| “ | My name, by the way? It's Dante. But you can call me Dante the Demon Killer- has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
— Dante
|
” |
Dante is the Nephilim half-breed son of the Demon Sparda and an angel named Eva. Rebellious, laid-back and dangerous- Dante makes his living as a vigilante Demon Hunter in Limbo City, striking back at the otherworldly overlords of humanity with a wide arsenal of skills and weapons. While he is publicly decried as a terrorist, criminal and sexual deviant, Dante is unfazed in his quest and unrelenting in his arrogant and stylish demeanor.
This Dante represents a distinct, separate character from the original, with a wildly different personality, following an alternate timeline story.
History[]
DmC: Devil May Cry[]
| “ | Fuck you, you ugly sack of shit!
— Dante
|
” |
Dante, living in Limbo City as a vigilante Demon Hunter, has been pushed on to the brink of society, living as a loner and an outcast, in part because of the propaganda leveled against him by the Demons controlling the city and because of his own personal conflict as a half-demon, half-angel making him feel like an outsider. Slowly coming to terms with and discovering how to use his super-natural powers and skills, Dante has become the Demon's public enemy number one, and is being hunted by a powerful Demon in the guise of a human named Mundus.
Meanwhile, Dante encounters a girl named Kat, a psychic powered runaway who can see Demons, even when they are in a mortal disguise. She quickly becomes a valuable ally to Dante and his war on Demon-Kind, and she eventually leads him into an organization known as The Order- a "terrorist" group dedicated to removing the Demons from power and revealing the truth of them to the world, run by his long-lost twin brother Vergil. Together, the sons of Sparda begin to uncover and defeat the demons throughout Limbo City and bring the truth out- no matter the cost.
Non-Canon History[]
Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale[]
Dante in Playstation All-Stars.
| “ | Let's turn some heads...the wrong way.
— Dante
|
” |
The DmC version of Dante appears in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale as a playable fighter, inspired equally by both franchises to create a moveset and fighting style that resembles both versions of the character. While his reveal turned some heads due to this incarnation of Dante's lack of history with the Playstation brand, it is most likely that Capcom required they use the version from the then upcoming game as a form of cross-promotion.
Dante is a combo-focused character who gains a large amount of AP from long-chains and punishing single characters for an extended period of time, which allows him to excel in one-on-one and two-on-two matches, but makes him somewhat vulnerable and easy to punish in standard free-for-all. He brings in numerous weapons from his home franchise, including Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory and his Scythe, allowing him to more easily cancel his attacks into other attacks and juggle opponents in the air for extended periods of time. His level one super causes him to slash forward three times with his sword, Rebellion, killing an enemy trapped in the attack. For a level two, Dante uses his classic "Stinger" attack, dashing forward and swinging his sword in a horizontal line that kills any enemies are unable to jump out of the way. Finally, his level three causes him to transform into his Devil Trigger state, giving him a bright red coat and white hair, and making his normal attacks able to kill.
Dante's rival character is Heavenly Sword's Nariko- another character created by Ninja Theory. Outside of this fact, little else is known about Dante's story or ending in this game. His alternate costumes are also a mystery at this time.
Behind the Scenes[]
Dante's original design.
Dante's original design garnered a massive fan outrage across the internet, with people derogatorily nicknaming this incarnation of the character "Emo Dante", "Donte" and "DINO" (short for "Dante In Name Only"), among others. Some fans even went as far as to send death threats to employees of both Capcom and Ninja Theory for redesigning the character. Despite some of the more outspoken feedback, Ninja Theory did listen to criticisms of the design, and he has gone through numerous tweaks- during his initial reveal, this Dante was a smoker, a fact that many of the original series' fans despised, causing Ninja Theory to drop this trait. Later trailers have shown this new Dante possessing a similar sense of humor and personality to the original incarnation, and when he activates his Devil Trigger, Dante's coat becomes red and his hair turns white- causing him to more closely resemble the original Dante.
Appearances[]
- Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012)
- DmC: Devil May Cry (2013)
- DmC: Devil May Cry -Definitive Edition- (2015)