One of Spider-Man's earliest villains was Maxwell Dillon, also known as Electro. The villain was a former power line worker who was involved in an accident that gave him powers of electricity. From that moment on, he became one of Spider-Man's most famous bad guys and a recurring member of his rogues' gallery.
Electro has remained in the spotlight over the years, appearing in Amazing Spider-Man 2, and he is rumored to return in Spider-Man: No Way Home. He also showed up in almost every animated series that Spider-Man has ever been in. However, even with all these appearances, there is a lot that only comic fans know about Electro and Spider-Man's rivalry.
J. Jonah Jameson Thought Spider-Man Was Electro
Elector made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #9. The villain had different origin stories in Spider-Man movies and comics, with a sympathetic storyline given in both the animated Spectacular Spider-Man series and the movies. However, in the comics, he was a straight-up criminal after gaining his powers.
He was an early Spider-Man villain and J. Jonah Jameson believed that Electro and Spider-Man were the same person, proving that Spidey was a villain. Spider-Man proved Jameson wrong when he beat Electro and from that point on, the villain was never a true threat to Spider-Man.
Electro Was Part Of Original Sinister Six
After a year of meeting new villains and beating them one by one, the villains did something smart. In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1, six of Spider-Man's villains teamed up and called themselves the Sinister Six. It was a chance for them to work together to beat Spider-Man.
Electro was part of this initial group, recruited by Doctor Octopus. However, even together, they couldn't beat Spider-Man. Electro was a member of many versions of this group as he tried to beat Spider-Man again and again.
Electro Attacked Spider-Man On A Late Night Talk Show
Electro went to prison, and when he was released, he decided to go straight. He got a job as an electrician for a television network and worked for a late-night talk show. However, he wasn't even allowed to live in peace there. Spider-Man showed up as a guest on the show.
Spider-Man was trying to raise money for a surgery Aunt May needed and that is why he went on the show. Electro took one look at him and snapped, deciding he wanted revenge. Spider-Man beat him, but in the end, it meant that he wasn't paid for his appearance on the show.
Rose Upgraded Electro But He Still Couldn't Beat Spider-Man
Kingpin had a son who called himself Rose. When Rose tried to take over New York City and usurp his dad as the new Kingpin of Crime, he sought out supervillains to work for him. He brought Electro out of self-imposed retirement and promised him an upgrade.
Electro got the upgrade and became an enforcer for Rose, but then Electro made another mistake. With his upgraded powers, he targeted Spider-Man again, and he lost again. After this, Electro threw himself into the Hudson River, trying to end his life.
Electro Is Why Spider-Man Joined The New Avengers
Electro survived and went on to work for another bigger villain, this time Brainchild. His mission was to go to The Raft and initiate a prison break. It worked and Electro released countless villains, which caused several heroes, including Spider-Man, to show up to stop the escapees.
This had a side effect no one could have realized. The heroes who showed up included Captain America, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Sentry, Daredevil, and Spider-Man. While working together, Cap came up with the idea for them to stay together and the New Avengers were born.
Superior Spider-Man Brain Controlled Electro
There was a time in Spider-Man's life when he seemingly died and Doctor Octopus took over his body. Doc Ock then became the Superior Spider-Man and shockingly decided to remain a hero. He also had one major advantage over villains like Electro.
Doc Ock knew everything about his former teammates. He then used his scientific genius to find ways to capture them. He converted Electro into a stream of protons and trapped him. he then gathered more supervillains and used brain control to turn them into the Superior Six.
Spider-Man Is Why Electro Has Little Control Over His Powers
While Doctor Octopus had control over Electro as Superior Spider-Man, he ran a lot of experiments on him. Peter Parker finally came back as Spider-Man and he had to deal with the fallout of what Superior Spider-Man did, and that included the Electro problem.
From the start, Electro was always in danger of shorting out. However, after the experiments from Superior Spider-Man, it was worse. Now, Electro would often lose control of his electricity and quickly burn out and collapse.
Parker Industries Finally Depowered Electro
Spider-Man was trying to find a way to use Parker Industries to deal with his numerous villains. During this time, he made a new enemy of Black Cat and she wanted him dead. She ended up bringing in Electro to help her and they set their sights on Spider-Man.
At the same time, Peter had worked on a device that could finally depower Electro. Black Cat got her hands on the machine and used it to supercharge Electro, but then overloaded him, which ended up finally stripping him of his powers.
Electro Died When Jackal Tried To Repower Him
Electro went to prison, but there were still plenty of supervillains who wanted Spider-Man dead. One of these, the new Jackal, helped break Max Dillon out of prison and offered to repower him to help kill Spider-Man.
Max didn't really want to do it, but Jackal resurrected a woman Electro liked but accidentally killed named Francine, so he agreed. However, the procedure went wrong, Francine became the new Electro, and it appeared that Max Dillon died, giving Spider-Man a new electrified enemy.
Kindred Revived Electro To Fight Spider-Man
Electro came back from the dead again more recently, and the one sole reason for his resurrection was to kill Spider-Man. Kindred wanted Spider-Man dead and he offered every Spider-Man villain who ever existed a chance at their every dream if they killed him.
He had Doctor Octopus bring Electro back and repower him, and the original Sinister Six reformed. However, things went wrong when all the other various Sinister teams showed up and the villains all battled each other until Doctor Octopus finally betrayed them all, saving Spider-Man.