Captain Hammer: Chest Insignia

Another example of a parody is Captain Hammer’s rather unimpressive chest insignia.

Figure 1: chestinsignia2.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

The idea of having an insignia or symbol on the chest area of your garment can be seen in superhero texts as well as medieval films. In medieval movies this is a knight’s coat of arms and thus usually not as descriptive of the person themselves or their skills like insignias are in to a superhero. When superheroes have an insignia it is usually very descriptive of what their particular power happens to be. It is also rather impressive looking, as most superhero suits on the whole.

Figure 2: 2062307-batgirl2011_large.jpg (Source: batman.wikia.com, 2011)

Figure 3: green_lantern-hal-jordan.jpg (Source: screenrant.com, n.d.)

Figure 4: superman.jpg (Source: superman.wikia.com, 2010)

Figure 5: captain_marvel1.jpg (Source: shockya.com, n.d.)

Contrast these images to that of Captain Hammer’s t-shirt with a tiny circle with a Hammer in it:

Figure 6: chestinsignia1.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

It seems to me the film is parodying how your average superhero is supposed to look and what they are supposed to wear, by giving Captain Hammer clothing that really anyone off the street could have and wear instead of a cool looking suit and relevant chest insignia. If you’ve seen many superheroes and you hear the name Captain Hammer, you’re probably going to think of some dude that wields a gigantic, ancient-looking hammer of the Gods. Instead we see your average hammer from a tool box.

Which brings me to the point of how is his insignia, or name for that matter, relevant to whatever Captain Hammer’s power may be? Superman has a giant S for superman and on the overall tends to be pretty super, I mean he can turn back time! While Ironman doesn’t really have a chest insignia, his entire suit is his power, also it’s metal so there’s some connection there to the name Ironman. Green Lantern has a picture of his lantern as his insignia which also reflects his power.

So what can Captain Hammer do? One can only conjecture since we never really see him do anything but punch stuff, and talk about punching stuff. It’s possible he has some sort of super strength I guess, but that’s also not confirmed. None of that can be directly related to the image of a hammer.

The ordinariness of his outfit is even more rubbed in by the fact that his groupies are wearing the same thing except with his face in the circle instead of a Hammer. Their circles even manage to be bigger than the one on his T-shirt.

Figure 7: insignia3.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

The effect of Captain Hammer’s insignia and costume is a continued deconstruction of what we think a superhero should be like, which I talked about in more depth in this post. Captain Hammer continues to humorously disappoint.

3621

Wonderflonium: Do Not Bounce

This gallery contains 2 photos.

Wonderflonim–the final ingredient Billy needs to complete his freeze ray. So what is Wonderflonium and why can’t we bounce it? Taking a look at some prior texts might help enlighten us. The 2003 film The Core refers to a substance known as Unobtanium. The 2010 film Avatar also references obtainting Unobtanium as the reason earthlings …

Fist Clench

At the end of the film when Billy finally joins the Evil League of Evil, we see him put on his new red Dr. Horrible suit. His white gloves have also been switched out for black ones, which he proceeds to don a menacing fashion:

Figure 1: glove1.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

Figure 2: glove2.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

This menacing fist clench may be familiar to some. It’s a common indicator of one’s power, and very popular among villains. The most famous of these include:

Figure 3: sith-14.jpg (Source: Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)

Having got what he finally wanted, Billy has embraced his dark side and left behind the morals which previously kept him from qualifying as an actual villain. The red color of his new suit and a fist clenching motion help indicate to us the path he has chosen. This motion is not only significant to us because of the aggression behind it, but because one may recognize it as a motion often seen performed by villains.

Figure 4: the-incredibles-syndrome.jpg (Source: The Incredibles, 2004)

This motion is, of course, not exclusive to villains. They are not the only ones with power to emphasize. I happen to practice this myself when it’s winter time and I have an excuse to wear my leather gloves.

Figure 5: hagaren-1.jpg (Source: FullMetal Alchemist, n.d.)

Figure 6: 11204316-success-kid.jpg (Source: prlog.com, 2011)

 

Dr. Horrible/Billy pt. 2

“The text is a tissue of quotations… The writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original. His only power is to mix writings, to counter the ones with the others, in such a way as never to rest on any one of them” (Barthes, 1977, p. 146, as cited in Daniel Chandlers Intertextuality webpage, 2003)

The amount of genres Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog waltzes through is impressive, and a good illustration of the power to “mix writings in such a way as to never rest on any one of them.” The film cannot be defined solely by any one of it’s genres. This to me, despite the film’s somewhat fantastical nature, brings it closer to reality. Our lives have an unpredictability that could never fit inside the narrow constraints of one genre.

Now that I’ve pointed out some of the ways Billy’s character references romantic comedy narratives, I will explore several aspects of Billy’s intertextuality with superheroes and villains.

To start with we have Billy’s super-villain name: Dr. Horrible. By observing his dress and surroundings, which are often filled with electronic gizmos and devices, we can determine that he’s really more of a scientist sort–not a doctor in the medical sense.

Figure 1: billyscientist1.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

Figure 2: billyscientist2.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

Although, he does keep an awful lot of brain scans on his walls.

Figure 3: billybrainscans.png (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

Many film genres contain various sorts of scientists or geniuses who are, more often than not, villains, or who through the extremity of their work do evil deeds or create creatures of evil. A scientist may often be characterized as crazy or mentally unstable. Just doing a quick Google search provides plenty of characters which look eerily similar to Billy—complete with goggles:

Figure 4: 20071017-mad_scientist_caricature.png (Source: Mediagunaxin.com)

Figure 5: 811_docbrown.jpg (Source: Back to the Future, 1985)

Figure 6: mad-scientist.jpg (Source: Metrolic.com)

Figure 7: mad-scientist-800-478x600.jpg (Source: Nicholas Froehlich, 2011)

Figure 8: 2007_7young-frankenstein.jpg (Source: Young Frankenstein, 1974)

Figure 9: proffarnsworth.jpg (Source: Futurama, 2011)

After seeing these images, which are only a few out of hundreds, it becomes clear that Billy’s appearance is “based upon characters from previous works.” (Berger, 2005, p. 77)

So what about his personality? For a good portion of the film Dr. Horrible is quite the misnomer. Except for one instance of Wonderflonium theft (which will be discussed more later), and some humorous although highly creepy stalking, Billy seems to be a decent guy; certainly more decent than his “hero” nemesis Captain Hammer. Again we find a disconnect, this one between our expectations of the mad scientist–our embodied cultural capital of how these sorts of blokes should behave– and the sort of bloke Billy really is.

However, this stereotype has not been completely disregarded. Throughout the journey of the film we see Billy turn into a more traditional mad scientist. As I mentioned before, Billy constantly struggles between his morals and what he wishes to accomplish and be in the world: between being “Billy” and being “Dr. Horrible.” The repeated thwarting of his efforts by Captain Hammer eventually pushes him over the edge, and we see the beginnings of a true mad scientist. Like a lot superhero movies, and unlike a lot of romantic comedies where everything seems to turn out wonderfully no matter what you do, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog emphasizes the power of your choices.

Figure 10: halfface.jpg (Source: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, 2008)

You may be familiar with a few recent movies detailing the origins of some of certain popular superheroes, showing how they became who they are. To name a few: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men: First Class, Batman Begins.

In each of these films we see the protagonists confronted with extraordinary circumstances that challenge them to embrace their destiny and choose the higher road of heroism. To me, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog is performing a similar exercise. Except in this case it portrays Billy’s journey towards becoming a villain. By the time you reach the end of the film, instead of feeling a sense of conclusion, you feel like you’ve just read the first chapter of an epic.

Thankfully, there is a part two to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog currently being worked on. Hopefully this will afford us more in depth character development, and we will be able to see what part this chapter plays in Billy’s overall story.

Everything You Ever

Slipping

A Man’s Gotta Do

Bad Horse

Main Theme