Doctor Horrible’s Song Along Blog is an amazing and eye opening musical that will have your emotions racing. If you haven’t seen this movie… stop what you’re doing right now! Just stop. Go look it up, it’s on YouTube. Finish reading this when you are done.

Without any restrain on spoilers, here are 10 things you can learn from Doctor Horrible.

1. Make goals for yourself: From the start of the film, Doctor Horrible’s goals are to get into the Evil League of Evil (ELE) and to create a future with Penny. Penny has goals too; she wants to bring hope to the city and help those in need. Her major goal is to open the Caring Hands Homeless Shelter, which is achieved with help, not from the city like she has planned, but from Captain Hammer. Captain Hammers goal is to make Doctor Horrible’s life miserable, so in turn, his goals are to stop all of Doctor Horrible’s plans and to take Penny away from him as well. Making goals for yourself will help you determine what you want most in life and aid you in achieving them.
2. Don’t be afraid to just go for it, don’t hesitate: Doctor Horrible, also known as Billy, tries time and time again to talk to the pretty girl at the laundry mat. However, he is just too scared. He hesitates to start a conversation which then snowballs into her death. Billy also hesitates to kill Captain Hammer. This too leads to the death of Penny. I’m not saying that hesitation is bad and will lead to death, but Billy’s life would have been so much happier had he just went for it and stared talking to her. Sometimes you got to do what you got to do and life leaves no room to thing.
3. Keep your priorities straight: Billy’s priority was to talk to Penny, Doctor Horrible’s priory was to get into the ELE. These worlds clashed when Bad Horse made him pick. This is seen when Billy is trying to take the Wonderflonium from the currier van and Penny starts talking to him. Billy is forced in that moment to choose a path, one with the girl of his dreams, the other the job of his dreams. In the end, Billy chooses his super villain life which is reflected upon by his past choices. If he had picked his priority and stuck to it, Penny would never have met Captain Hammer, and she and Billy would be living happily ever after. It boils down to: you can’t have everything in life.
4. Strength is far more than physical: Captain Hammer, naturally muscular, can throw cars and “stop vans.” He even throws around grown men. But just because he is physically strong doesn’t mean he isn’t weak. Billy gets beat up on a daily by Captain Hammer. He gets punched, and pushed, his arm gets dislocated, and gets tossed like a rag doll, but, he never gives up. Doctor Horrible always shakes off the dust and goes back to the drawing board. This is true strength. The second Captain Hammer felt pain he went crying for his mommy and was never heard from again. This just adds to the idea that it’s not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you can get his and then get back up. Doctor Horrible is a prime example of persistence and strength.
5. Technology isn’t always your friend: This day on age we don’t want to be hearing that. But it’s true. Phones fail and lap tops break, it’s just fact. Billy shows us this when the remote to the van stops working and almost kills Penny. Another time technology turn on Doctor Horrible is when he goes to get the jump on Heroes Memorial Bridge and the LAPD was waiting for him and the freeze ray didn’t work right away. This happened because he was to open about his plans on his blog. Another time technology really fails to pull through for him was in the last moments of the battle, when Doctor Horrible was a second away from killing Captain Hammer and the freeze ray runs out of power. This causes the death ray to become damaged and then explode. Rarely does Billy have a good experience with technology and the instruments he builds.
6. A hero is all in perspective: Everyone in LA seems to be in love with Captain Hammer which is ironic for the viewer because we know Captain Hammer is the truly horrible person. But, he stops bad guys and beings change into the community, so he is the hero. Doctor Horrible on the other hand is the viewer’s hero because he has morals and just wants to get a job and fall in love. Yes, he is “evil” but I see Captain Hammer as far more of a threat to society than Billy pretends to be.
7. Looks can be deceiving: Penny says this right from the start, “he’s a really good looking guy,” about Captain Hammer. He seems nice and friendly but, in reality, he just wants to make his nemesis upset. Billy, on the other hand, comes off as a simple character with a simple life, but really is a super villain who cares deeply for certain people and things. Penny, a very transparent character, has her own dark side that even surprised the protagonist. Very few could have guessed she too had a hard life growing up.
8. Revenge won’t give you want you want: Most movies revolve around this idea, but Doctor Horrible Sing Along Blog does it best. Because Billy felt a need to get bank at Captain Hammer, Penny dies. He loses everything he ever wanted and himself because of the revenge he wanted on Captain Hammer.
9. Stay true to yourself: At first, Doctor Horrible is a “humble” super villain. He won’t fight in parks where there are kids, he won’t hurt old people, and he makes a freeze ray so he can talk to the girl of his dreams. This changes drastically when Penny is taken from him. He then wants to kill Captain Hammer, rule over people with fear, and his innocent freeze ray escalates to a death ray which kills the girl of his dreams. Wavering from his true self lead to his own downfall as a human being.
10. Be careful what you wish for: Doctor Horrible and Billy are seemingly two different people wanting two different things in life, they struggle with their identities as a part of society or someone against it. Throughout the film we see those choices being made and the character slip more and more into his role as a super villain. In the final moment, Penny is lost in the cross fire, and Billy is lost with her. It is that exact second that Penny dies where Doctor Horrible takes over and Billy is pushed to blog about his hopes and dreams behind the computer. This drastic shift in character is due Doctor Horrible wishing repeatedly to become part of the ELE. He finally gets his dream, but it costed him a penny.