Henry Cavill plays Sherlock Holmes in Netflix’s Enola Holmes, and his version of the Great Detective continues his Superman confusion. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes made his debut in 1887 in A Story in Scarlet and went on to appear in various short stories and novels, making him one of the most popular and beloved characters in literature. The detective has been adapted to different media for over a hundred years, and some artists have borrowed him and other characters to make their own stories, with some even expanding their backstories.
Among those is Nancy Springer, author of The Enola Holmes Mysteries, a series of young adult fiction novels that gave Sherlock (and Mycroft) a younger sister: Enola. The youngest Holmes stopped seeing her brothers when she was little, and reunited with them years later after their mother, Eudoria, disappeared. Enola mentions that she always liked Sherlock and he was her favorite brother, and it’s easy to see why as this version of Sherlock is very different from the original one. Springer’s characters made the jump to film in Netflix’s Enola Holmes, with Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes, whose interpretation of the detective mirrors his version of Superman in DC's Extended Universe.
Enola Holmes’ Sherlock is more open with his feelings and a lot more comprehensive than the one in the books, which gives the character some freshness without deviating from the essence of the character. This change actually got Netflix sued by the Conan Doyle Estate, as they argued that the “emotional Sherlock Holmes” violates copyright as the stories where he’s described as having emotions were published between 1923 and 1927, and so they don’t fall under the public domain. Cavill’s different, post-culture Sherlock Holmes mirrors what he did with his Superman in the DCEU, who was also very different from the superhero found in the comic books and previous films.
Cavill’s Superman debuted in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel in 2013, marking the beginning of the DCEU, which aimed to bring various characters from DC Comics to a more grounded atmosphere. This meant making some changes to Superman, who leaned more towards a dark side, beginning with him killing Zod at the end of Man of Steel. However, Cavill’s Superman ended up being hurt not so much for bringing the beloved hero to a darker place, but for the inconsistency and lack of good material given to him during his time in the DCEU. This different take on Superman was confusing to some, as is the Sherlock Holmes in Enola Holmes, though the former leaned more towards the darkness in the character and the latter towards the light in him.
Contrary to Superman, it’s more likely that Cavill’s Sherlock Holmes will have a more consistent tone and story thanks to the source material, thus making it easier for the audience to overcome the initial confusion with this different Sherlock. Henry Cavill’s future in the DCEU remains a mystery, but his Sherlock Holmes has bigger chances of coming back if an Enola Holmes sequel is greenlit in the near future.