Episode 109: Workplace Safety (Amazing Spider-Man #9 Part 2) -- February 1964

In this episode:

Mike and Ed discuss the origins of Electro’s superpowers. Were they related to his job as an electrical repairman? What responsibility does the city utility have for his transformation? Also, was his brain scrambled by the electricity that gave him his powers? How many other superpowered people have some sort of brain damage? And do all superheroes have cancer?

In this issue:

The people of NYC, including the police, seem to love Spider-Man, as much as criminals fear him. At the same time, Peter Parker is worried about his elderly Aunt May. Meanwhile, Electro, a man who can channel electricity due to a freak accident and warp it to his twisted ends, robs an armored truck and a bank, and even terrorizes J. Jonah Jameson. Jameson watches Electro climb a building using his electricity powers and concludes that he must be another famous wallcrawler, Spider-Man. So much so that Jameson publishes this lurid allegation on the front page of his paper, the Daily Bugle. Spider-Man subsequently battles Electro, and the photos that Peter takes of himself in the battle are misinterpreted by Jameson to prove that Spider-Man and Electro are one and the same. Jameson eventually realizes that his slanderous allegation of Spider-Man being Electro is wrong, when he sees Spider-Man swinging by at the same time that he knows Electro is in a different location. Spider-Man then battles Electro while wearing rubber gloves and short-circuits him with a spray of water.

Assumed before the next episode:

People are wondering about the impact of superpowers on superpeople.

This episode takes place:

After people have learned about Electro’s powers.

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