Maxwell "Max" Dillon was an employee for Oscorp who, after a freak accident, turns into the electric supervillain Electro.
Max Dillon lived his whole life without anyone acknowledging his existence. When Spider-Man saved him from a taxi hurtling through the air, he was thrilled to have been acknowledged by somebody, let alone the very famous Spider-Man. As Spider-Man left, Dillon started to believe that he was the hero's best friend, his "eyes and ears". He began to obsess over him, creating a collage of the vigilante in his home.
After he found out that hardly anyone remembered his birthday (including his own mother) and his schematics for a new power grid were stolen by his colleagues at Oscorp, Max was forced by Alistair Smythe to fix an electrical problem in one of Oscorp's genetics labs despite the occasion. The resulting electrical current from the disconnected cables shocked him, causing him to fall through several stairways and into a vat of genetically modified eels. The creatures viciously attacked him until the tank shattered.
Max awoke in a morgue. Donning a black hoodie, he escaped and made his way to Times Square, where he accidentally caused a scene whilst trying to sustain himself with a power cable. He realizes that his newly gained powers make the world finally recognize him, having been shunned, humiliated and ignored his entire life. Spider-Man arrived as Dillon began to discover his powers, attempting to reason with him. Dillon, no longer feeling insignificant, was devoid of hostility before he was shot by a sniper. Feeling betrayed by his idol for failing to protect him from the police, Dillon began to use his powers to destroy the civilians around him, being launched into a screen where he charged himself with thousands of volts. The resulting electromagnetic pulse damaged several blocks of the city, as well as the entirety of Times Square. Max was eventually apprehended by Spider-Man with the help of the fire department.
Max, now naming himself Electro, was sent to Ravencroft Institute, where he was placed in a large harness that contained his power, being experimented on by Dr. Kafka and supervised by Donald Menken. He was soon freed by Harry Osborn, who needs his powers to break back into Oscorp to find a cure for his terminal illness. Electro agrees and is given a new suit to control his powers. He then takes over the electrical grid he designed, manipulating it to control the electricity in New York so that the citizens will see him as a god. Electro caused a citywide blackout and challenged Spider-Man to a fight at OscorPower. After a lengthy battle, Spider-Man, with the help of Gwen Stacy, defeated Electro by overloading his power supply, causing the villain to explode and vanish into thin air, seemingly killing him.
