Lord Henry Blackwood is the main antagonist of Guy Ritchie's 2009 Sherlock Holmes film. A devious cultist and a scientific genius, Blackwood inspires fear in the people of England after he returns from the dead in order to enact a terrible plan to overthrow the British Empire. He is portrayed by Mark Strong.
History[]
At the beginning of the film, Blackwood is confronted by Sherlock Holmes and arrested for several accounts of murder and the practice of "black magic". He is sentenced to death and hanged, but mere hours after his execution he apparently comes back to life, thus instilling an atmosphere of terror across London.
While everyone fears Blackwood's arcane powers, Sherlock Holmes eventually deduces that the criminal's "sorcery" is all the work of elaborate scientific devices and careful planning. With the aid of his allies in the Temple of the Four Orders, he had staged his death and his coffin had only been sealed with a weak sandstone lid. He developed a device which could be operated by remote radio waves, capable of releasing cyanide gas into Parliament and thus wiping out the entire government, allowing Blackwood to seize control of the British Empire and eventually conquer the world. Blackwood's scheme was exposed and thwarted by Sherlock Holmes who sabotaged his chemical weapon and fought the mastermind in a sword duel on the incomplete Tower Bridge.
Death[]
Holmes and Blackwood have an intense sword fight atop Tower Bridge until Holmes pushes Blackwood off the bridge onto a mess of chains and ropes. As Holmes explains how he deduced Blackwood's trickery, Blackwood struggles to untangle the rope around his ankle as he is being dragged by the weight of a metal beam tied to the other end. He fails to free himself and he falls, becoming entangled by several dangling chains. One chain becomes wrapped around his neck and Blackwood is hanged, this time for real.