Peter Parker keeps a promise he should not have made, finds out what happened to his parents, and meets an electrical engineer nobody has ever looked at properly.
It carries three films’ worth of setup: Gwen Stacy and a promise made to her dying father, the mystery of Richard and Mary Parker, Harry Osborn arriving to collect on a friendship, and Max Dillon becoming Electro after a lifetime of being ignored. The film is visibly straining to launch a shared universe that was cancelled shortly afterwards.
Underneath the machinery, Electro is one of the better ideas in these films. He is not evil. He is somebody nobody thanked, given the power to be noticed.
Show detailsThe universe that was not built
Sony had announced a set of connected films around this one. They did not happen. The series stopped here, and the character returned only years later through an arrangement with another studio.
Internationally the film carries the subtitle Rise of Electro, which is also the shape of its Italian title.
Who is in it
How it connects
Watching these first makes this one land.
This one sets these up.
Sources
Facts last checked on Sep 7, 2026
Released: May 2, 2014