Electro: As we're reminded in the opening panels of the Gauntlet arc in Amazing Spider-Man, Electro was one of the first costumed criminals that Spider-Man ever faced, making his inaugural appearance in he Amazing Spider-Man #9 (Feb. 1964). And now, forty-five years later, he's becoming one of the most threatening.And, amazingly enough, he's barely thrown a single lightning bolt in doing so.
As a matter of fact, he's generating more buzz with his mind than he ever did with his electricity-based powers. Heck, as it turns out, those powers are causing him an incredible amount of pain.
And there's his driving motivation. In the finest tradition of Marvel Comics, he's a villain that we really can't blame. He's only trying to raise enough money to convince the Mad Thinker to cure his powers-induced pain. And Mad Thinker doesn't take Blue Cross / Blue Shield.
As we've seen in Spider-Man #612,, Electro has taken his act to the streets, turning the public against the Daily Bugle (which is in the midst of accepting a hysterically fictional government buy-out). He's charging up public opinion and positioning himself into a perfect spot to blackmail the Bugle's new publisher.
Nonetheless, this old dog has learned a few new tricks.And, it seems that the Thinker's cure has taken with the vet villain, because the closing panels of Amazing Spider-Man #613 see him transformed into living, thriving lightning.
And that's more than enough to give ol' amps-in-his-pants a healthy pump on the Villain Quotient scale to a respectable eight.
Let's see if he can hold onto that loftly score after ASM #615.
Title: Amazing Spider-Man #613
Story: Mark Waid
Art: Paul Azaceta