5 Sherlock Holmes Villains Better Than Moriarty, Ranked

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Batman and The Joker, James Bond and Blofeld, Superman and Lex Luthor – these are some of the most famous hero-villain pairings ever created, and many believe they wouldn’t be as impactful without each other. A truly great hero needs a worthy opponent, and that opponent makes the story much more compelling. Interestingly, these rivalries often draw inspiration from the original: the battle between Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and the brilliant criminal mastermind, Professor James Moriarty.

For years, most Sherlock Holmes stories have featured Professor Moriarty as his greatest enemy, and that makes sense – Moriarty caused Holmes a lot of trouble in the original books, secretly manipulating events. However, Holmes faced many villains throughout the stories and in various adaptations. Some of these other antagonists are actually more compelling or challenging than Moriarty, and they deserve more recognition as well.

Lord Henry Blackwood Wielded Fear of the Occult as a Weapon

When creating the recent Sherlock Holmes films, which portray the detective as a more physically active and combative character, the filmmakers needed a powerful villain to challenge Holmes’ incredible detective skills. They found this in Mark Strong, who played the menacing Lord Henry Blackwood – a character presented as having supernatural abilities himself, thanks to a suggestion from co-writer Lionel Wigram.

Aleister Blackwood was a deeply disturbing figure – a practitioner of the occult, leader of a dangerous cult, and a serial killer. He was rumored to have manipulated five people into committing suicide. Throughout the film, he demonstrates terrifying powers, like setting a man on fire and causing another to drown while seemingly asleep. To top it off, he even returns from the dead after being executed for his crimes – truly frightening stuff.

Holmes, operating in a world defined by scientific principles, uncovers Blackwood as a deceiver and imposter. Blackwood’s seemingly terrifying acts were actually a scheme to gain political influence, with the ultimate goal of taking over the British Empire and then the United States.

Despite this reveal, Blackwood remained a compelling villain – truly frightening and effectively menacing. The idea of the supernatural was a frequent element in many of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes stories. In that sense, Blackwood felt like a tribute to tales like The Hound of the Baskervilles, where seemingly demonic killings are ultimately exposed as a complex scheme designed to gain a large inheritance.

Eurus Holmes Is Sherlock’s Hannibal Lecter-esque Little Sister

Writers of movies and books have often taken liberties with the original Sherlock Holmes stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle. As a result, Sherlock Holmes has, at different times, been given younger sisters. Many Netflix viewers will recognize Enola, portrayed by Millie Bobby Brown, as one such sister. She’s depicted as a determined and clever young woman who challenges the norms of her time by becoming a detective just as skilled as her brother.

But Sian Brooke plays another version of the youngest Holmes sibling, Eurus, in a memorable and debated episode featuring Benedict Cumberbatch.

This character is the complete opposite of what you might expect – and for good reason. She’s a highly intelligent sociopath who manipulates people into committing terrible acts, like harming their own families. While she matches Sherlock Holmes in her ability to solve problems, she lacks any feeling or concern for others. This made her an extremely dangerous enemy, even though she spent most of her life in a secure psychiatric facility.

Even while in prison, she reluctantly assisted the British government in stopping terrorist plots, all while secretly devising an elaborate scheme to ruin her well-known brother’s life. This plan, typical of Sherlock, was incredibly complex and unbelievable, but Brooke portrayed Eurus with heartbreaking cruelty. Her personal history with Sherlock makes her, arguably, a more compelling villain than Moriarty.

In Some Tales, Holmes Matched Wits With Jack the Ripper Himself

The Whitechapel murders happened in London between 1888 and 1891. Interestingly, Sherlock Holmes first appeared in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlet just a year before the killings began. Because of this close timing, people often link Holmes and the Ripper, even though one is a character from a story and the other was a real-life criminal.

For over a century, writers have been captivated by the thought of Sherlock Holmes solving some of history’s most famous unsolved murder cases. This fascination has resulted in numerous appearances where Holmes investigates Jack the Ripper – in films, TV shows, comics, books, and video games.

The 1965 film A Study in Terror famously depicts Holmes investigating the Ripper murders, with John Neville playing Holmes and John Fraser as Lord Carfax, who is ultimately revealed as the killer. The film portrays the murders as the desperate act of an aristocrat attempting to safeguard his family’s reputation. Christopher Plummer’s portrayal of Holmes uncovers a conspiracy that reaches the upper levels of the British government. This connection to the real-life Ripper case raises the question: does it make the Ripper a more compelling adversary for Holmes than Moriarty? It certainly adds to the challenge.

Culverton Smith Has a Skin-Crawling Similarity to a Real-Life Monster

As a longtime Sherlock Holmes fan, I’ve always found the character of Culverton Smith particularly chilling. He’s the villain in “The Adventure of the Dying Detective,” and the story starts with Holmes appearing to be on his deathbed, suffering from some mysterious tropical illness. He requests a visit from Smith, which immediately feels off. It doesn’t take long to realize Smith isn’t just a scientist – he’s the one who poisoned Holmes! And the method? That same ivory box spring that previously sickened and ultimately killed his brother, Victor. It’s a brilliantly twisted plot, and Smith is a truly memorable adversary.

Following his confession, Holmes surprisingly reveals he’d known Smith was the criminal all along and had been pretending to be ill. This case is considered one of Holmes’ most cleverly solved mysteries and was featured in the 1994 UK television series The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, before the character of Smith reappeared in a later story.

Toby Jones’ portrayal of Smith in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny differed greatly from the character in the original stories. This Smith was a famous businessman who pretended to be a philanthropist, hiding his sinister side. Horrifically, he murdered patients in the hospital he funded with his charity. After being unable to resist confessing to his crimes, he would then drug people—even his own daughter—to erase their memories of his admissions.

Let me tell you, Jones absolutely nailed the role of Smith – truly chilling. But what made this performance even more unsettling, especially for a UK audience, was how closely Smith’s story mirrored the horrifying revelations surrounding Jimmy Savile. Savile, a national treasure for years, was later exposed as a predator who hid behind a public image of charity and kindness. Seeing that pattern play out again with Smith just amplified the terror, making it deeply disturbing and unforgettable.

Sebastian Moran Is Arguably Even More Deadly Than Moriarty

In the stories by Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes identified Colonel Sebastian Moran as the second most dangerous man in London. A skilled former soldier and big game hunter – considered the best shooter in the British Empire – Moran was Professor Moriarty’s chief assistant and carried out his most dangerous tasks.

He’s acted in several Sherlock Holmes adaptations, including the series Sherlock and Elementary. However, he’s likely most recognizable for his role in Guy Ritchie’s 2011 film, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. In that movie, he played Colonel Moran, a former British soldier who became a hired gun for Moriarty, with Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders) delivering a subtly threatening performance.

If Sherlock Holmes thought Colonel Moran was the second most dangerous man he’d ever faced, and Moran worked mostly as Moriarty’s assistant, how could he be a more compelling villain than Moriarty himself? The key is that Moriarty remained a mysterious figure, operating from the background. Moran, however, was the most lethal opponent Holmes ever battled directly. He nearly succeeded in killing Holmes with a specially-made, silenced rifle crafted by a blind German artisan.

Moran is an interesting figure because he offers a striking comparison to the other man. Both were soldiers and consistently positioned themselves as dependable partners to someone they saw as their intellectual equal, or even superior.

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2025-11-28 00:10