Which is the Greatest Dectective out of these three: Batman, L, or Sherlock Holmes?

My friend and I usually ramble on about ridiculous things during Lunch, and the main thing that came up today was who was the World's Greatest Detective? Off the top of my head, L from Death Note came up, and he brought up Sherlock Holmes. We engaged in a battle with really bad logic until we got up to the sidekicks, which we both then agreed how both Watson and Watari were pretty awesome. Later, I brought up Alfred Pennyworth as an awesome sidekick, then we realized we forgot to factor in Batman. Whoops, right? Anyway, I'm wondering what the general consensus is?



It's the frikin' Batman! Not only is he the Dark Knight, but he's also of genius intellect, has top physical capability, is incredibly rich, and an adamant pursuer of justice. He's perfect, so skilled he's a superhero in his own rights and has bunches of super-powered buddies he can call up *coughjusticeleaguecough* if he needs their help or vice versa. I'm pretty sure we both agreed he's up there.



L from Death Note was my vote, and I think he's awesome is why. XD He has lots of ticks, but that makes him all the more intriguing. Most of all, he loves to eat sweets! Though, his morals aren't that high as he condones lying and such. He's also super genius, and technically he hasn't really had a case that he didn't solve. Sure, Kira won, but he found out in the end and that was good enough. Still sad, though. T_T He also seems to be trained in Capoeira, which is a Martial Art that was originally disguised as dance. Also, he's the World's Top Three Detectives at the same time, and he rakes in the money as he solves cases with ease.



My friend's vote was Robert Downey Jouni-err, I mean Sherlock Holmes. He isn't super genius or rich, but he's very good with his methods of finding the truth. He isn't the best person either, probably the same level of sociability as his morality; very low. He has skill with fencing and fist-fighting, but he's a druggie on cocaine and morphine. His cleanliness level is also incredibly low, but hey, nobody's perfect. =\

 

Sherlock Holmes. Infinitely.

I don't see Batman as much of a detective, though I'm not an expert on Batman.
And I don't like Death Note (LE GASPETH!).
Sherlock Holmes rocks more, anyways.

Spoiler

 

I say L from Death Note. He's extremely bright, has solved every case he comes across, and although his standards are rather low, he does not falter in his theories when more than one person is telling him he's wrong. He's not the best role model as he eats nothing but sweets and he lies quite often, but we're not determining who's the best role model now are we?
I honestly don't see how Batman would win, it seems Alfred does more of the detective work than he does.



And you have to admit, that's just cute.

 

All three. If they worked together, it'd be the most badass thing on the planet.

(Also, throw in Conan. He can be their mascot.)

 

None of Sherlock's or Batman's enemies have outsmarted and killed them as far as I know.
I say Sherlock
Batman
Then L.

In terms of coolness, that's another matter.

 

Sherlock Holmes. I grew up in the time that Batman was just another superhero between the original and new phases of him being a superhero-detective so I can't see Batman as a detective when compared to Sherlock Holmes. And L

Spoiler

died before discovering Kira (I think, it's been a while since I've seen DN)

 

Sherlock Holmes. If not for him, there probably wouldn't be as big of an interest in action-themed detectives, or even detectives in general.
And same with me as with Fayt; to me Batman was a superhero, not a detective.

 

Well................ He died during, if I may be so specific.

 

Batman is the world's greatest detective. Period.

 

Batman is not a detective. Detectives take calculable steps towards their conclusions using the best evidence they can find. Batman has a trope named after him that almost directly defies this. Batman is a collector; his subject is crime scene data. And the mangled skulls of his victims.

L is a very poor detective. He deliberately went against his better judgment to make the call on the Kira case. In fact, he seems to do that a lot. The fact that his world is apparently fueled by cases where he can do this and still be right is inconsequential; in this world, he would catch very few criminals. EDIT: Plus, he died.

Sherlock Holmes is the only one who comes off as remotely believable, combining the calculated approach with the occasional, healthy hunch to arrive at his conclusion. It's the sort of detective skill that is required to catch particularly crafty criminals while not quite falling over the edge and devolving into wild, mass guessing. He skirts that edge so well that he can always snap himself back to logical thinking and still be able to tell when it won't do him any good and he needs to follow his gut. So he takes my vote.

 

I've never thought of Batman as a detective o_o

Sherlock Holmes fersure. He seems like the more traditional detective out of the three of them, and as DPWolf said there probably wouldn't be that much interest in detectives without him.

 

YEAH! L is awesome and just because light killed him doesn't mean that he wasn't a great detective anyway. and watari is kinda cool. although it was coller in the first episode when nobody knew who either one of them really was. but you know who batman and sherlock holmes are and you know what they look like... easy kill man, eaaaasy kill.

 

Despite all the death traps thrown at him, Holmes never died.
And the one time that he was assumed dead, he came back.
Not to mention that Holmes is probably of the same intelligence, if not more intelligent, than L.

 

If it wasn't for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's masterpiece, I never would have picked up a book in my life. I read most of the Sherlock Holmes novels as a kid, and I've been reading mystery/detective novels ever since then.

My answer to this, is indeed, quite elementary.

 

It is a tie between L and Sherlock...in my opinion.

 

I'll go with Sherlock. Batman is more of a superhero with cool gadgets and all. It is rather annoying how DC is trying to promote him as a detective.

As for L: the way his character was handled and the ways he could find answers sometimes seemed completely absurd. He is sure a fine detective but not top in my book.

But in the end they all died. Even Batman.

@DPWolf: The only reason Sherlock came back from the dead it was because "fans" wanted him back. Sir Arthur was quite forced, if i can use that term in this case, he didn't intend to resurrect him. So it is a bit of a "filler" situation.

 

...Wait a minute. What am I saying? Disregard my last post, I was a naive fool.



There is no Batman, L, or Sherlock Holmes. Only Problem Sleuth.

 

proffessor layton ftw

 

Oh yeah, he should have taken Batman's place.

 

In 1939, Batman made his debut appearance in Detective Comics #27.


And if you haven't read any comics, I would probably avoid saying something like that.