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Attributes

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 165 lbs

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Red-Brown

Features: None

Summary

Created By: Stan Lee, Steve Ditko

Real Name: Maxwell "Max" Dillon

Current Aliases: None

Former Aliases: None

Dual Identity: Known to legal authorities

Current Occupation: Professional Criminal

Former Occupation: Lineman for Consolidated Edison

Citizenship: U.S.

Legal Status: Criminal record in U.S.

Place of Birth: Endicott, New York

Marital Status: Divorced

Known Relatives: Unnamed mother (deceased), Father (Jonathan, deceased), Ex-wife (Norma Lynn) all described in Amazing #422-424

Known Confidants: None

Known Allies: Mysterio, Mysterio II, Hobgoblin, Shocker, Scorpia, Beetle, Stilt-Man, Wizard, Trapster; (former)Blizard I(deceased), Doctor Octopus(deceased, now resurrected), Kraven(deceased), the Purple Man(deceased) Sandman, Leapfrog, Matador, Gladiator, Rose (Conover), Delilah

Major Enemies: Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Scarlet Spider, Captain America, the Falcon, Kaine, Venom; (former) the Shocker; (on-and-off) Doc Ock, Sandman

Usual Bases: Mobile

Former Bases: New York City

Current Groups: Sinister Six (whenever they band together)

Former Groups: Sinister Six (all incarnations), Emissaries of Evil, Frightful Four, Sinister Seven (Beetle, Hobgoblin IV, Mysterio, Scorpia, Shocker, the Vulture)

Education: High School Graduate

Powers & Paraphenalia

Strength Level: (un enhanced) normal (charged) can lift 10 tons

Powers: Electro can generate electrostatic energy through his body at a rate of about 1,000 volts per minute, and store up to 1,000,000 volts. At ten feet, his maximum charge is more than enough to kill a normal man. Electro can employ this electrostatic energy as lightning arcs from his fingertips at 1,100 feet per second for about 100 feet.

Abilities: Electro can propel himself along accompanying magnetic lines of force in objects that have great electric potential, such as high-tension electrical lines, at speeds of up to 140 miles per hour. He can also create electrostatic bridges to travel upon, at the cost of a great expenditure of energy. Electro can override any electrically-powered device and manipulate it with mental commands. Since his power-up, he has been able to painfully paralyze anyone by overcharging their synapses' bio-eletrical transmissions.

Equipment: None

Weapons: None

Limitations: By using an external power source to recharge his body's reserves, Electro can expend electricity indefinitely without diminishing his personal reserves. When fully charged, Electro is extremely vulnerable to anything that may "short- circuit" him, such as water.

Background

Years later, Max married a woman named Norma. Going into the electrical line of work, Norma tried to push Max's career to its full potential. When Max refused, Norma left him, Max was abandoned once more. Then came the fatal day where a selfish Max climbed up an electrical line in order to save a co- worker. He wasn't going to until his boss persuaded him with some cash.

As Max lowered the injured worker to the ground, lightening struck! Max was thrown from the wires onto the ground, not only amazed to find that he was alive, but stronger than ever. He later discovered that a current was running through his body when he touched some wire coat hangers. Through practicing, he learnt how to regenerate and power up.

Immediately, he realized he could use this power for all the money he ever wanted. It wasn't long before he crossed paths with Spider-man. JJJ at the time was convinced Electro and Spider-man were one and the same. Electro caused a break out at a prison shortly after he tumbled with Spider-man the first time earlier in the issue. His motive was he figured the prisoners would be his goons from then on in.

Facing him inside the prison, Spider-man used rubber gloves and socks to be able to hit Electro without getting shocked. After a huge rumble, Spider-man used a hose and soaked Electro, short-circuiting him. He was then shocked to learn he had never seen Max before after unmasking him.

Then next time Electro was spotted was in the pages of Daredevil. After Daredevil interrupted his evil-doing, Max managed to hold him off, but the Devil followed him as he made his escape and defeated him in round two.

The next time Electro and Spider-man clashed was at a Stark electric plant. Doc Ock had recruited Vulture, Mysterio, Kraven the Hunter and Sandman to create the Sinister Six. Spidey frantically tired to dodge his bolts as his powers were absent. In a stroke of luck, they returned to him. As Electro powered up at a generator, Spider-man turned it off without him realizing. He then tagged one good punch on Max, laying him out.

Then in Daredevil's first annual, Max joined another team, The Emissaries of Evil. In yet another annual, Fantastic Four's 3rd to be exact, Max was one of the many super villains to attack Reed and Sue's wedding.

It wasn't for a very long time until Electro was spotted again. Eventually, he made his way back into the pages of Amazing Spider-man 82. Max managed to throw off a switch at a television studio without being killed, arousing suspicion. Spider-man was there at the time and heard about what Max had done, but didn't remember the name.

Max later made a deal with JJJ to kill Spider-man on screen in the same studio for five thousand dollars. This time round, Spider-man pulled Electro's hands and feet together like live wires to short-circuit him.

Next he faced his two biggest foes in one issue. Marvel Team Up 56 featured Electro teaming up with Blizzard and battling both Spider-man and Daredevil. After that came to another unsuccessful end, he made an appearance in Defenders, trying to help a small band of criminals against the Defenders.

Then it was back into The Amazing Spider-man, more than 100 issues since the last time he was seen in the title. Then in the pages of Spectacular Spider- man 39, Electro joined the Wizard, the Trapster and Sandman after proving himself worthy of an all new Frightful Four. The team went on to battle Spider- man and the FF in Spectacular Spider-man 42 and FF 218 where he used Spider- man as bate to trap the FF.

This of course led to a big fight which of course the Frightful Four lost. Keeping with Spectacular Spider-man, he came back in issue 66. Spider-man devised a rubber suit in this issue, made from a rubber air mattress, to protect him from Electro's powers.

He then tangled with the Avengers in another little team up with Moonstone, Rhino, Blackout and the Lava men. Their aim is to take over the Project Pegasus complex. The Avenger's eventually beat the team with the aid of Spider- man.

After an appearance in the Falcon mini, Max next showed up in secret wars two issue 7 against a whole other heap of villains fighting the Beyonder. He also made a quick appearance in the Amazing Spider-man Annual 21, having a quick tussle with Spider-man at the start of the issue.

He then got himself a part in the Sin-eater story in Spectacular Spider-man 134-136. After beating Spider-man in the first issue, he goes on to be beaten by him in issue 136 at a power planet where he was demanding $10 million to free the city from his electric grip.

Then again in Spectacular Spider-man, he rumbled with the Shocker in issue 157. They met after Max was sold out by his employer from stealing some blue prints. Shocker came into to save Hector (Max's employer) who made an escape while Max kicked Shocker around.

Then it was back to the Sinister Six for Max. He joined Ock in the second incarnation once more to do battle with him. Eventually, like the rest of the team, he was betrayed by Octopus and made a break for it when the police arrived in a big scrap with Spider-man.

Forgetting the past, he joined the Sinister 6 once more, going up against Spider-man, the Hulk, Deathlok etc and eventually having to abandon the team once more after Ock made another betrayal.

Next came one of Electro's better known arcs, Light the Night. Here, Max took to the top of a building and started to drain all of its power, making him stronger and compensating him for feeling so grossly insufficient as a human being. The whole of New York could see him from the top. Eventually, Spider- man met Max at the top. Electro swatted him off. While Spider-man started to climb back up, Electro found he'd taken in too much electricity. He found himself trapped in some sort of electric cage. When Spider-man came back, Max begged for help. Working together, they managed to get the power out of Electro and back into the city. Electro thanked Spider- Man heavily when it was all over.

When approached by The Rose, Max agreed to kill the Black Tarantula in exchange for an increase in his electrical power. He strapped himself into an electric chair and had the Rose's assistant, Delilah, pull the lever. He'd regretted thanking Spider-man since Light the Night and wanted to get back at him. Spidey tried all the usual stuff, but nothing could touch Electro before he'd blasted it into a million pieces. The fight ended with Spider-man actually begging Electro not to kill him.

Spidey spent the rest of this arc tracking down Electro in a thirst for revenge. Once more donning his rubber costume, he tracked down Max with X-Man. In a huge clash, it took Spider-man everything he had to beat Max. Once he finally had, Electro plummeted into the river to save himself from humiliation, presumed dead.

Next time he was seen he was wearing his terrible Chapter One costume. Sandman recruited him into yet another Sinister 6, out to get Revenge of Doc Ock among other things. It turned out that he and the new Mysterio had a very mysterious relationship. Together they tackled the Sandman in his thirst for revenge in a later issue.

Venom, on a similar quest came looking for Electro. He took him by surprise from behind and beat down on him, leaving him for dead. He survived the encounter however and showed up in Tangled Web 10. Here, he and Spider-man clashed. Electro tossed Spidey into a wall, knocking him out. As he went to finish the job, 2 young boys distracted him. As he made a move on one of them, Spider-man awoke and beat Max down.

The next time Spider-man and Electro met was in Spider-man's search for Aunt May in Marvel Knights: Spider-man. Peter had been led to believe Electro and Vulture had captured her. Max smacked Spidey around for the best part of the issue until Spider-man tricked him into activating his powers in a gas room. The building exploded but Max managed to escape Spider-man after explaining that he didn't have his Aunt and that the money that Spider-man had ruined earlier belonged to The Owl and that Vulture and Max were planning on disappearing with it. This led to Electro being captured and tortured by Owl a bit later. The Green Goblin then recruited Electro into the Sinister Twelve where Max managed to hit Black Cat hard before being rounded up by an assortment of heroes.

Then Max was hired to attack The Raft prison in New Avengers. He did so, and did a very good job of it. The New Avengers were later to track down Max and place him inside an electric resistant bubble. When Max refused to answer Tony Stark's questions, Luke Cage asked Spider-man to web his hands and to open the bubble. Max, thanks to a piece of idiotic writing, fainted at the sight of it. Yes folks, one of the most powerful villains in the Marvel universe, fainted at the thought of being hit by someone he could have killed instantly. Thank you Bendis.

Since then Max has been around in Spider-man Unlimited. First off, he managed to set Spider-man's sticking ability on fire in a battle. Peter couldn't take his hands off anything, meaning he had to take everything with him. Spider-man caught Electro a bit later in a battle with The Thing and The Human Torch. Peter knocked Max out by planting The Thing on him. Most recently, Electro watched Spider-man fight the Hulk in a bar. He took bets and raised quite a bit of money on what Spider-man would do next. It wasn't long after when Spider-man caught Electro once more.

Thanks To:

The assistance of the Marvel Chronology Project is gratefully acknowledged.

This profile was completed with information used with permission from the Appendix of Marvel Universe website, mantained by Jeff Christiansen (Snood). If you want to find out about that odd-ball character you've only seen once, or even about that character you haven't ever seen, that's the site you're looking for. An impressive amount of obscure characters await you there!

Character Appearances