Sherlock Holmes has held the title of the World’s Greatest Detective for a long time – although modern day readers may subscribe that DC Comics’ Batman deserves that title just as much. Remarkably, the Dark Knight Detective and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s master sleuth actually got to meet at one point in DC Comics. Even more remarkable? Batman didn’t have to travel back in time – because Sherlock Holmes is still alive and well in the present-day DC Comics universe!
To fully appreciate how all of this is possible, one must consider Sherlock Holmes’ relationship to the DC Universe. While Holmes is a fictional character in our reality, he is very real in the world of DC Comics, and possessed of great determination and will that could actually supersede Bruce Wayne himself.
Holmes first made his presence known in the DC Universe in Flash Comics #69. In this comic book, published back in 1946, Sherlock Holmes made an appearance in a back-up feature starring Hawkman. Titled “The Flaming Curse,” it saw Carter Hall (aka Hawkman) recruit a retired Sherlock Holmes to help solve an arson case. Although Holmes never gave his name, his appearance and deductive abilities indicated who he was (he even deduced Hawkman’s true identity by observing a feather in his pant cuff!)
Sherlock Holmes was already elderly when he met Hawkman – but decades later (both in real time and comic book time), Batman got the shock of his life when he met up with the World’s Greatest Detective, now positively ancient. In Detective Comics #572, writer Mike W. Barr scripted “The Doomsday Book,” a tale to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics.
The story involved a plot by Moriarty’s descendant to assassinate the queen of England. Virtually every major detective in DC Comics’ long history – including Batman, Robin, the Elongated Man, and even Siegel and Shuster’s private eye Slam Bradley – got involved in the case, along with the Doctor Watson’s great-great granddaughter (who turned out to be engaged to Moriarty’s other, less-villainous descendant).
In the end, however, it turned out all the detectives were being subtly guided by an additional legendary detective who revealed himself to dispatch the villain in the last few pages. Although he never gave his name, Sherlock Holmes showed he was still alive and well in the present-day DC universe, despite being well over one-hundred years old. Thanks to a good diet, regular infusions of royal jelly (as Holmes was a skilled beekeeper), and the clean Tibetan air where Holmes chose to retire, the World’s Greatest Detective discovered the secret to a long, healthy life. (He also mentioned he stopped smoking – and in all likelihood kicked his cocaine and morphine addictions as well).
While Sherlock Holmes hasn’t made many appearances since in DC Comics, his brief but memorable cameos show that DC Comics holds the legendary sleuth in high esteem. As Holmes basically helped create the archetype that heroes like Batman and Slam Bradley were based off of, it’s only fitting that he continues to live – and thrive – in the DC Universe.