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Moist
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Moist is Dr. Horrible's only friend that we see throughout the movie. His superpower is that he is just wet, constantly dripping with sweat or some other unknown liquid. Near the beginning, he gives Dr. Horrible his mail and it is absolutely soaked. He symbolizes the part of society that the popular and successful simply ignore--and he has accepted the fact that he just makes people uncomfortable. At one point, Moist declares bluntly, "At my most bad-ass, I make people feel like they want to take a shower" (Whedon). He has no abilities or features that make him stand out in a crowd, and he is comfortable with that. He is content to do the best he can in whatever is most important to him.
Bad Horse
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Bad Horse is the "thoroughbred of sin," and the leader of the Evil League of Evil. He is, rather obviously, a metaphor for the traditional American employer. As a horse, he doesn't actually do anything besides stand in the League's conference room at the end of the movie. There is no reason for him to be in charge; he can't even pick up the phone himself to call Dr. Horrible, but no one questions his authority. He is just accepted as leader. This perhaps symbolizes the distance between a CEO of a company and his employees.
Bad Horse sends a letter to Dr. Horrible early in the movie and then supposedly calls him later, but instead of Bad Horse's voice, there is a group of cowboys singing to relay the message. There are very few higher-ups in any company that would take the time out of their day to personally give messages to their potential employees. It's interesting that ones relaying the message to Dr. Horrible are cowboys--and scruffy ones, at that. These men aren't even in the actual Evil League of Evil. They seem to symbolize the poor worker who does all the grunt work and is never acknowledged outside of their usefulness as a tool.
Furthermore, Bad Horse puts Dr. Horrible through extreme trials to get into the League. He is expected to steal and, when that fails, kill. He has to put aside his personality and become something that Bad Horse wants him to be. After he finds out he needs to murder somebody to get into the League, Dr. Horrible says, "Killing's not elegant or creative. It's not my style" (Whedon). But he eventually sheds that hesitation in his animosity toward Captain Hammer. When you apply for a job, it's true that you have to do some interesting things to make sure you stand out from the other employers, while at the same time showing how much you can fit in. Dr. Horrible kills someone--making him an interesting and reliable applicant in Bad Horse's eyes--and is able to shed his humanity to fit in with the League.
Bad Horse sends a letter to Dr. Horrible early in the movie and then supposedly calls him later, but instead of Bad Horse's voice, there is a group of cowboys singing to relay the message. There are very few higher-ups in any company that would take the time out of their day to personally give messages to their potential employees. It's interesting that ones relaying the message to Dr. Horrible are cowboys--and scruffy ones, at that. These men aren't even in the actual Evil League of Evil. They seem to symbolize the poor worker who does all the grunt work and is never acknowledged outside of their usefulness as a tool.
Furthermore, Bad Horse puts Dr. Horrible through extreme trials to get into the League. He is expected to steal and, when that fails, kill. He has to put aside his personality and become something that Bad Horse wants him to be. After he finds out he needs to murder somebody to get into the League, Dr. Horrible says, "Killing's not elegant or creative. It's not my style" (Whedon). But he eventually sheds that hesitation in his animosity toward Captain Hammer. When you apply for a job, it's true that you have to do some interesting things to make sure you stand out from the other employers, while at the same time showing how much you can fit in. Dr. Horrible kills someone--making him an interesting and reliable applicant in Bad Horse's eyes--and is able to shed his humanity to fit in with the League.
The Evil League of Evil
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Dr. Horrible's goal throughout the movie, disregarding his pursuit of Penny, is to become a member of the Evil League of Evil. The League is led by Bad Horse and has very few members, all dressed in ridiculous costumes and looking quite menacing. The League represents the very selective high-class employers of America. At one point, Dr. Horrible is conversing with Moist and Moist tells him, "You've got more than enough evil hours to get into the Henchman's Union," to which Horrible replies, "I'm not a henchman. I'm Dr. Horrible" (Whedon). Similarly, one with a Ph.D. in real life would completely reject the idea of working at a lower-class job because they've put in enough work to be eligible for a much better position. The Henchman's Union is the McDonald's of the Dr. Horrible universe. The Evil League of Evil, therefore, would be a plastic surgeon's office with a good reputation, or some equivalent.
The Newscasters
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These two news anchors represent the ignorance and bias that frequently appear in major news networks. "It's a good day to be homeless" is their most shocking statement, and yet the one that drives home the ridiculous and totally ignorant mindset of upper class Americans. Even in their praise of Captain Hammer's work with the homeless, they spend about ten seconds on this story before moving on to "Who's gay?", which is apparently just as important as the homeless problem. What is most irritating about these characters is how they say everything with a smile, never taking seriously the issues that they discuss. They speak of the new shelter with an air of amusement, as if they are trying to take the information seriously but don't know how. They speak only briefly about the homeless who will be living in the building--rather, they seem more interested in the fact that the mayor will be there to unveil the project as well as a statue of Captain Hammer, who is receiving all credit for the new shelter rather than Penny, who is actually interested in the wellbeing of the homeless.
Captain Hammer's Fan Group
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This group of secondary characters is particularly interesting as a representation of real celebrity followers. There is a good diversity just among these three fans: a girl of eastern ethnicity and a homosexual man make up two of the three. This is only one part of the feminist narrative that permeates this film, though the narrative is generally represented through irony and satire of our sexist culture. It is fitting that these people would be groupies of Captain Hammer, who is the poster boy of the film for blatant sexism and misguided masculinity. As soon as Captain Hammer's true colors are revealed, however, this fan group immediately switches to following Dr. Horrible. They represent the whimsical nature of celebrity fandom in our culture; it is easy for us to latch on to someone we believe is "perfect," and then completely forget about them as soon as someone new comes along.