Continuity mistake: In the scene where after Peter gets his diploma and has a chat with Gwen, he is carrying a backpack on both shoulders. As the scene continues it switches to one shoulder then both several times. (00:15:50)
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene when Spider-Man is chasing a truck stealing OsCorp's plutonium vials, the truck, driven by Aleksei Sytsevich, crushes one of the police cars. The scene cuts to the left side of the truck crushing the police car. A moment later, it cuts to another angle. Here you can see the camera equipment on the left side of the truck. (00:08:20)
Continuity mistake: After Electro launches Spidey against the police car, the huge dent on the door gets smaller between shots. (00:55:40)
Continuity mistake: During the battle between Electro and Spidey, the chip on Electro's head swaps from being on the right side to being on the left. It is specially noticeable when Electro overloads.
Continuity mistake: When Electro's face appears on the building's windows, he produces huge holes on the pavement, which is empty except for a police car. After Spider stops by the water tank the aerial shot shows the street jammed with cars. (01:49:25)
Continuity mistake: After the blackout when the plane lifts up, Gwen is standing next to Spider-Man, with her left hand on his back. She is just 20cm smaller than him. When the shot changes she is now standing away from him and he is 40cm taller. This changes back and forth. (01:47:25)
Continuity mistake: On the plane, when Peter's father holds the mother's hand she has a small red notebook next to her. When the angle changes it has swapped to a huge red book. (00:03:15)
Answer: Peter didn't set out to kill Electro, but he has to stop him somehow. Overloading him is pretty much all Peter has to work with in terms of stopping Electro's rampage. He doesn't know what effect it will have on his opponent, but he hopes that it will serve to stop him in his tracks, which it does. Had Peter set out with the specific intention of killing Max, that would indeed have been wildly out of character, but he didn't - he simply did what he had to do to stop him. It's unlikely that Max is actually dead anyway; it's well known that Sony intend to bring the Sinister Six into play in upcoming movies and Electro has been a key member of most incarnations of that team, making it highly likely that he'll be back.
Tailkinker ★