And the Spectre and the Living Tribunal are AWED.":
We also saw Spectre+LT actively trying to stop the Brothers from fighting--an effort that went entirely unnoticed by the latter(they were akin to fleas in comparison):
So yeah, I believe the Brothers were intended to be vastly beyond them. I believe they were intended to be the Supreme Being(s) of each company(within that one crossover, at least.) Hence why Spectre and LT were literally "awed" by their power. /shrug