I don't think he's dumb. He did get into the Evil League of Evil, after all. True, not the way he planned, but he succeeded nonetheless. I do think he's not that evil, though. After all, he didn't want to fight in a park b/c kids could be present and he only got up the nerve to kill Captain Hammer after being antagonized by said "hammer"! He's not very good at being bad, but he's not inept.

Deanna_Lynne | November 06, 17:58 CET

that poor kid will never catch a break!

allthattwiggery | November 06, 18:09 CET

he did reveal his evil plans on a blog before he committed them.. which was a pretty inept thing to do, since Captain Hammer and the cops were viewers (a good joke though)

mortimer | November 06, 18:18 CET

He's hilariously inept. "Hammer, meet nail!" It's a big part of his charm.

Sunfire | November 06, 18:23 CET

"Smells like... cumin."

mjwilson | November 06, 18:27 CET

Yeah, I get that. He's us and we would most definitely suck at being an Evil Genius (good game that was, anyone remember?). I do see Dr Horrible's universe as pretty grounded in reality, though. You know that South Park episode "The 'Coon" with the Watchmen/Dark Knight parody? Similar ideas at play there. Cartman isn't inept, either. He knows what he wants, always, and will go at lengths to get that.

Anyway, they seemed to struggle for people there. If any character is going to be around as long as someone like Lex has, they are bound to have a bad day.

Jayme | November 06, 18:42 CET

Maybe I just don't want to admit he's inept b/c I love him so much! :)

Deanna_Lynne | November 06, 18:53 CET

Well, most villains are made to be easily foiled by the hero. :|

Frick | November 06, 19:12 CET

The writer is remembering it wrong. Dr. Horrible doesn't gloat over the imminent demise of Capt. Hammer, he hesitates, trying to build up the guts to actually kill his nemesis once and for all. Dr. Horrible, deep down, doesn't really have it in him to kill someone deliberately.

Jim in Buffalo | November 06, 19:30 CET

After the horrific events yesterday at Ft. Hood, I started thinking (somewhat relieved) how Dr. Horrible wasted all his death ray shots on the ceiling when he could have been massacring all of the compassionate people, media, homeless, and fans, not to mention his frozen nemesis. And during his soliloquy song, no less. The Whedon's reinvented anew the traditional comic book evil villain cliché.

ETA: What Jim in Buffalo said.

Comic books and villians came of age when (I'm guessing/assuming) there was perhaps more minor violence (fistfights, acceptance of domestic abuse) but far less major violence (i.e. the aforementioned shooting. And I hear another one, today.) I could be wrong here, I know of other historical incidents, but there seems to have been a different breed of evil erupting the past few decades. So I'm wondering how relevant fictional villains such as Dr. Horrible are in an era when mass violence is becoming so tragically common?

[ edited by peacemonger on 2009-11-06 21:03 ]

peacemonger | November 06, 19:32 CET

I think he does have it in him to kill innocent women and children in his quest to rule the world. However, I dont think he'd be mean about it. He'd be polite about it.

alexreager | November 06, 20:12 CET

He set out to kill someone and he did. Just because he didn't mean for it to be Penny doesn't make it less evil. So inept villian? Yes.

hacksaway | November 06, 20:31 CET

alex reager: +1
He's not dumb, just a little... inept. With the whole posting his evil deeds on the internet thing.

wackybroadwaynightmare | November 07, 01:04 CET