Dante

For the DmC: Devil May Cry counterpart of the same character, see Dante/DmC: Devil May Cry.

This character, Dante, is 49 years old in 2022, based on his/hers birthday, which is 1973.

## Personal Info

### Age

19 (1992)
28 (2001)
34 (2007)
37 (2010)
45 (2018)
48 (2021)

## Relations

### Family

Sparda (father)
Eva (mother; deceased)
Vergil (older twin brother)
Nero (nephew)
Nero's mother (sister-in-law)

## Details

### Powers/Skills

Firearms
Demonic powers
Swordsmanship

### Type of Hero

Anti-Heroic Nihilist

“
Vergil: Don't you dare say *it*!

Dante: Jackpot!
”
—Vergil and Dante during the finale of *Devil May Cry 5*.

**Dante** is the recurring protagonist of the *Devil May Cry* franchise, and the main playable character for the majority of the games in the series. He is the second son of the demon Sparda and the human Eva, the younger twin brother of Vergil, and the uncle of Nero. Dante is a paranormal mercenary, private investigator and vigilante Devil Hunter dedicated to exterminating evil demons and other malevolent supernatural forces; a mission he follows in pursuit of those that killed his mother and corrupted his brother.

Dante firstly appears in Chapter 13 of Unity Force: Stories.

## Appearance

As stated in an interview with original series creator Hideki Kamiya in the *Devil May Cry Graphic Edition* artbook, the earliest ideas he had for Dante's design were centered around three key points; "***[a] long, stylish coat***" to make the character "showy", "***[a] British man***" as Kamiya wanted him to be a "witty, yet traditional fighting man", and "**doesn't smoke cigarette[s]**", believing that the character was too cool to smoke.

In the same interview, another noted influence on Dante both design-wise and character-wise was Cobra of the acclaimed Japanese manga and anime series *Space Adventure Cobra*. Kamiya believed Cobra's cocky attitude and red attire were key points for a "heroic" character. Ironically, despite Cobra being a heavy cigar smoker, Dante himself does not smoke, as Kamiya believed Dante to be cooler without a cigarette.

Ever since *Devil May Cry* started development as *Resident Evil 4*, Dante has had white hair. It's remained in a consistent style throughout the series, although there are a few differences between installments.

In *Devil May Cry,* *Devil May Cry 4, and Devil May Cry 5*, his hair is somewhat parted with his bangs brushed down; in *Devil May Cry 3* his hair is brushed down with his bangs partially covering his eyes, and in *Devil May Cry 2* his hair is much thicker, with his bangs parted in front of his right eye.

Dante has worn a myriad of clothing throughout his many appearances, yet his most glaring trait is his affinity for red-colored apparel, often in the form of long, two-tailed coats.

In *Devil May Cry 3*, Dante wears long, tan-colored jeans, black fingerless gloves, and military-style boots. His coat has zippers on the sleeves and a buckle around the waist, and two brown, leather holsters on the back to carry Ebony & Ivory. Contrary to later games, Dante does not wear any form of clothing underneath his coat, going shirtless throughout the whole game, displaying his silver half of the Perfect Amulet around his neck, as well as his bare, well-toned chest and muscular physique. Following Dante's first battle with Vergil, his half of the amulet is stolen and the right sleeve of his coat is damaged, with Dante tearing it off afterward. In his final confrontation with Vergil, his left glove is slashed across the palm by Yamato, and the epilogue shows that Dante keeps it on his desk, perhaps in remembrance of his lost brother.

In the original *Devil May Cry* and the 2007 anime adaptation, Dante wears red pants with two black belts wrapped around his right thigh, a black, leather belt, black gloves, and high, black boots. Dante's coat is much basic in design, with an upturned collar and short sleeves with black cuffs, though the coat lacks coattails. Underneath the coat, Dante wears what appears to be a black long-sleeved shirt, with a red vest with black clasps over it. In numerous cutscenes, his half of the Perfect Amulet is once again on display, yet it appears infrequently and is not a permanent feature on his character model.

In *Devil May Cry 2*, Dante's outfit is reminiscent of the one seen in the first game, but with more pronounced and poignant features. He wears high black boots and red jeans once more, yet has a single belt wrapped around each thigh. A belt featuring a skull-themed buckle wraps around his waist, and he wears black, gauntlet shaped gloves with three buckled straps on each one. His coat is a deeper red than in the previous game, with two coattails, yet the coat has a more pronounced buckled collar and a black strap going over his right shoulder wrapping around his chest, with two golden studs on the front. The front of the coat is also patterned individually from the rest of it, resembling a sort of vest or body armor, with a zipper closed all the way up from the waist to the bottom of Dante's neck, perhaps reflecting his introverted nature seen in the game.

In his appearance in *Devil May Cry 4*, Dante's outfit arguably takes on its most flamboyant look. Dante once more wears red pants, yet they are almost completely covered sans his crotch and rear by long, black leather motorcycle chaps featuring a brown, cowboy boot design around the ankles. He wears black, loafer looking boots, and black gloves exposing his knuckles and index finger on each hand, and his pants are wrapped with a black belt featuring a silver emblem decorated with a demonic skull. The coat is given a much more detailed and stylish look, with Western and Italian features, and a deep red, almost crimson color. Once more the coat is short-sleeved, with numerous gold-colored studs decorating the shoulders, collar, and chest, and a single zipper on the front, yet Dante is never seen zipping it up in-game. Underneath the coat, Dante wears a black, zipped up undershirt with three clasps closed together with ornate, golden buckles, and medium-length sleeves that can be seen passing his shoulders. This undershirt is also zipped up just below his neck and features an upturned collar which complements the one on his coat. Another noticeable design choice separate from Dante's outfit is his chin, covered with short, black stubble, reflecting his older age, as stated by designer Tatsuya Yoshikawa in the Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts book that Dante is "around 40" by the events of *Devil May Cry 4*.

In *Devil May Cry 5*, Dante's outfit takes on its most simple look. His red jacket is faded, has a washed-out look, a skull on his back and also resembles his *Devil May Cry 4* jacket. He wears an ordinary black Henley T-shirt with three buttons as the sleeves itself reach through his elbows, where it also features torn details, for his wrists he wears black driving gloves and white bandages. For his legs, he wears a black belt with golden accents, black leather pants, and brown boots. His hair and beard also grow after being in a coma for a month. This gives Dante a more grungy look. Dante's black Henley T-Shirt also appears dark blue during the daylight when he battles Vergil during their duel and their sparring match in the epilogue.

Following his defeat by Urizen, Dante's hair had grown out considerably during his recovery and is now the same length as it was in *Devil May Cry 2*, albeit styled similarly to that in *Devil May Cry*. Along with his hair, from stubble to beard. His clothes are also muted in color and dirtier as well.

## Personality

As seen at the beginning of the series, Dante is incredibly flippant, casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of demons, and he generally enjoys showing off and taunting his adversaries as often as he can. Dante also displays a fearless, almost disinterested attitude towards incredibly dangerous situations, such as assuming Trish simply had to use the bathroom after crashing through his office's front door on a motorcycle, being attacked by the 7 Hells in his office, being swallowed by Echidna, and effortlessly shrugging off wounds such as a headshot or impalement numerous times, the latter of which happens quite frequently for the Devil Hunter.

While maturing as time goes by, Dante never loses his care-free, devil-may-care attitude, except in *Devil May Cry 2*. He can be serious when the situation calls for it, but still maintains an overall laid-back demeanor during tense situations, and is never without a witty taunt or comeback. Although seemingly shown at times to be uncaring or callous, Dante maintains a very strong sense of justice like his father, and prefers to fight fair. He can be counted on to do the right thing, even if he makes humorously cynical quips about it the entire time.

Unusually, while he has displayed discomfort with his own demonic side, only coming to accept it following the events of *Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening*, Dante has little qualms about accepting demons that choose the side of good and admires their desire to be human, such as Trish and Bradley, even though Dante has been quoted as believing that "Humans are often worse than demons," in the anime, he refuses to kill full-blooded humans for any reason, believing it would make him no better than any Devil, be it human or demon.

In addition, Dante values family and friends very highly. He cared deeply for his mother and, despite their differences and conflicting ideals, for his brother, Vergil. Even after their intense duels and conflicts in *Devil May Cry 3*, Dante still tries to prevent Vergil from throwing himself off the edge of the Human World into the Demon World, and goes so far as to cry over losing him. While he says little about his father, Sparda, over the course of the series, Dante has been shown to clearly maintain a level of respect for, but for a time bitterly resented him due to his absence and inability to prevent Eva's death. While bitterly claiming that "[he doesn't] have a father" in his first fight with Vergil in *3*, he eventually comes to accept that he is a son of Sparda and grows to respect him as the game goes on, proudly claiming in his final duel with his brother in the game that not only do they carry Sparda's blood but his soul as well. He also makes a humorous comment towards Arkham, as he smugly claims that his father wasn't as hideous as his twisted form, citing his own physical appearance as proof. He even shows a degree of paternal concern for his nephew, Nero in *Devil May Cry 5,* as was shown by his warnings of the dangers of facing Urizen again. Dante's concern for his nephew is further demonstrated by telling Nero the truth of their relationship and attempting to protect him from the darkness of killing his own father while displaying a great deal of familial bond with his brother's son.

Dante also enjoys fighting, as is shown when he restrains himself from using his full potential but he is also quick to unleash his full power if his opponent proves to be sufficiently powerful. In *Devil May Cry 4*, he was clearly going easy on Nero in their first confrontation despite having seen his nephew in action, as he overpowered him in their second clash with only a mediocre amount of effort. In the anime, Dante gets bored with fighting weak opponents and only finds entertainment in fighting strong opponents who will give him a challenge. Dante's enjoyment of fighting was further emphasized in his pre-battle banter with Echidna, asking her if she agreed with him that "a fight every now and then makes life more interesting". After it is hinted that Vergil is still alive through Urizen, Dante at first sought to kill his brother thinking he was corrupted beyond salvation. However, after Urizen and V merged to be once again the Vergil he knew, they clashed again in a battle to the death until Nero stopped them with his newfound Devil Trigger. After entering the rubicon of the task of saving the world by entering the Underworld, Dante and Vergil decide to stay behind in order to finish the job, occasionally slaying demons and dueling each other. It is through this time that their sibling bond was somewhat rekindled, with both brothers enjoying the battles and banter.

Despite Dante's handsome appearance, he often has terrible luck with women, a condition he ironically reflects upon in *Devil May Cry 3* when Lady shoots him through the head after he attempts to keep her from falling.

In the animated series, Dante was shown to be one of the few characters in the *Devil May Cry* series to swear. Dante was frequently shown to be foul-mouthed, repeatedly swearing in almost every episode. Although this attitude wasn't present in the games, in *Devil May Cry 5*, he is shown using coarse language when angered, which is noticeable in his final battles against Urizen/Vergil.

Despite verbally complaining about being in debt, Dante seems quite willing to perform missions solely for the good of them, and rarely, if ever, enforces payment from poor clients. In fact, Dante will typically *refuse* any job he dislikes, regardless of how much it pays, but will immediately take on any paranormal cases, especially those involving demon hunting, with or without pay. Many of his clients take advantage of his hospitable nature, and leave bills for property damage caused during the mission instead of paying for his services. Interestingly, despite his claims of having low funds, Dante still manages to pool up enough money to purchase pricey luxuries for his office, such as a pool table, a jukebox, and several expensive pieces of musical equipment such as electric guitars.

He often borrows from Lady, and often attempts to gamble to repay his debts to her and others. However, he has extremely bad luck with all forms of gambling, even with something as simple as a coin toss, and loses any game not involved with demon hunting. As a result, he is deep in debt to Lady, and is often left with no money at all after she takes her cut. However, in *Devil May Cry 4*, Lady actually pays him a small, single role of bills for his "assistance".

While Dante is generally easygoing, he feels a immense of guilt for the tragedies that happen around him. As a form of atonement for the death of Grue, Dante regularly sends his surviving children money and pays Enzo a fee to hold his Devil Arms in his pawn shop, feeling responsible for having to cut off Enzo's arm.

Dante has a fondness for pizza, usually with "everything" on it, and while he complains about olives, he always ends up with them on his pizza. In the animated series, he is also shown to favor strawberry sundaes as well, with it being pointed out on several occasions that those two foods are seemingly all he eats. He also has a fondness for alcohol, specifically whiskey.

In spite of his carefree and cocky attitude another one of Dante's most strongest traits is his love for humanity. He dearly loves the world that he lives in and will go to extreme lengths to ensure its protection from demonic threats. Dante also believes that humans possess something that demons don't and that tears are a "gift only humans have."

Dante also treasures certain things. He kept his signature Rebellion with him which was a keepsake passed down to him by his father and would continue to use the weapon up until it was destroyed by Urizen after their first fight and despite the sword being destroyed Dante would still keep the weapon with him and later transform it into the Devil Sword Dante. He would also stay loyal to using Ebony & Ivory as well in which he kept with him in every game of the series. Dante also treasures the memories of his family as well and would hold them in high regard. An example of this is when he keeps a portrait of his mother in his office.

## Abilities

* **Superhuman Strength:** Dante possesses incredible raw bodily strength even while in human form. He is able to easily throw around street thugs and an obese prison warden. He is also able to easily snap handcuffs. He can shatter stone with little difficulty, and often overpowers demons much larger and more imposing than himself with ease. Dante also once easily blocked a punch from Nero's Devil Bringer and even casually forced him back with enough force to destroy a wall behind him and knocked down Nero with a single push to the back. He's even strong enough to block The Savior's punch with Rebellion without showing much strain. Dante's display of superhuman strength, endurance, and resistance to injury shows that his physical condition is much tougher and more efficient than that of even most of the powerful demons, allowing him to exert his supernaturally enhanced muscle power to vast proportions without fear of injury or fatigue.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Dante is superhumanly fast, and in some cases appears to be teleporting. During his younger years, was capable of swinging his sword so fast that rain drops cannot escape his blade over a wide area.***Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening,* Cutscene** *-* Mission 7</ref> Also while Dante was running down the side of Temi-Ni-Gru, he shot Rebellion, causing it to fall so quickly it began superheating the air around it, then he chased his sword fast enough to catch up to it and eventually reaching a speed great enough that the air around his hand became superheated as well. Dante's reflexes are fast enough that he can dodge bullets, slice them, shoot them out of the air, and even catch them with his teeth.
* **Superhuman Agility:** Dante is extremely agile as well; able to jump to great heights or even balance himself on a flying rocket, as well as run up vertical walls. In addition, his agility allows him to perform amazing feats of acrobatics that easily surpass even the finest human acrobat.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** Despite some of the physically punishing things Dante has gone through, he has the ability to move forward with little difficulty. Even while impaled with Hell Pride's scythes lodged in his torso and arms, he casually walks about his office. He often went on hours long missions with constant fighting, no rest, food, or water and shows no fatigue. However, his endurance does have its limits, a fact that was taken advantage of by Arkham.
* **Superhuman Durability:** Dante's durability has been shown to allow him to simply shrug off wounds that would either disable or outright kill a normal demon, such as being impaled through the chest with his own sword. He was also punched by Beowulf so hard that his body made an imprint in the stone ground, but Dante showed no signs of injury. His teeth are also strong enough to catch bullets  He is capable of withstanding Hellfire and lightning strikes with no signs of injury. He was even capable of withstanding impale-like attack from Sid empowered by Abigail with no response of pain.
* **Accelerated Healing:** Dante can rapidly heal even serious wounds; even the Hell Prides were surprised when he ignored their attacks. Combined with his great resilience, Dante's healing factor makes him nearly unkillable.
* **Demonic Power Manipulation:** Dante is able to channel his demonic energies into various physical objects, ranging from his guns to the air itself.
* **Telekinesis:** Dante demonstrates telekinetic abilities, stopping Trish's motorcycle in mid-air before shooting it with Ebony and Ivory. He also appeared to show telekinetic abilities in the anime, shown when he splayed his hand and Rebellion smashed through the ceiling window before landing in his hand, although this could also be related to Dante's metaphysical connection to the sword.