When we left off, the Wasp had been captured by the Human Top. In this issue, we discover she’s being used as bait for Giant-Man. The villain’s elaborate trap involves a fake neighborhood and a massive pit that also doubles as a freezer, designed to bring about Giant-Man’s downfall.

Meanwhile, Giant-Man, detecting Janet’s signals via the Wasp, enlarges the pet wasp to track her down. He flies into the area but falls right into the Human Top’s trap.

Trapped in the pit/freezer, Janet chooses to join Giant-Man rather than remain with the Human Top. The villain sets out to freeze them both, and it seems like he succeeds. However, in a clever twist, our heroes shrink to Ant-Man and Wasp size and hide within Giant-Man’s frozen “statue.” When the Human Top retrieves the statue from the pit, they break free, turning the tables on him and ultimately defeating the villain.

Originality & Continuity

It’s always disappointing when a two-part story undermines itself, and that’s exactly what happens here. Last issue, two key points were established:

1. The Wasp’s helmet could only communicate with other wasps when she shrank to their size.
2. Giant-Man could no longer shrink smaller than his natural size (ruling out Ant-Man) and was limited to one alternate size—35 feet.

Yet, this issue completely disregards both. First, the Wasp uses her helmet at full size, which contradicts the earlier rule. Moreover, despite not being bound or restrained, she doesn’t shrink to fight or escape the Human Top, which feels out of character.

Second, Giant-Man ultimately wins the day by shrinking to Ant-Man size and hiding in his own frozen shell with the Wasp. While their cuddling to stay warm is sweet, it shouldn’t have been possible based on the rules just established in the previous issue. These contradictions rob the story of its integrity and highlight poor planning.

Characters & Development

Throughout the issue, Giant-Man agonizes over the dangers their superhero lifestyle poses for the Wasp. By the end, there’s a hint he might be considering stepping away for her sake, even though she reassures him she’s proud of him and wouldn’t want things to change. Given that this is their final solo story for the time being, it’s easy to imagine they took a break from adventuring together.

A notable moment is Giant-Man finally using his “size-altering others” power on his pet wasp during the rescue. While this ability doesn’t have a long shelf life in Marvel lore, it was nice to see it in action before the duo’s solo run came to a close. (Even if its a power that I feel was a mistake from the start, if you make it, use it)

On the villain side, the Human Top suddenly has a lab, implying a scientific background that hadn’t been established before. This feels at odds with his prior characterization to me.

Story

The issues with continuity and characterization prevent this story from taking off, leaving it to spin out of control. It’s hard to enjoy a narrative when so many aspects defy logic or contradict recently established rules. While the story has moments of creativity, it’s ultimately a dizzying ride I’m happy to step off for now.

Final Thoughts for the Final Story and those before

This issue—and the last few leading up to it—failed to give Giant-Man and the Wasp the send-off they deserved in their solo stories. That said, I don’t subscribe to the belief that these two heroes were the weakest of their era in Marvel. They had their moments. Unfortunately, the series leaned into its weaknesses rather than its strengths in the long run, making this farewell less memorable than it could have been.