Sherlock Holmes: The Original Superhero
Like many people this holiday season, I went to see the movie Sherlock Holmes. I have been a fan since I first read Hound of the Baskervilles when I was in the sixth grade. I loved watching the old movies as well, especially the ones with Basil Rathbone. Many Holmes purists don’t like Guy Ritchie’s (the director) or Robert Downey, Jr.’s (Holmes) take on the infamous detective. However, their movie helped me see something in Holmes that I hadn’t seen before. Sherlock Holmes is the original superhero.
I know after reading that last statement many of you are wondering how I could say Holmes is a superhero when he’s nothing like Superman, who is thought to be the first comic book superhero. I would answer: isn’t Holmes the original “superman?” After consulting several dictionaries, I found that the consensus of the definition of a superhero is a fictional character with extraordinary or superhuman powers. For the most part, these “extraordinary or superhuman powers” have been translated as physical strength and invincibility. However, adhering to the definition of superhero, Holmes definitely has “extraordinary powers” that could be seen as “superhuman” at times.
Let’s think about the key elements that make up a superhero: strength, invulnerability (except for that one weakness that most superheroes have i.e. kryptonite), an archenemy, an alter-ego, at times a sidekick, and fame. Even if your only exposure to Holmes has been the current movie, you should begin to see how Holmes fits the criteria of a superhero, but just in case you don’t, let me break it down.
Strength
Until the Guy Ritchie movie, many people would not have equated Sherlock Holmes with strength, especially if their only pervious exposure had been the Basil Rathbone portrayal of Holmes, the original 90 pound weakling. However, Holmes’s past as a bare knuckle fighter is only alluded to in the stories; Holmes’s escapes from danger are never the result of brute strength but are the result of quick thinking, intelligence, and deduction. Herein lies the key to Holmes’s strength. His extraordinary and at times seemingly superhuman powers lie in his mind. His powers of deduction are intrinsically linked to his extraordinary attention to detail. Just by the whiff of tobacco on a man’s cloak, Holmes knows what rare type of tobacco a man smokes. By observing a bit of mud on the hem of a gentlewoman’s dress, he knows that she has been meeting her lover on the moor. But his powers of deduction would be nothing if it were not for his vast knowledge of—everything. There doesn’t seem to be a subject that Holmes does not have a working knowledge of. These talents combine to give Holmes what seems like superhuman intelligence.
Invulnerability
It’s true, bullets do not bounce of Sherlock Holmes like they do Superman; however, Holmes’s ability to extract himself and those around him from situations that seem impossible to survive qualify him as being invulnerable. He uses his knowledge and powers of deduction to stay at least one step ahead of the villains. Instead of using strength and force to get out of these scrapes, Holmes thinks his way out of them, making it seem impossible to trap him for any length of time or to kill him. But, like most superheroes, Holmes has a weakness—cocaine. Doctor Watson, the narrator of the Sherlock Holmes stories, well documents Holmes’s struggle with cocaine. Like a lot of intelligent people who become addicted to drugs, Holmes believes he can keep his addiction in control, but when he is not properly occupied by a case, his addiction often overwhelms him.
Archenemy
Superman has Lex Luther; Spiderman has the Green Goblin; Sherlock Holmes has Professor Moriarty, a man every bit as intelligent as Holmes, but a man who chooses to use his intelligence for evil instead of for good as Holmes does. Because Moriarty and Holmes are so perfectly matched, Moriarty continually eludes Holmes’s grasp. However, isn’t that part of the fun? Wouldn’t the stories end if the superhero caught his/her archenemy?
Alter Ego & Sidekick
Holmes does not have an alter ego in the sense that Clark Kent is the alterego of Superman. Holmes’s alter ego is more of a literary alter ego: Dr. Watson. While Dr. Watson is Holmes’s sidekick, he is also Holmes’s “other self,” which is the definition of alter ego. Like Holmes, Watson is multitalented; not only is he a doctor, but his is also a writer and the chronicler of Holmes’s adventures. In the movies made in the ’30s and ’40s, Nigel Bruce often portrayed Basil Rathbone’s counterpart. Bruce’s take on Watson was often as the bumbling idiot who fell into trouble and often needed Holmes to rescue him. He seemed more like Holmes’s foil than his helpmate, which is what Watson truly was to Holmes. In the stories, Holmes needs Watson because Watson is everything that Holmes is not. Watson is often able to relate to other people better than Holmes. Watson is a war hero and has had many adventures in India and Africa that Holmes at times draws upon to help him solve his cases. Watson is able to have a committed relationship with a woman where Holmes is not. The closest that Holmes ever comes to a romantic relationship is with his fascination with “the one that got away”: Irene Adler, the one con-artist who escapes Holmes’s grasp. Finally, Watson protects Holmes. He tries to help Holmes overcome his addiction, but when he is unsuccessful, he “rescues” Holmes from whatever drug den he is holed up in and brings Holmes home and takes care of him. Therefore, Dr. Watson is both Sherlock Holmes’s alter ego and his sidekick.
Fame
All superheroes are famous. When there is trouble, the superhero is the first called upon to set things right. Such is the case with Sherlock Holmes. In the stories, there wasn’t a man, woman, or child in England who did not know the name Sherlock Holmes. When Scotland Yard had a case that was not immediately solvable, the police came calling on Holmes to help them find the culprit. Likewise, when private citizens had a problem, they came to Holmes to help them find their run away spouses, lost or stolen jewels, and kidnapped children. Holmes never failed; he always came through as all superheroes do.
Over the weekend, I was watching the 1939 movie version of The Hound of the Baskervilles. In the movie, Holmes sends Watson to the countryside to protect their client because if Holmes himself had gone the villain would have been watching Holmes instead of trying to kill his target. No one seems to recognize Watson or even know who he is when he introduces himself. However, when Holmes finally does appear on the scene (because he had actually been there all along, only in disguise), he is immediately recognized without being introduced. When he questions the person who had identified him, the character replies, “Everyone in England knows who you are, Mr. Holmes.” Now because of the new movie, everyone in the world will know the name Sherlock Holmes.
Like all superheroes, being famous was wearisome to Holmes. He often had to disguise himself to do his work so that he would not alert anyone who may have been watching him as to what he was up to. The need to solve the case and always be correct in his deductions in order to maintain his status was also a burden. This burden often lead him to give in to his addiction, which was also a burden because of his fame. People only want to see their superheroes as strong, as someone to save them; they don’t want to deal with anyone’s weaknesses, let alone the person’s who is supposed to save them from their own weaknesses and problems.
A superhero is a fantasy created to help us believe that there will always be someone to save us. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, et al save people from physical danger. The fantasy of Sherlock Holmes as a superhero seems much more powerful to me. Holmes not only saves people from physical danger, but he also saves them from their own human frailties (greed, infidelity, lust, etc.). He is successful at saving people because, unlike Superman, Holmes is actually human and can understand these frailties because he shares them. On a daily basis, few people find themselves in physical danger and in need of a “Superman.” However, people daily struggle with their own weaknesses, which is why Holmes is the superhero we actually need.
January 5, 2010 1:14 pm 
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