Devil May Cry’s devil-may-care Dante is one of the best gaming protagonists of all time. He’s been featured in multiple games, from the mainline series and reboots to cameos in other games. Given the character’s rich history, of course, there are hundreds of interesting facts about him, though not even the most die-hard fans would know all of them.
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If Dante is one of your favorite video game leads, then this list will let you in on some surprising facts about him.
10) Dante Was Originally Meant To Be A Resident Evil Character
Devil May Cry 1 actually spawned from a rejected version of Resident Evil 4. During development, Resident Evil 4 grew to become more action-driven than survival-horror. On top of that, Resident Evil 4 was to feature a character called Tony Redgrave. Redgrave had a comical personality. When Capcom evaluated the overall scope of the project, it felt way out of sync with Resident Evil’s identity.
In response, Capcom decided to spin this version of Resident Evil 4 into a totally new IP: Devil May Cry. The character Tony Redgrave was then renamed and reworked into Dante. And another interesting fact is that since Redgrave’s character model was based on Leon Kennedy, Dante also resembles Leon in the final version of Devil May Cry 1. The name Tony Redgrave was kept as an alias for Dante to serve as a nod to his origins.
9) Where Do The Bullets For Dante’s Guns Come From?
Dante loves to spam hundreds of bullets while fighting. Despite possessing other skills and stronger weapons, using Ebony and Ivory is a habit of Dante. They are also one of the few weapons that Dante has had in every Devil May Cry game. But have you ever wondered where their bullets come from?
Dante’s always wearing a long trench coat, but even that’s not big enough to hide that many bullets. You see, Dante actually uses his devil powers to generate the bullets for Ebony and Ivory. This means that he neither has to reload the guns nor worry about running out of ammunition. Another reason why Dante does this is that the bullets he generates using his powers are also more effective against demons. Standard ammunition would only take a devil hunter so far.
8) Dante Loves Getting Impaled
Dante has some bad habits, but there’s one that is just a shocker. In every mainline Devil May Cry game bar the second, Dante has been impaled. In Devil May Cry 1, it was when Trish threw Force Edge, and it landed on Dante’s chest. In Devil May Cry 3, Dante is impaled by Virgil with both Yamato and Rebellion.
It’s the same in Devil May Cry 4, where Nero throws Rebellion into Dante and pins him to an idol. But Devil May Cry 5 takes this torture to a whole new level. In the fifth game, Dante unlocks his Sin Devil Trigger after he stabs himself with Rebellion and absorbs it. After that, whenever we access Dante’s Sin Devil Trigger form in combat, the self-stab animation always plays. Devil May Cry 2 is the only game where that doesn’t happen. Funnily enough, Devil May Cry 2 is also the most hated game in the franchise. A coincidence?
7) Dante Ages Differently
In the prequel Devil May Cry 3, Dante is about 19 years old. Fast-forward to Devil May Cry 5, and Dante is around 45. Visually, Dante looks older in the fifth game. He has a slight beard, looks more mature, and is significantly larger than he was in his twenties. However, at the same time, he’s also faster, stronger, more agile, and intelligent than he was at the start of his story. What that means is that Dante does age, but at a very slow pace.
Dante’s father, Sparda, presumably lived for over 2000 years. For Dante, 2000 seems like a stretch since he’s half-demon, half-human, unlike his father, who was a full demon. A couple of hundred years would make sense given his nature, unless some sort of tragedy in possible sequels cuts his life short. So, just like Virgil, Dante ages differently from people who are just humans.
6) Dante’s Sin Devil Trigger Was Different In The First Draft
A “Perfect Devil Trigger” for Dante was planned in Devil May Cry 4. But since there were time and budget constraints, the mechanic was dropped. When they finally got their shot with Devil May Cry 5, the developers wanted to make sure to introduce a new variant this time. And so the Sin Devil Trigger for Dante was conceptualized.
In its early concept drafts, the Sin Devil Trigger form was different visually. Dante’s SDT had two wings and a long, spiky tail. The many iterations went through revisions, and ultimately, we ended up with the four-winged, tail-less form today, which is still pretty sick.
5) Dante Loves Pizza and Strawberry Sundaes
Dante has a number of favorite delights. One thing he’s often seen eating is ice cream sundaes. In both the 2007 and 2025 anime, there are scenes where Dante is eating an ice cream sundae. The devil hunter also has a thing for pizza. In Devil May Cry 3, Dante is seen eating a slice in the opening cutscene, while in the fourth and fifth games, pizzas are a part of the aesthetic. And despite saying that he doesn’t like olives, Dante has no problem eating a pizza with them on it.
Another fun fact is that Dante prefers Jack Daniel’s whiskey. In about every game, Dante has been seen drinking a glass, and the bottle always closely resembles the Jack Daniel’s brand. It’s also worth mentioning that Dante’s name was a tribute to the poet Dante Alighieri. Since the poet liked an olive-based liquor, Dante’s sweet spot for whiskey appears to be another reference.
4) Dante Has Telekinesis
It’s happened quite a lot that Dante has either used a power or a weapon once, and then we’ve seen no sign of it ever again. In Devil May Cry 1, there’s one such instance. At the start of the game, Trish comes to visit Dante. The two talk, go back and forth, and then all hell breaks loose.
Trish assaults Dante and throws a motorcycle at him. However, just as it’s about to hit Dante, Dante apparently holds the bike in mid-air for a split second, whips out Ebony and Ivory, and shoots the bicycle away. On one hand, there’s a chance that this was Dante using telekinesis. On the other hand, it might have been a dramatic effect to show how quickly Dante pulls out his pistols. There’s a debate about which is really the case. That said, it wouldn’t be surprising if a future Devil May Cry game has Dante using telekinesis.
3) Cobra Inspired Dante’s Personality
All art is derived from each other, and Devil May Cry’s Dante is no exception. Per the creator Hideki Kamiya, he used the character Cobra from the manga Space Adventure Cobra as an inspiration for Dante. Cobra’s red attire, cocky attitude, and heroics stood out to Kamiya, and he used them as the base for Dante’s personality.
The red iconic visual of Dante pays homage to Cobra’s red clothing. But the only thing Dante lacks is the use of cigars. Cobra is a heavy smoker in the manga. However, Kamiya stated he was able to make Dante seem cool in a different way and didn’t feel necessary for the character to smoke. Pizza and ice cream sundaes already had that covered.
2) Dante Is Skilled At Playing Instruments
Combat skills aren’t the only thing Dante has. He’s just as versatile outside of a fight as he is in one. There have been many moments when Dante has found an instrument in his hands. Like, for example, in Devil May Cry 3, when he gets the guitar-shaped Devil Arm after beating the boss Nevan. This Devil Arm can attack using electricity, summon bats, and transform into a scythe on command.
But given its guitar shape, Dante couldn’t help himself and turned into a rock star as soon as he acquired the weapon. In a similar fashion, Dante got the weapon Dr. Faust from Nico in Devil May Cry 5. On wearing the hat, Dante whipped out some insane poses and dance moves. Whenever we get to see Dante’s office in the Devil May Cry games, you can also notice a drum kit and guitars lying around in the back. Since Dante has insane motor reflexes because of his hybrid nature, that’s likely one factor as to why he’s so good with instruments. But besides that, he has had a lot of practice during combat, too, so it makes sense.
1) Dante Is Capcom’s Most Popular Character
There’s no question that Dante is one of Capcom’s most iconic characters. That said, the results of the 2024 Capcom Super Elections might have shocked even the company itself. In these fan-voted elections, several categories were featured. This includes Capcom’s best character worldwide, most popular game, best character voted by male audiences, and so on.
What was surprising was that Devil May Cry and Dante did a clean sweep for a majority of those categories. Dante came in as the No. 1 most popular Capcom character in the world. He also came in first place as the best character chosen by male audiences. Devil May Cry 5 was voted as the best Capcom game of all time, with Dino Crisis and the Resident Evil 4 remake coming in at second and third place, respectively.
Everyone knew Dante’s charming looks and cool personality were a big hit with the people. However, seeing it on this scale is unbelievable. It’s even more amazing considering Devil May Cry hasn’t had a new game in over five years, whereas series like Resident Evil that come out every other year aren’t as big. Goes to show you how pivotal the Devil May Cry series is for Capcom, and hopefully, they will hurry up on the sixth installment.
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