Professor Moriarty

Real Name: Professor James Moriarty

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Maths Professor, Crimelord, spy

Affiliations: Sebastian Moran, Campion Bond

Enemies: Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Known Relatives: Colonel James Moriarty (brother)

Aliases: The Napoleon of Crime, M

Base of Operations: London, c.1890s.

First Appearance: (original) The Final Problem; (this version) League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #4 (America's Best Comics)

Powers/Abilities: Moriarty was a criminal genius. While an older man and given to dealing with problems using his brains rather than brawn, he was clearly a good hand-to-hand fighter when pushed, as he was able to give the extremely strong, martial arts knowledgeable Holmes a run for his money when they fought atop the Reichenbach Falls.

History: Recruited by the British Government after graduating from Cambridge, Moriarty excelled at espionage. When the decision was made to create a crime lord through whom the Government could control crime in their empire, Moriarty was the logical choice. He was almost too successful, and his work brought him into conflict with the consulting detective Sherlock Holmes. After his battle with Holmes atop the Reichenbach Falls, Moriarty was recalled to London, where he was promoted to the role of head of M.I.5, despite the objections of Mycroft Holmes, the brother of Sherlock Holmes.

Although Moriarty's criminal gang controlled over half of London, he was still in dire competion with the Chinese crime lord called 'the Doctor' for control over the whole. Therefore, when the Doctor stole the antigravity mineral known as Cavorite, Moriarty had his agent Campion Bond recruit the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to regain it. Quite why he went to such elaborate means to regain the Cavorite is unknown, but presumably he didn't want to alert the Government to his criminal business by using the normal resources of the secret service.

The endeavour was successful up to a point; while Moriarty managed to regain the cavorite and use it in his airship, the League worked out his true identity thanks to Griffin spying on Bond and Moriarty. They then used a hot air ballon that Nemo had been given some years ago to get onto Moriarty's airship during a battle with the Doctor's forces; while Nemo, Quartermain and Hyde took care of Moriarty's forces, Mina broke the glass case that held the Cavorite, letting it drift up into the sky while leaving the airship behind. Moriarty tried to catch it, but instead he floated up into the air with it, leaving the League to evacuate in the balloon.

Comments: Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but adapted for the League by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.

Thanks to "David" for much of the above profile.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

Back to General UK Comic Book Heroes.

Back to UK Superheroes Main Page.

Home

All images and characters depicted on this site are copyright their respective holders, and are used for informational purposes only. No infringement is intended and copyrights remain at source.