There’s no doubt that Spider-Man villain Electro is a force to be reckoned with: he’s been a part popular part of Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery since the ’60s, as well as a member of the Sinister Six - most famously depicted by Jamie Foxx in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Alas, even the mightiest of villains have their foibles, and Electro is no exception.
In The Amazing Spider-Man #683 (2012), written by Dan Slott and illustrated by Stefano Caselli - the same story that sees Marvel’s web-slinger punch Al Gore - the Sinister Six take on the Avengers. The Avengers have come to stop the villains, and they have a plan. The results of this battle are incredible to behold, but one confrontation in particular would probably be best suited for a blooper reel.
A fully-charged Electro takes down the Quinjet in mid-air, sending Black Widow crashing down onto a beach, and in the same stride takes out Hawkeye and Spider-Woman. A good start for the Sinister Six, who are up against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Thankfully, Spider-Man (who has been preparing gadgets for this confrontation for a while) is equipped with a new “Electro-Proof” suit, and Electro’s caught off guard by the wall-crawler’s ingenious defense, inadvertently running headlong into Thor.
Being the God of Thunder has all kinds of perks, especially when dealing with an adversary entirely comprised of electrons. By the time Electro realizes what’s going on, it’s too late. Thor absorbs Electro into his legendary hammer Mjolnir, raises it to the sky and expels him into the heavens. This moment gives Electro two pretty impressive accolades: he's one of the only villains to have been inside Thor’s hammer, and one of few to survive space without any kind of spacesuit.
Electro drifts in space for a while, returning in Avenging Spider-Man #19, written by Christopher Yost and illustrated by Marco Checchetto. Here, Electro is back with a vengeance and makes a deal with A.I.M. to be converted from electrons to photons; that way he will theoretically prove immune to Thor’s dominion over electricity, but still retain the general nature of his abilities. As silly as it sounds, Electro gets real close to killing the God of Thunder and might have succeeded had Spider-Man not been there to intercede.
As much as Electro would like to forget any of this ever happened, the Marvel Universe just can’t seem to let it go. In a companion story called “Recapturing That Spark” included in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man #1, written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage, penciled by Javier Rodriguez, Electro finds himself returning to the famous Marvel villain hang-out, the Bar With No Name. Barely does he have a chance to sit down and order a drink before his fellow super-criminals are openly mocking him for being sucked up into Thor’s hammer and shot into space. Of course only the most avid readers of Spider-Man would be aware of any of this. It’s refreshing to know that even the most long-lived and powerful villains have their off days.