Review by Frank Plowright

Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning start this teaming of Thor and Iron Man relatively slowly, with Tony Stark helping Thor in Asgard, this when it was ruined on Earth, while nefarious deeds are being undertaken elsewhere. By the end of the opening chapter, all bar one of the main players have been revealed, and the missing villain is disclosed shortly after. It’s known that Crimson Dynamo and Ulik, already strong enough to cause Iron Man and Thor respectively considerable trouble, have received major power upgrades.

This isn’t a cerebral plot. There’s plenty of bashing about the houses, and Scot Eaton doesn’t need to be subtle in portraying it, so his layouts are all about emphasising sheer physical power. Extreme close-ups feature as fists fly, and when they’re not flying Eaton presents a powerfully confident Thor and equally solid Iron Man. In terms of decorative pages, the best of them feature at the start of the concluding chapter, when the plot jumps back almost a millennium to the era of the Crusaders.

The presence of the High Evolutionary generally signifies genetic tinkering on the agenda, as his mania is jump starting mankind to better withstand potential future difficulties. Adapt or die is pretty well his motto, and his villainy stems from a moral ambivalence about the means used to achieve his aims, with experimentation on his humanoid animal creations par for the course. The novelty is the way Abnett and Lanning mix the mystical with science, and how they resurrect underlying disagreements between the heroes, while everyone likes to see a giant dragon going about their business.

When all is said and done, God Complex is straightforward fun if you’re not expecting anything more, and the final fate of the major villain is neat.