Characters/Devil May Cry Dante - TV Tropes

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Characters / Devil May Cry - Dante 6 Following

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Main characters index | Heroes (Dante | Nero) | Villains (Vergil) | Other | DmC: Devil May Cry | Devil May Cry (2025)

Character subpage for Dante, the main protagonist of Devil May Cry.

Be aware that some spoilers will be unmarked. Read ahead at your own risk of being spoiled.Dante

The Legendary Devil HunterClick here to see his Devil Trigger FormClick here to see his Sin Devil Trigger FormClick here to see his DMC 4 selfClick here to see his DMC 2 selfClick here to see his DMC 1 selfClick here to see his DMC 3 self

"This whole business started with my father sealing the entrance between the two worlds. And now, my brother is trying to break the spell and turn this place into Demonville. This is my family matter, too. Quite frankly, at first, I didn't give a damn. But because of you, I know what's important now. I know what I need to do."

Voiced by: Reuben LangdonDrew Coombs (DMC, Viewtiful Joe, Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble), Jonathan Mallen (young, DMC), Matthew Kaminsky (DMC2, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (original version)), Jacob Browning (DMC: Peak of Combat), Johnny Yong Bosch (2025 Netflix Anime)Toshiyuki Morikawa (The Animated Series, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Project × Zone, DMC4: Special Edition, Project X Zone 2, DMC5, TEPPEN, Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne HD Remaster, 2025 Netflix Anime; Japanese)Face Model: Adam Cowie (DMC5)Image Songs: Devils Never Cry (DMC3), Lock And Load (DMC4), Subhuman (DMC5)The Anti-Hero son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and a human woman named Eva. After losing his mother to demons as a child, Dante grew up to become a demon-hunting mercenary who runs his own devil-hunting business named Devil May Cry.Being the hybird son of the Dark Knight, Dante has Super-Strength, Super-Speed, Nigh-Invulnerability and a Healing Factor, along with the ability to transform into a demonic Super Mode called Devil Trigger. His weapons of choice are two custom handguns known as Ebony & Ivory, and a memento broadsword of his father's named Rebellion.While often cocky, deep down he is a compassionate man who is devoted to fighting for the good of humanity and helping his friends. Still, he does like getting paid for it.Dante's fighting style (popularized by the third game) revolves around his... well, Styles, which are toggle-able movesets that change what the Circle/B button does depending on what weapon he has equipped and the situation at hand. Dante has a total of four styles, two offensive and two defensive. Swordmaster adds new Devil Arm abilities that improve his damage with them significantly, and Gunslinger makes his firearms much more versatile and adaptive. Trickster gives him a dash move, an air dash, and a teleport, and Royalguard allows him to block, as well as allowing him to absorb the blocked damage and redirect it back at his enemies. Devil May Cry 3 also grants him Quicksilver and Doppelganger. In 4, Dante can switch between these styles at will, and judicious usage of his abilities turns him into a Master of All, but Some Dexterity Required. His Devil Trigger gives him a Healing Factor, increased defense, and enhanced strength. Some of his attacks also come off differently while in this state, usually giving him higher damage potential.

He also now has his own Self-Demonstrating page.

open/close all folders #-G

• The Ace: Right from the first game, Dante is shown to be supremely skilled in melee and gunfighting, instantly mastering any bizarre and exotic weapon he picks up. He's so powerful that even the bosses he faces are little more than jokes to him, and that's before he deigns to unleash his Devil Trigger. In 3, which is supposed to be him at his weakest, he gains access to a total of six Styles that expand or augment his moveset (reduced to a 'mere' four Styles by the fifth game). In 2, Dante has become so powerful, that he can make short work of a demon lord who rivals Mundus without even using his Devil Trigger. His power is exemplified in 4, where he upstages Nero at every turn, and his gameplay segments showcase the vast difference in skill, precision, and speed between the two. By 5, he gains even more power, and he's either personally defeated or had a hand in defeating several godlike beings, all accomplishments which pale in comparison to his victories over his own elder brother.
• Action Hero: He's a snarky demon hunter with superhuman abilities and expertise in multiple weapons.
• Advertised Extra: Not him but Rebellion in 5. It's advertised alongside him as usual, but the sword breaks during the prologue and is never fixed. Mission 10 is the only one where it's used in a first playthrough, afterwards Dante will use Sparda Sword in missions 11 and most of 12, but once he fuses Rebellion's remains with Sparda Sword, Devil Sword Dante is created and he'll use it when fighting Urizen and the rest of the game. Even after it becomes available to be used in later playthroughs, there's little reason to use Rebellion unless the player prefers how it looks, as Sparda Sword makes it redundant since it has more range, and more damage in a few moves.
• Air-Dashing: From 3 onward, Dante's Trickster Style grants him the ability to perform a dash in the air. This is manifested as a red, circular rune that he bounces off of.
• Alas, Poor Villain: See Angsty Surviving Twin. He is shown to mourn Vergil after both of his deaths.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Heavily implied. While it's not really that seen heavily, it's shown that Dante's supernatural troubles has prevented him from living a normal life. The biggest example of this is in the DMC anime, where a town Dante was in when he was younger got burned down because a demon was trying to kill him. While the demon was eventually killed later on, it earned him the hatred of a normal human, viewing him as a monster.
• Always Identical Twins: He and Vergil. The only thing distinguishing them is that Vergil styles his hair. This changes after enough time in completely separate worlds, to the point the two have different face models in 5.
• Always Someone Better: He doesn't show it often, but at certain moments Dante does admit to himself that Vergil is better than him. When wielding the Yamato in 4, he comments that his techniques are merely a pale imitation to the real deal. Despite all the times they have fought each other since childhood, both brothers are still (almost) tied, showing that Dante and Vergil are both constantly pushing and chasing after each other.
• Amazon Chaser: Invoked in 3 when Dante meets Lady. She almost runs him over twice with her Cool Bike and even shoots a rocket (which he rides) at him, but his reaction is simply whooping with glee at the latter. And when she leaves the room, he declares "This just keeps getting better and better". He also shows immense excitement while fighting Lady later on and says "Oh, I love a fast woman". Given Dante's win quote against Morrigan in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, bonus points for that game using his appearance circa 3, is literally "Mmm, baby. I love it when a girl gets violent", this is hardly surprising.
• Ancestral Weapon: His sword Rebellion is suggested to be another memento from Sparda.
• Angsty Surviving Twin: Dante is this after both of Vergil's deaths. The first time he simply denies it, and the second time it is not dwelled on, but the sorrow on his face as he picks up Vergil's amulet, and his reminiscing of one of their birthdays makes this apparent.
• Animal Sweet on Object: In the prequel manga of 3, Dante says that he once proposed to a mop while drunk.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: A rare protagonist example. He's snarky to everyone, but his taunting of Vergil in 3 reeks of this trope. Especially when contrasted with Vergil's perpetual stoicism and seriousness. However, Vergil is also a Big Brother Bully at the same time, so they're somewhat even. For example, after the two finally reconcile well enough at the end of 5, Dante tries to get Vergil to say "Jackpot" alongside him again like they did as kids, but Vergil denies him every time, even trying to intercept Dante from saying it...but when Dante's not around Vergil still says it too. The implication being that Dante wore out the catchphrase in the Underworld so much that Vergil, now sick of hearing him say it, refuses to indulge his little brother's fixation on the word anymore.
• Anti-Hero: Pragmatic Hero in most of his appearances, Disney Anti-Hero in 1 and 2.
• Arm Cannon:
  • One of the more unusual traits of Dante's Devil Trigger in 2 was that the palms of his hands had six-barreled, rapid-fire mini-cannons protruding out of them◊.
  • One of his weapons in the third game is Artemis, a laser gun strapped to his arm that lets him fire purple beams; it can be charged to make him fire homing orbs, and he can also make it rain beams with it.
• Armed Legs:
  • In 3, Dante obtains these as parts of the Beowulf Devil Arm alongside a pair of Power Fists.
  • In 4, Dante obtains the Gilgamesh, which aside from turning into gauntlets, also covers his legs with organic metal. The spurs in his boots empower his kicks during some charged combos.
  • In 5, Dante has Balrog as one of his starting weapons, a Devil Arm that covers both his arms and legs with armor and enhances his punches and kicks with flames. Its "Kick" mode allows him to perform sweeping Capoeira-style kicks.
• Armor Is Useless:
  • While the gauntlets and/or greaves combination of Devil Arms like Ifrit in 1, Beowulf in 3, Gilgamesh in 4, and Balrog in 5 cover Dante's limbs and can also technically double as armor in terms of appearance, most of them don't really offer in-game protection when equipped. Beowulf is the only Devil Arm among them that subverts this trope; while it doesn't offer protection by default in Dante's human form, his Devil Trigger form with this weapon passively increases his defense.
  • Although Dante's default outfit in 2 includes what looks like a breastplate, it's more of a harness than any actual armor. He does manage to avoid his usual habit of being made into a human shish kebab (outside of a boss battle if the player fumbles), so there's that.
• Artistic License – Martial Arts: The gauntlet-type Devil Arms (Ifrit, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, Balrog), Cerberus in 3 (which is a tripartite nunchaku instead of a traditional two-part nunchaku) and King Cerberus's three forms (tripartite nunchaku, bo staff, and three-section staff) in 5 have moves based on actual martial arts, but enhanced by elemental properties and/or Dante's Super-Strength. For example, a one-inch punch from Gilgamesh wrecks a huge monolith in 4.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Averted. Even though demons operate on Klingon Promotion and Dante has proven himself to be the strongest known demon (having defeated previous demon kings like Mundus, Argosax and Urizen), the demons of Hell still oppose him and Vergil in the epilogue of 5 rather than crowning him their new king.
• Awesome, but Impractical: In 3, 4, and 5, Dante has a recurring uppercut move called "Real Impact" that does tremendous amounts of damage, but it only targets one enemy at a time, has a long start-up animation and short range, all of which make him vulnerable when fighting in crowds.
• BFS:
  • His trademark claymore sword Rebellion, a memento from his father Sparda, is almost his own height in length.
  • The true form of his father's own namesake sword, the Devil Sword Sparda, has a large curved blade attached to the side of its main body and hilt. It can shapeshift into other melee weapons as well.
  • Dante acquires several other demonic swords that also qualify for this trope over the course of the series, although they are game-specific. For example, the Vendetta blade in 2 is about as broad as Dante's shoulders.
  • During the course of 5, Rebellion gets shattered but he holds onto the hilt of the weapon afterwards. For a few missions, he uses his father's BFS, the Devil Sword Sparda, before stabbing himself with the Rebellion and absorbing the Sparda to create a new BFS called "Devil Sword Dante" that also gives him a new Devil Trigger form. The new sword has a thick and wide decorated blade.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With both Lady and Vergil in 3.
• Badass Biker: He can drive motorcycles in style as seen in 2, 3 and especially 5. In the third game, Dante even goes as far as to unleash some Bike Fu, though at the cost of Lady's motorcycle. And he later acquires a wicked looking demonic motorcycle in 5, which he gets to use as a weapon.
• Badass Fingersnap: The full gesture for switching to Gunslinger Style in 4 (i.e. if Dante is stationary) is this.
• Badass in Distress: To show how serious the situation in 5 is, Dante gets hit by The Worf Effect and, not only does his Rebellion get shattered by Urizen, he almost gets himself captured by the villain. Though he does manage to break free, he is quickly knocked out and left in a month-long coma, of which he wakes up from at full condition after V found him.
• Badass Longcoat: He's rarely seen without a red coat. The coats are different in each game, however.
• Bag of Spilling: Most of the firearms and Devil Arms he acquires in the games don't get carried over between them. Chronologically speaking, the only ones that do are Force Edge note acquired in 3, kept for 1, became the Sparda sword, then given to Trish after the endgame, Rebellion note his default sword in 3, re-appeared in 2 and 4, destroyed in 5 only to be fused with the Devil Sword Sparda to become Devil Sword Dante. and the Shotgun note acquired in 3, lost sometime after the endgame, re-acquired in 1, lost prior to 2 but re-acquired during the story, and then kept for 4 onwards (as the Coyote-A). One reason that justifies this trend is that the Devil Arms from 1 and 3 were given to Enzo, his former agent mentioned in 1's manual, as a form of collateral on his debt. Enzo cancels the debt so Dante can use them to destroy another Devil Arm, but Dante leaves the Devil Arms behind in part of feeling guilty for having to amputate one of Enzo's arms due to a Devil Arm trying to possess Enzo before the anime, as told by Morrison in Vol.1 of the Audio Drama CD. Another specific justified example is mentioned in the Before the Nightmare prequel novel for 5; Dante kept Cerberus from 3 at least, but it broke when he was fighting Balrog, which explains why it doesn't appear in the game itself.
• Balance Buff:
  • In 3, he's this by default in his human form when compared to him in 2, as his attacks are no longer sloppy.
  • Just the fact he can use all of his styles in 4 was a huge buff for Dante, as now he doesn't have to pick a specific style and stick with it until the next Divinity Statue. While the styles themselves aren't as potent as in 3, having them all at once gives Dante a huge advantage.
  • 5 gave three big buffs to Royal Guard that make it comparable to 3's Royal Guard. Its gauge now fills up faster than 4's (Though still not as fast as 3's), failed Royal Blocks now use the Devil Trigger gauge, making it easier to use, and succesful Royal Blocks fill up the Devil Trigger gauge even if DT is activated, which means a player can keep it active for longer than usual, and it's specially useful against Vergil.
  • In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, Dante in the original versions was strong, but didn't learn Pierce, so players generally didn't use him against the True Final Boss, as he couldn't reliably damage him, but Dante was still good for everything else. The HD Remaster gave him Pierce, so now he's good for everything.
• Berserk Button: Bringing up Vergil or trying to use him to earn his cooperation is a surefire way to get Dante uncharacteristically pissed at the offending party. In the manga Visions of V, V himself learned that lesson when Dante briefly leaks his demonic power and gives V one hell of a Death Glare.
• Beware the Silly Ones: He constantly messes around with the demons trying to kill him. The reason he acts like this, however, is because he's just that powerful that none of these are an actual threat to him. He could easily defeat any demon that faced him, but that's not nearly as fun as toying with them first.
• Big Good:
  • Of 4, being the major force of good opposing the Order of the Sword; he does, however, come off as the bad guy at first.
  • In 5, he serves as a major force of good against the demon invasion in Red Grave City.
• Big "NO!": Gives one when Trish does a Heroic Sacrifice to save him from Mundus's Agony Beam.
• Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: Dante is a prime offender of this, showing off feats like:
  • Deflecting bullets with other bullets.
  • Firing six bullets into the base of a broadsword, in order to make it pierce through a group of gargoyles, while running down along the side of a building.
  • Firing bullets in mid-air to keep your self and/or enemies aloft.
  • There's also the description of Dante's "Trick Shot" ability with the anti-tank rifle Spiral in 3. It states that he ricochets the bullet so it ends up travelling faster with each rebound, making it an authentic non-conservation-of-momentum gun.
• Black Swords Are Better: In 5, Dante's iconic sword Rebellion is destroyed by the Big Bad Urizen. After finally realizing the true nature of his sword, Dante stabs himself with its remains, with it and Sparda unlocking the most powerful stage of his Devil Trigger and gaining a new sword called the Devil Sword Dante made of a substance resembling hardened lava.
• Blade Spam: Million Stab is one of Dante's iconic moves throughout the games. It's a blinding whirlwind of sword stabs with one hand, followed by a finisher.
• Blessed with Suck: Being a Son of Sparda has granted him powerful abilities that allows to go toe to toe with every demon that comes his way, but it’s also made him a supernatural bullseye to The Legions of Hell, not to mention being the same reason why he took up devil hunting in the first place.
• Blocking Stops All Damage: Dante's Royal Block skill can negate anything if properly done, including explosions, electrified floors, and nearly 500ft tall statues dropkicking him. Mistimed blocks can break, causing Dante to take damage.
• Blood Knight: Heroic example; Dante really enjoys his job as a demon hunter. According to the first game's manual, Dante will usually refuse any jobs he dislikes regardless of the pay, but will immediately take any jobs involving the supernatural, especially involving demon hunting, with or without pay. Dante's character file from 3 also says he crushes his enemies after having some fun with them. He usually loves to demonstrate his demonic like powers along with the new weapons he's obtained throughout the story to fight in the most flashy and extravagant way. His ending quote for the third game summarizes it best:Dante: Well bring it on! I love this! This is what I live for! I'm absolutely crazy about it! (Cheshire Cat Grin)
• Boring, but Practical:
  • One of his weapons in 4, Pandora, has (among other things) a giant laser, a mobile turret that shoots missiles, and the ability to weaponize all the evil within to nuke everything on screen. What're the most used forms in combo videos? The chaingun (the aerial version specifically) and boomerang-glaive.
  • Back in 1, one of the most effective strategies he has was shooting with Grenade Launcher then rolling to cancel its animation, then shoot again. This casually killed most enemies while also building a lot of Devil Trigger, so he could use Vortex to get away from whoever got too close.
  • His guns in general in 2, but most infamously, Ebony & Ivory, which not only had good damage, but it could also stun and juggle demons by themselves. Attacking with the swords is more effective when it comes to damage, but his sword attacks are so sloppy that many default to use the guns.
• Born Winner: Being the offspring of a very powerful demon hero, Dante and his brother have inherited some of his powers.
• Boss Subtitles: As the Final Boss of Vergil's story in 5: Special Edition.The Legendary Devil Hunter: Dante
• Bottomless Magazines: Dante can run out of ammo, but his weapons refill automatically given time. According to the manual for the first game, one of his demonic powers actually creates more bullets in his guns.
• Boxing Battler: The Blow portion of Balrog's moveset in 5 uses boxing moves including weaving and Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs and a Shoryuken.
• Bring My Red Jacket: Dante wears a big red Badass Longcoat and gets swords through him a lot.
• Broken Ace: A devil hunter with badassery only a few can match...but is compounded with several tragedies hidden underneath his playful and carefree attitude.
• But Now I Must Go: Dante comes into a place, saves the day, and leaves. By the end of 5, he opts to head into the Underworld with Vergil to seal off the Qliphoth and leave protecting the world to Nero with his and Vergil's eventual return something of an open question.
• Butt-Monkey: Surprisingly, he's shown to be this in the anime, 4 and 5 thanks to his financial troubles: he goes into debt, doesn't have enough money to buy food, has his water shut off, and other ridiculous indignities. Patty even quips that Dante has to be the unluckiest guy she's ever met. Lady goes so far as to call Dante undateable after Trish accuses her of being jealous, countering that Dante's general attitude as a slob when not working would be a turn-off anyone from being interested in him romantically.
• Cain and Abel: Starting from 3, the sibling rivalry theme is primarily focused on Dante and Vergil's differences in regards to which side of their nature they embraced. Dante chose to go with his human heritage, Vergil with his demonic side, and the two never met peacefully again.
• Calling Your Attacks: Sometimes not the attacks' actual names, but war cries and phrases that is associated with each move, like him finishing with "Breakdown!" after performing Million Stab. He does shout out "Rising Dragon!" on executing Rising Dragon when using Beowulf in 3, Gilgamesh in 4, and Balrog in 5.
• Car Fu:
  • In 3, Dante uses Lady's motorbike to drive up Temen-ni-gru's outer wall, falls towards it for a short distance, and is then besieged in midair by demons. So he beats all of them up with the motorbike, which explodes shortly after he lands, leaving only the handlebars.
  • In 5, the Caveliere is a motorcycle/dual-wield chainsaw hybrid devil arm, complete with Bike-Fu when used by Dante.
• Catchphrase:
  • "Jackpot!", usually said right before defeating the Big Bad. It sees its fair share of usage by Vergil and Nero as well.
  • "Devils never cry" seems to be one as well, seeing as he's said those words to Trish, Lucia, and Lady near or at the climax of the first three games (in the first two instances, he was trying to comfort Trish and Lucia, while the latter was Dante trying to deny the pain he felt when he believed Vergil to be dead).
• Celibate Hero: Despite meeting rather attractive new women in nearly every single installment, Dante has shown zero outward interest of actually getting with any of them. Trish looking exactly like his mother aside, he has never had anything more than a professional relationship with Lady and Lucia either. Casual flirting isn't off the table however, as is the repeated amounts of trash-talking he, Lady and Trish give each other. Lucia, in fact, has directly propositioned him for sex, which Dante declined on the grounds that it would simply get in the way of his work. It is also highly likely that due to the death of his parents, Dante simply believes that entering a romantic relationship with someone will only end with more loss.
• Character Development: Though his main personality is the same in each game, chronologically, he matures quite a bit. Witness his change from thrill-seeking (3) to guilt-ridden (1) to serious (2) to cool-headed (4).
  • This is clearly seen in 3 where he begins as being resentful towards his father for being absent, and for creating a plan to seal the gates to the Demon world using his mother's amulet. He also complains about Beowulf fighting him just because of what Sparda did in the past. Over time, after seeing Lady's own struggles with coming to terms that her human father Arkham is a complete monster, he begins to change his attitude towards his father and admits realizing what's at stake, unlike when he didn't care much at first. By the end of the game, Dante outright admits he's a Son of Sparda, and speaks about embracing what his dad stood for even though he was a devil himself.Dante (to Lady): Quite frankly, at first, I didn't give a damn. But because of you, I know what's important now. I know what I need to do....Trust me! I'll make things right for you. That's what my soul is telling me to do.
  • His renewed point-of-view towards Sparda is carried over to the next chronological games after 3, especially when he shows several signs of following his father's footsteps. While still able to crack jokes at Sparda's expense in 1, 2, and 4, Dante comes to respect and understand his father's ideals and the sacrifices he made because of his love towards humanity, a contrast to the early parts of 3 where Dante still had a lingering resentment towards his connection to Sparda.
• Character Exaggeration: Suffers from it in the anime. The Rule of Cool that he adheres by in the games seems to have become the equivalent of air for him in The Animated Series, to the point of Destructive Savior tendencies.
• Characterization Marches On: In the first game, Dante was portrayed as a cocky but otherwise coolheaded demon hunter with plenty of snark. The second game ramped up the coolheadedness and greatly toned down his humorous side, while the third game brought it back up to full gear while reinventing him as a campy Large Ham. The fourth game onwards, however, solidified his characterization as a level-headed, but still show-offy guy.
• Charged Attack: The hand-to-hand weapons of 1, 3, and 4 (Ifrit, Beowulf, and Gilgamesh, respectively) can add increased attack power (or even new attacks) by holding down the input on each strike. However, this makes an already slow weapon even slower, so use this feature wisely. He can also charge up attacks on Ebony and Ivory, and Coyote-A in 4. In the fifth game, Dr. Faust's strongest attack (meteors made of big Red Orbs) need to be charged first, while the Double Kalina Ann's attack, when charged, will make him combine the 2 rocket launchers into one and then fire a quick, powerful laser that hits all enemies on its path.
• Chekhov's Gun: He comes across a few in the games, but the best examples would be the objects he carries with him, namely; his half of the Perfect Amulet (which transforms the Force Edge into the Sparda in 1, and is used to undo the seal of the tower in 3), and his lucky coin (actually a trick coin) which is later used to thwart the Big Bad's plan in 2.
• Chick Magnet: While he does play the role of Handsome Lech towards Lady at first, every single female lead of the first three games became a viable love interest for him towards endgame, Unresolved Sexual Tension and everything. It doesn't hurt that he has the air of The Charmer about him. In the case of Trish and Lady, the romantic tension was dialed back for their joint reappearance in 4. Here, it's obvious that Dante sees his ladyfriends at least as True Companions; any non-platonic feelings are negated by Dante's lack of (or suppression of) perverted qualities. As for Lucia, chronologically, she's the last girl Dante meets, so the matter of Dante's love life could have taken one of several different directions. However, he instead remains a Celibate Hero because he thinks romance will get in the way of his work.
• The Collector of the Strange: Has several demon skulls in his office as well as various weapons mounted on his wall. The skulls on his walls are all from demons that he's killed during his career as a devil hunter, and they can be noticed in some cutscenes such as the start of 1. A bonus art from 3 takes this to its logical conclusion, where Dante's office is so filled up with corpses of all the monsters he's killed and gear he's collected over the game, there's almost no walking room left.
• Competitive Balance: Dante being able to use his ultimate form at will in DMC5 has put some little limitations to how it previously worked in DMC2. Sin Devil Trigger is ridiculously powerful but the Majin Form still boasts characteristics that the former doesn’t, such as two special attacks that will instantly kill any enemy and bosses that can get hit by it (the majority of them in DMC2). The normal attack damage output data for the Majin Form remains slightly bigger than the Sin Devil Trigger, while Majin Form also has faster attack speed as well, and Majin Form is absolutely untouchable and can not be pushed back in any way. If Sin Devil Trigger remained as broken as Majin Form while still being easily accessible it would just void DMC5 of any semblance of difficulty.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Animated Series initially invoked this when it used Dante's alias of "Tony Redgrave" (the same name inscribed on his guns) from the seemingly non-canon prequel novel for 1. Further nods to the novel were found in Dante's guns. Ebony and Ivory contain an inscription that reads "By .45 Art Works". In another nod to the novel, .45 Art Works is a gun shop owned by a female proprietor named Nell Goldstein (who has a tendency to misspell the name of her shop as ".45 Art Warks"). Goldstein apparently helped "Tony" construct E&I, as well as Sparda's Luce and Ombra (which bear the same engraving). Devil May Cry 5 contains multiple references to Tony Redgrave and Nell Goldstein, details the .45 Art Works and introduces Nico, Nell's adopted granddaughter, as a main character.
  • His taste for strawberry sundaes comes from a prequel novel that was retconned by 3, but later reintroduced by 5.
• Cool Bike: Cavaliere is his motorcycle Devil Arm in 5, made from the parts of a devil boss fused with a motorcycle, that can also transform into a pair of giant chainsaws BFSs he can dual wield.
• Cool Old Guy: In 5, he's sporting longer, grayer hair and meaner stubble, making him look older and more hardened than he had in 4. He's still just as cocky as ever.
• Cool Sword: Rebellion, a sword that was passed down from his father, is what connects him to his demonic side once awakened. He has also used several other swords throughout all games including the Force Edge/Sparda (his father's Devil Arm), the Alastor, Agni and Rudra and his own Devil Arm, the Devil Sword Dante. The latter sword even toggles its appearance when Dante activates his Swords Formation skill or when he's in Devil Trigger form.
• Cool Uncle: According to the semi-canon novel Deadly Fortune, finally confirmed◊ in the artbook Devil May Cry: 3-1-4-2 Graphic Arts. Dante is this to Nero. It actually puts a new spin on his Trickster Mentor attitude towards Nero, and his letting him keep the Yamato despite saying "it should be kept in the family." Dante further cements it in 5 when he reveals to Nero that the newly-revived Vergil is his father.
• Counter-Attack: Starting from 3, Dante can use his Royalguard Style to nullify damage taken and strike back with a punch move known as "Release". A unique Rage meter fills up every time he blocks attacks, and is consumed every time he executes "Release". Meanwhile, "Royal Release" is a stronger variant and a more true-to-form counter-attack, but it relies heavily on a "Just Frame" Bonus.
• Crossover Cameo:
  • The DMC2 version of Dante makes an appearance in the Updated Re-release of Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne.
  • The DMC1 version is playable as a Secret Character in the PS2 port of Viewtiful Joe. This version is also a DLC costume in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for the Mii Swordsman.
  • The DMC3 version is a playable fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
  • The anime version (DMC1 outfit with Rebellion) is a playable character in Project × Zone and its sequel.
    • Dante appears in Project x Zone 2 going through the events of DMC1 before the game interrupts it. So this means that this Dante has only gone through DMC3's story at this point.
  • The DMC5 version is an event-only character alongside Nero and V in a collaboration with Shin Megami Tensei Liberation: Dx2 from March 14, 2019 until April 3, 2019.
  • The DMC4 version is a playable character in Teppen.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Dante loves this pose when getting impaled, to the point where it doubles as a Running Gag. While it usually happens on the floor or in a wall, the anime adaptation shows him pinned to a life-sized cross.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Dante constantly tries to distance Nero from Urizen/Vergil. He shoos Nero away by calling him dead weight and criticizes V's decision to bring Nero in, all in order to keep the truth from his protege. His attempts fail and drive a wedge between them that's not resolved until Nero intervenes in the fight between Dante and Vergil.
• Curb-Stomp Cushion: Is subject to this when Vergil comes back from V and Urizen's Fusion Dance. Dante is in no condition to fight Vergil, but he's still able to stagger him with Yamato's sheath.
• Cutscene Power to the Max: While you can certainly pull of some decently badass-looking moves in-game, the kind of flashy and acrobatic stunts that Dante does in cutscenes is jaw-droppingly ridiculous.
• Cycle of Hurting:
  • In DMC1, if he attacks Nelo and jumps away, Nelo will start charging Meteor, and this resets when Nelo will block an attack, combine this with a Lag Cancel, and Dante won't let Nelo fight back at all. He also has another way of doing that with Ifrit.
  • It's difficult, but with well placed Helmet Breakers, he can do that against Phantom too, and doing that is the only way one can get a Special Bonus in mission 3.
  • Ironically Dante himself can be put through this in DMC4 during his second boss fight.
• Dance Battler: The kick portion of Balrog in 5 has him fight in a capoiera-esque fighting style, with lots of Hurricane Kicks and a Diving Kick.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Dante and Vergil grew up separately after their mother Eva died when Mundus led a demon attack on their household, while their father Sparda disappeared and died from unrevealed circumstances. In 5 and its supplementary material, this incident is discussed and revisited in a flashback; Eva died before she could find Vergil. Consequently, Dante believed that his brother died, and he took on an alias to start a new life.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Wears "dark" colors like red and black, but is a fairly decent guy. Not to mention being a half-demon who fights to protect humanity from demons.
• Dash Attack: The Stinger attack works like a pair of Sprint Shoes in some situations, as it moves far faster than his usual running speed, albeit with a cooldown or recovery animation. Dante will dash along the ground before stabbing his sword into the nearest target-locked enemy.
• Deadpan Snarker: The man certainly has a penchant for dishing out wisecracks and trash talk like no one's business, especially in comparison to the more stoic and no-nonsense Vergil.
• Death from Above: Can perform this with Dr. Faust in 5 once he's accumulated enough Red Orbs.
• Death Glare: Despite his laidback demeanor, he flashes V an absolutely vicious one in the Visions of V manga when V declares that the name of the demon about to terrorize Redgrave City is none other than Dante's brother Vergil. To emphasize how deadly serious he is, Dante's pupils narrow into demonic slits.
• Death or Glory Attack: The Royal Release is one risky Counter-Attack. With the proper timing, Dante can unleash a powerful punch. Mistime it otherwise, and it will just be a regular Release. Missing this attack completely can also make him briefly vulnerable to whiff punishes.
• Defeat Means Friendship:
  • Dante develops this kind of relationship with some characters after battling them. There's Lady in 3, Nero in 4 (where he even allows the young man to keep Yamato), and with Trish in 1 (after Nightmare's third and final death, that is).
  • Dante must defeat the Devil Arms before he can use them as weapons. Agni and Rudra in particular are very enthusiastic about this trope, practically begging Dante to take them with him.
• Demon Slaying: Dante's stock in trade, and the primary point of the series. This also becomes the "job" of his allies in the Devil May Cry joint.
• Deuteragonist:
  • 4 is Nero's story. Dante's path just so happens to intersect with the young knight's for his latest assignment, whereupon he acts as an occasional adversary, big brother figure, and ace in the hole when Nero is incapacitated.
  • 5 continues this theme as it starts and ends from Nero's perspective, with Dante showing up at the end to defeat the Big Bad Urizen directly, and fight Vergil when he reappears. However, the story ultimately concludes when the player retakes control of Nero so he can defeat Vergil himself and force him and Dante to focus on the more important task of sealing the portal to the Underworld.
• Difficult, but Awesome: He's this in 4:SE compared to all the other characters and (possibly) every other version of himselfnote He's largely similar in 5, thanks in part to no less than four Styles available at any given moment. Advanced play as Dante in that game involves the use of tons of really difficult techniques, as detailed in the video series that this video starts (spoiler warning, though). That said, he's leagues more fun and stylish than Nero if you master him.
• Discard and Draw: Happens three separate times during 5. He briefly is playable with Rebellion as his standard weapon, but as we see in the prologue, it gets shattered by Urizen. After that, for a few missions, he uses Sparda, his father's sword, which plays identically to Rebellion. After that, he fuses the power of Rebellion and Sparda to create a brand new sword drawn from Dante's own demonic power (that is even named after him). This is the sword he keeps for the remainder of the game, and Swordmaster style permanently changes (the Style attack button summons energy swords while all of the Swordmaster style abilities have been remapped elsewhere.) After beating the game, the player can use any of the 3 swords in gameplay.
• Discontinuity Nod:
  • In the PS2 port of Viewtiful Joe, Dante makes a guest appearance as a Secret Character. In his story, Alastor is revealed to be the spirit of the eponymous sword Dante picked up in 1. Among other things, Alastor is seething that Dante that didn't bring him along to "Somewhere Island" (Dumary Island). Dante protests, "I don't remember that!" Seeing as the series was also originally helmed by Hideki Kamiya, the man responsible for the original game, this could also be a Take That!.
  • His change in characterization for 2 was handwaved when Dante (who is only clad in a speedo when not transformed) asks if Enzo stole his clothes again, suggesting that it wasn't even Dante you were playing as. Again, most likely another Take That! from Kamiya.
• Does Not Like Spam: He loves his pizza, but the one topping he won't eat is olives. In the Animated Series, every pizza he orders explicitly comes with the tag of "no olives".
• Double Entendre: His interaction with Nevan and his acquisition of Lucifer. Both are cases of Does This Remind You of Anything? and the latter is something of a Badass Creed.
• Double Jump: The Air Hike technique has him creating a demonic circle under his feet in midair, which he then jumps off of. In Devil Trigger, he can do more air jumps.
• Dual Wielding: His Agni and Rudra in 3 are a pair of scimitars, one with fire powers and the other with wind powers.
• Et Tu, Brute?: How he felt when he learns that Trish was created by Mundus to kill him.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • He is appalled when Mundus kills Griffon for the latter failing to kill Dante. So much so, that he decides to kill Mundus himself.
  • He can't stand Jester, who he thinks is too talkative even by his own standards.
• Excellent Judge of Character:
  • Despite her repeatedly trying to blast him to kingdom come, Dante spends most of 3 actively trying not to harm (and even outright saving) Lady, seemingly operating under the intuition that her motives aren't too different from his own. He's proven correct when she reveals that she came to the Temen-ni-gru to get revenge on an evil family member, which is exactly why Dante arrived as well.
  • He instantly dislikes Jester, and although he claims that it's because the clown talks too much, it’s clear that Dante just finds him and his dubious motives to be incredibly suspicious. The moment Jester reveals himself to be Arkham, Dante recognizes him as a greater threat than Vergil and puts their Sibling Rivalry on hold to take him down.
  • Dante immediately pegs Nero as a potential Demon Hunter and his nephew in 4, and spends much of the game acting as a Trickster Mentor to get him to realize the truth about Fortuna and join his side.
• Experienced Protagonist: Even with 3 being Dante's origin story, he already appears to have a decent amount of experience under his belt, as seen with his casual butchery of a group of Hell Prides.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: After Dante acquired his Devil Trigger ability in 3 and grabbed Vergil's katana with his bare hand, the next mission's cutscene shows him tearing off half his coat's right sleeve since it had been ripped in the prior fight.
• Feeling Their Age: One of his death quotes in 5 is him grunting out "Man, I'm old" as he crumples over.
• Fell Asleep Crying: Supposedly cries for his mother in his sleep, according to the DMC 1 novel.
• Fetish Retardant: In-Universe. According to Lady, despite Dante's power, charisma and morality, he's a major slob and very irresponsible, which she says makes him "undateable".
• Fight Magnet: Dante is always getting mixed up in demon-related trouble, both due to his job as a demon hunter and because he is the son of Sparda, a demon knight who rebelled against Mundus to protect humanity (which a lot of demons that served Mundus are rather mad about) and possessed a great deal of power that many villains want for themselves.
• Final Boss:
  • In 4, he's the last enemy faced in that game's Bloody Palace.
  • Dante replaces Vergil himself as the final challenge to overcome in Vergil's bonus campaign in 5 Special Edition. He also replaces Nero in Mission 20, instead having a second battle where Dante isn't afraid to use Sin Devil Trigger against the player.
• Finger-Twitching Revival:
  • The end result of "acquiring" Alastor in 1.
  • Subverted in 3. You see his fingers twitch, and Vergil stabs him again without missing a beat.
• Firing One-Handed: Dude can fire shotguns and more supernaturally-empowered weapons (Nightmare Beta, Artemis) with one hand. Must be that demon blood in him.
• Flanderization:
  • Dante started out in 1 as a good mix of badass and Jerkass. He was certainly cocky and had a flair for showmanship, but still knew when to be serious, despite always having a few snappy remarks prepared. Later games and spin-offs all but ditched the serious side of his personality, replacing it with more cockiness and one-liners. Specifically in Devil May Cry 3, this behavior was to contrast his younger self as a more brash and arrogant Former Teen Rebel. However, with some Character Development, he became a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and grows out of that attitude by the end of that same game. But even then, the Campy Combat, goofball theatrics carried over even into his adult self; most of his screen time always involves focusing on the fun side of fighting, even going as far as toying with his enemies if it means more style or fun.
  • Jackpot becoming his Catchphrase. Back in 1 he told Trish at the beginning of the game that he's hunting devils to find the one who killed his mother, and he figured he'll hit the jackpot sooner or later, so he would only say that after defeating Mundus. Starting in 3 he says it alongside Vergil while mentioning him and Vergil used to say that as kids. By 5, at the end of the game, he said it so much that Vergil is sick of hearing it. Ironically Vergil also went through this as in the game he says it after doing a few moves.
• Flash Step: The "Air Trick" technique that Dante learns after maxing out the Trickster Style would make him teleport in a short distance.
• Flight: In some of the games, Dante's Devil Trigger form can sport wings and allow him to fly. The first three games tie this mechanic to a specific weapon, ability or item upgrade (Alastor in 1, Aerial Heart in 2, and Nevan in 3). However in 5, the power of flight is innately available to his Devil Trigger form regardless of the equipped weapon.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Dante has a very complicated case of this with Vergil. At the first glance, you can assume that Dante with his devil-may-care attitude cares only about entertaining himself, barely taking responsibility for anything in his life, while the calm and composed Vergil is the responisible twin that takes everything seriously. However, their actions under pressure can testify otherwise: Dante becomes a bit more serious when things get tough, while Vergil shows cracks in his persona, easily becoming irritated when something doesn't go his way. Dante surprisingly also displayed a lot of maturity in his teens, saving up enough money to buy space for his shop and intending to become a Devil Hunter, while Vergil ran around the world in pursuit of power, even fathering Nero during a one-night stand, which shows that despite his cold and calculating facade, the older brother can still be prone to impulsive decisions.
• Forgot About His Powers:
  • 3 gives him the Quicksilver and Doppelganger powers as styles, and the game is the only time he uses them, and even then, he's never shown using either past their introduction scene. It's specially noticeable in 5 since Urizen does have time related powers like Geryon's, which are used against Dante, but Dante never uses it, and it's Nero who has a way of slowing down time with a Devil Breaker, and ironically, it's Vergil, who never showed the capacity to create a doppelganger before, who creates one during his boss battle.
  • In 3 he is capable of turning bosses into devil arms as long as he killed them (Thought not all of them, Cerberus and Agni & Rudra willingly give themselves to to, and Gigapede and Leviathan don't become devil arms), this retroactively makes 1 and 2 look weird since he doesn't get any devil arms from the bosses he killed, and even after 3, the devil arms he gets in 4 are ones already being used in the hell gates. It's only in 5 where he does it again.
• From Hero to Mentor: The series' original protagonist, Dante, isn't the one in control at the beginning of 4. That honor goes instead to a new hero, Nero. Dante is mostly pursuing his own goals through most of that game but upon interacting with Nero, shifts more into a mentor trying to subtly push the new hero into the forefront. In the supplementary materials or spin-offs such as the Deadly Fortune novel, Dante even helps Nero set up his own branch of the Devil May Cry demon-hunting business, and as of 5, Nero runs his (alongside a driver/mechanic partner named Nico) as a mobile version operated out of a van. This relationship goes even further in the latter game where Nero is desperate to live up to Dante's legacy; dialogue lines has Nero wanting to prove his worth in helping to defeat Urizen, even if Dante initially tells him to stay back. Eventually, Dante has to travel to the Underworld (alongside his brother Vergil) to sever the Qliphoth and leaves Nero in charge of defending humanity on Earth.
• Fun Personified: He is almost always seen smiling and wisecracking, and enjoys showing off for the sake of showing off.
• Funny Bruce Lee Noises: While he only did it with the Cerberus nunchaku Crazy Combo in 3, he does it for every single nunchuck move in 5. Of course, unlike the usual examples, Dante does know how to fight - it's just him being irreverent in the face of battle as usual.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: You know how crazy Dante can be when you control him but how about a taste of being on the other side of the sword? Nero is a novice compared to Dante, despite being a decently accomplished fighter in his own right, and during the second battle against Dante in 4 you will know exactly how Nero feels. Dante isn't even an SNK Boss, he is actually just THAT hard to defeat. In the story Nero doesn't even win, Dante just doesn't kill him at the end. Nero can't even say he fought Dante to a stalemate even though you as a player put every ounce of effort into the fight.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • He never has his healing factor in human form in the games, and needs Devil Trigger to recover HP, even though in cutscenes he can heal in human form just fine.
  • In Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne, if the player recruits Dante, he'll remain on the Demi-Fiend's side no matter what, even in the True Demon ending where Demi-Fiend teams up with Lucifer to kill the Great Will, as Dante would never team up with someone like Lucifer, and he's even suspicious of Old Man (Lucifer in a disguise), so the writers kept in mind his alignment, but didn't write that wending with him in mind.
• Gangsta Style: How Dante holds Ebony and Ivory when firing and strafing. Also, when he executes the "Honeycomb Fire" move which somehow enables him to shoot faster.
• Gathering Steam: Compared to his other gauntlets & greaves weapons, which uses Charged Attack, the fifth game's Balrog uses this mechanic. By hitting enemies 10 times (in Blow stance) or holding the attack button after any attack (in Kick stance), he sets his gauntlets and greaves in flames, strengthening them. There are also 2 attacks with the weapon in Swordmaster style that requires him to be in his "ignited" state.
• Generation Xerox: To his father Sparda in several ways:
  • While it took some time for him to accept this role, he ultimately follows in Sparda's footsteps as humanity's protector against demons.
  • If the alternate costumes are to be believed, Sparda also had white hair in his human form and wore a Badass Longcoat.
  • Like Sparda, Dante fights primarily using a BFS and a pair of guns. Dante even sometimes uses the BFS his father once used.
  • Dante has defeated both Mundus and Argosax, two demon lords his father once fought. In 1, Mundus even chalks it up to fate's workings. In 2 and Before The Nightmare, Dante fights alongside Lucia just as his father and Lucia's mother Matier fought side-by-side in the past.Mundus: Again, I must face a Sparda... Strange fate. Isn't it?
  • In the finale of 2, Dante's decision to make an apparent one-way trip to the Demon World and defeat the Demon King is often compared to what his father did in the past. Even Dante is aware of it. Lucia also mentions that Sparda did come back after that, which is later proven true in Dante's case thanks to the updated chronology of the series.Lucia: Don't you want to hear the story about Sparda from... Matier?Dante: I know... He did the same thing...
  • Glimpses of Sparda's demon form look very much like Dante and Vergil's Devil Trigger forms.
  • After acquiring the Devil Sword Dante in 5, Dante now has his own namesake sword just like his father and the Devil Sword Sparda. Nico's Weapon Report on it also lampshades this: "Looks like Dante's following in his daddy's footsteps, swinging around a demon blade with his own name."
• Glowing Eyes of Doom:
  • Dante has these towards the end of 1 when he stops fooling around with Mundus and gets really pissed off.Dante: SILENCE!
  • His Super Costume in 5 permanently gives him glowing red eyes even if he's in human form.
• Good Is Not Nice: While Dante is unambiguously a good guy, he's prone to a load of Jerkass behavior, particularly since 3. It's downplayed in that game, as the other characters he's interacting with are either major villains or tried to kill him at least once before he says anything to them. In 4, however, the first thing we see him do is shoot a helpless but NOT innocent old man in the face in front of a church full of innocent people. The old man in question is the Big Bad of that game, and Dante was trying to cut the head off the snake. In 5 he's a complete dick to Nero for most of the game, because the main villain is Nero's father, and the last thing Dante wants is to have Nero kill his own dad. Dante is too familiar with the guilt of killing a member of your own family.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: As mentioned elsewhere on this page, Dante seems to have a habit of being gruesomely impaled. He'd likely be dead several times over if not for his Healing Factor.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Majin Form, a Japanese name for a very western-looking demon/fallen angel design; it's also one of the very few Japanese terms in the entire franchise.
• Ground Punch:
  • The Inferno ability in 1 and all its offshoots in the later games (Volcano, Shock!, Shocking!, Cruiser Dive) have Dante smash the ground with his fist to create either a wave of lava, a blast of Hard Light or a heavy shockwave. If you execute it immediately in certain games such as 4, the ground punch creates a small shockwave, but if you charge it up, you get a fairly large splash zone.
  • In 1, Dante punches the ground as a part of his animation while switching from the Alastor sword to the Ifrit gauntlets.
• Guns Akimbo:
  • He only ever uses Ebony or Ivory by themselves in cutscenes. Whenever you're playing as Dante he always keeps both pistols out if he's using them. The fifth game notably changes how the guns work if he's in Gunslinger mode: the normal gun button makes him shoot with Ivory (weaker, but shoots more rapidly), while the Style button makes him shoot with Ebony (deals more damage and hitstun, but isn't as rapid). His "style attacks" will still have him use both guns at the same time, however.
  • In 2, he has a pair of H&K MP5K submachine guns as an alternative for Ebony and Ivory. When using the shotgun he also carries Ebony, this mainly allows Dante to use the "Twosome Time" move.
  • In 5, if he can find the original Kalina Ann rocket launcher (hidden in one of the stages) after having received Kalina Ann II from Nico, he can get to wield both at the same time, giving him more firepower. He can also combine the two together to perform an even more powerful shot.
• '90s Hair: Although the first game came out just after the '90s in 2001, Dante's long boyish "curtains" hairdo is a holdover from the previous era. The HD Collection version of the third game even changes Dante's hair texture making his bangs bigger and less transparent so that they cover his eyes.
• The Gunslinger: Dante blends all four types of this trope together, with near-flawless accuracy and Offhand Backhand shots, a crazy rate of fire and a variety of explosive weapons, superhuman agility, and the ability (both in and out of cutscenes) to draw quickly yet still fire accurately. Of course, he has a Style explicitly named Gunslinger that enhances his firearm moveset.