Summary
- Sherlock Holmes and Batman are iconic detectives with different approaches to solving crimes and different locales for their cases.
- Sherlock Holmes primarily solves European cases using inductive reasoning, while Batman focuses on Gotham City and seeks out criminal acts actively.
- Sherlock Holmes has a higher case closure rate in literary works, while Batman has appeared in more TV and movie projects overall.
While crime is seemingly ageless in books and movies, those who solve it haven’t always had the opportunity to bask in the same limelight. Having been developed as late as the mid-1800s, stories about detectives are a somewhat newer phenomenon. From cozy mysteries to hard-boiled Noir, crimes and the private dicks that solve them seem to span time, medium, and genre. Even now, after nearly 200 years, they’re still going strong.
Batman and Sherlock Holmes are perhaps two of the best-known detectives of the genre, albeit for very different reasons. Their dichotomy is obvious — one a purely 19th-century London recluse, the other a costumed superhero. Together they share two of the highest caseloads in all of detective fiction. In doing so, they perfectly encapsulate the adaptiveness of the detective genre over time. But who between the two of them is the more successful detective? Let’s take a look!
The Criminals, the Cases, and How they Solve Them
The cases these two literary-themed detectives have to deal with are, to be fair, about as similar as apples and oranges. The criminals in Sherlock Holmes’ cases were indeed considered worldly for the Victorian/Edwardian eras, featuring locales like Bohemia, a country that is now part of Czechoslovakia. Most of his cases, particularly in TV and film, are centered in and around the continent of Europe. The vast majority of his cases, however, came to him in his flat at 221B Baker Street, London.
As a consulting detective, he would wait around to receive cases from those who came to call. Cases might manifest from anyone from grieving family members to newspaper articles of interest, or Scotland Yard. Most of the criminals in question, therefore, were of European descent and included quite a few highbrow titles. His main methodology is inductive reasoning; he uses his skills and the known elements of the crime to come up with an analysis. While notorious for keeping the answer to a crime close to the chest at a crime scene, even from his closest confidants like Watson, he seems to relish the opportunity to prove to everyone just how he came up with the solution.
Most, though certainly not all, of Batman’s crime-fighting also occurs in one main locale — that of Gotham City. Modeled on New York City, it is here primarily that Batman prowls. His more well-known cases involve criminals released from the dreaded Arkham Asylum, most of whom are hell-bent on taking over Gotham while wearing an outrageous amount of spandex. That being said, he has been known to breach other countries and galaxies for that matter, particularly in his animated TV specials.
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Unlike Holmes who takes cases out of boredom, Batman actively scouts out his territory, seeking hidden criminal acts. He is also sometimes summoned by his sometimes co-worker, Commissioner Gordon, using the iconic Bat Signal. Those who dare bring a case to his Batcave, beware. This subterranean bunker, hidden beneath Wayne Manor, is equipped with all sorts of state-of-the-art gadgetry to help solve any case. Bruce Wayne has enough money to both acquire and solve most cases at his disposal. What he does once he catches them, however, is another story. Those who make it back to their respective Gotham precincts or local hospitals alive or not gravely injured are few and far between.
How the Cases Stack Up
Let’s take a look at the cases by the numbers, starting with the literary works… Yes, that includes graphic novels and comics. The original Arthur Conan Doyle series produced 60 Sherlock Holmes tales in just under 40 years, each with a 100% solution rate. That’s right… 100%. In this case, each case was solved, even if the problem remained — such is the case with A Scandal in Bohemia, in which Irene Adler made her first appearance. That’s not including the plethora of so-called Sherlock Holmes’ pastiches, a.k.a. the imitations and offshoots, of which there are at least 400, nor the cases mentioned as solved during the course of the originals, which is closer to 100. Assuming most of the imitations resulted in a solution, which is fair to say in his case, that’s a solid 500 plus cases solved.
Batman’s numbers aren’t shabby either. Considering the Caped Crusader has been in business for nearly 90 years and is the main feature of upwards of 1000 issues (not including team-ups, which puts that number closer to 2000), Holmes would have some considerable ground to cover to catch up. That being said, many of these cases span multiple issues. Just because his solution rate per issue isn’t perfect, however, doesn’t mean he’s not doing his job well. According to Detective Comics #999, within a three-year span, Batman had reduced the rate of outright homicides from 231 lives lost per year to 182. How many of those homicides came from him, however, is still up for debate.
The final tally comes from the culmination of these two characters on screen. Sherlock Holmes has been featured well over 250 times on screen (and that was over a decade ago). He has been played by over 75 actors. Batman is slowly but surely catching up, with 10 in total. Not counting individual appearances within a TV series, he has been featured in at least 137 TV and movie projects. In breaking this down, there is a definite divide between big and small screen appearances. Holmes easily leads the way on the big screen with at least 200 movies, but the two are nearly neck and neck as far as TV shows, at around 30. It would have been easy to assume that Batman has the lead, considering the number of animated TV shows he’s been involved with. However, it can’t be assumed that each of these appearances resulted in a case closed.
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It’s difficult to put a measurement to justice, but these two have certainly tried. As far as cases solved, however, it’s hard for the Caped Crusader to argue that while he might be better equipped.Sherlock Holmes simply has the numbers to back himself up. To be fair, Holmes did have a bit of a head start. Had Holmes been placed closer to Batman’s timeline, this might have been a much different fight. One thing’s for sure though — audiences will be clamoring for a rematch!
