James Moriarty (A Game of Shadows)

"Let us not waste any more of one another's time. We both know how this ends."

- Professor Moriarty's most famous quote

Moriarty appears as the main antagonist in the 2011 film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

He is portrayed by Jared Harris.

Biography
He made a previous appearance in Sherlock Holmes, as the Bigger Bad main antagonist and his role was complete uncredited, so he is the true main antagonist of the films.

This version, complete with beard, bears a strong resemblance to purported Moriarty inspiration Adam Worth. During the film, Sherlock Holmes comes into conflict with Moriarty after he poisons Irene Adler to death, deeming her expendable after she succumbs to her feelings for Holmes. During his inquiries into Moriarty's criminal activities, Holmes learns that the professor had managed to "buy, scheme or murder" his way into various businesses, including arms and chemical weaponry, without leaving any criminal evidence that could be traced back to him. In order to create a demand for his vast supply of weaponry, Moriarty attempts to provoke a world war using bombs and by sending an assassin into a crucial conference using an early form of plastic surgery. At one point in the film, Moriarty captures Homes and tortures him while singing the German song "Die Forelle" by Franz Schubert.

With Dr. John Watson having deduced his assassin's identity in Switzerland while Moriarty is occupied in a chess game with Holmes, Holmes reveals to Moriarty that he had managed to steal the professor's personal diary containing all the information on his empire and investments. Having cracked the code needed to decipher his handwriting, Holmes had sent the diary back to London for his colleagues to work on, reducing Moriarty's enormous fortune to practically nothing.

A furious Moriarty responds by telling Holmes that he will kill both Watson and his wife in retaliation for what Holmes has done to him, but Holmes realizes that he cannot defeat Moriarty in a direct fight due to an injury in his shoulder sustained during his recent torture by Moriarty. Wanting to protect Watson from Moriarty's revenge, Holmes instead grapples Moriarty over the balcony and they both tumble into the Reichenbach Falls, while a horrified Watson watches from afar. Holmes is later shown to have survived the fall, presumably due to having taken his brother Mycroft's oxygen breathing apparatus with him, while Moriarty is presumably dead.

However, Sherlock Holmes has recently announced a third film, implying that Moriarty could return.