Maxwell Dillon was an awkward and shy person for life, leading to him being a loner who pined for companionship and to feel needed. He eventually got a job at OsCorp, but a freak accident turns him into Electro. After he is defeated by Spider-Man and taken back to OsCorp Norman wants him to be experimented on to figure out how he got his powers, and just how strong they actually are. He strong-arms his number one scientist Otto Octavius into doing the testing even though he questions the ethics of it. However, he goes through with it, not wanting to cross his boss.