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Electro is one of many villains crossing the multiverse in Spider-Man: No Way Home, but he shouldn’t have been affected by Doctor Strange’s spell.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home, now playing in theaters.
After a long wait and countless fan theories, Spider-Man: No Way Home is here, pitting the wall-crawler against a host of villains from across the multiverse. The film sees Tom Holland’s Spider-Man confronting the enemies of Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s versions of the webhead. Fans have known ever since the film’s first trailer landed that these villains would be brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a result of a spell gone wrong, cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) in an attempt to restore Spider-Man’s secret identity. However, the film’s explanation of exactly what went wrong with the spell casts a question mark over one of the returning villains.
Jamie Foxx’s Max Dillon, better known as Electro, originally appeared opposite Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man in 2014’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The film saw Dillon, a social outcast, become obsessed with Spider-Man after the superhero saved his life. While a lot of Spidey’s cinematic foes have had a personal connection to Peter Parker, Max is one of the few to have a closer connection to Spider-Man than the man under the mask. It’s a different dynamic for a Spider-Man villain, but one that creates a problem for No Way Home.
After the MCU’s Peter Parker first encounters Doctor Octopus (Alfred Molina) and the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doctor Strange explains to him that his spell, which was supposed to make everyone in the world forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man, has instead summoned people from other worlds who already know Peter Parker is Spider-Man. While Strange was able to shut it down before the MCU’s Earth was overwhelmed with visitors from countless realities, he tells Peter that a few still made it through. This explains the arrival of Doc Ock, the Goblin, Sandman (Thomas Haden Church) and the Lizard (Rhys Ifans), all of whom learned Peter was Spider-Man in their original appearances but does not account for Electro’s presence.
Electro never learned Spider-Man’s true identity in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and so should not have been affected by Doctor Strange’s spell. Even his ally, Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), only discovered Peter’s secret after Max died in battle with Spider-Man. Of course, this discrepancy could have easily been explained away — perhaps Electro actually survived his apparent death and subsequently learned who Spider-Man was. But No Way Home apparently dismisses this idea, before later making it clear that Electro has never seen under Spidey’s mask.
While imprisoned in the undercroft of Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, the villains discuss their journeys through the multiverse. Electro recalls his final moments in his own universe, referencing how he was about to enter and take control of New York’s power grid. Audiences saw this battle play out in The Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s climactic moments, suggesting Electro was summoned to the MCU seconds before his death, without a chance to learn Spider-Man’s real name. It could be assumed that Electro is talking about another similar battle, taking place sometime after the first, allowing time for him to find out who Spider-Man is. However, after No Way Home‘s final battle, the villain reveals this is his first time seeing Spider-Man’s face.
No Way Home concludes with a dramatic showdown between the villains and all three cinematic Spider-Men. Once Electro is defeated, being drained of his abilities, Garfield’s version of the wall-crawler rushes over to him, unmasked. Upon seeing Peter, Electro notes that he had always assumed Spider-Man would be Black. It’s a funny moment (followed up with a nod to Miles Morales’ existence somewhere in the multiverse) but seems to confirm that Electro can’t have known Peter Parker was Spider-Man.
It seems odd that the filmmakers would not only overlook this discrepancy but actively reinforce it with Electro’s final lines in No Way Home. Maybe Electro did learn Spider-Man’s real name after the events of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and just never saw his face, but the film never seems to suggest this is the case. It’s an odd inconsistency, but despite the plot hole, Jamie Foxx’s much deserved second outing as Electro is one that ups the stakes and greatly enhances No Way Home.
To see Electro enter the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now.
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