Who is Dante?

A demon hunter in a red coat: half devil, entirely unbothered.

Dante is the son of Sparda, the demon knight who rebelled against his own kind to save humanity two thousand years ago, and Eva, a human woman. Demons murdered his mother and, as he long believed, his twin brother Vergil. His answer is a business: a shop called Devil May Cry, from which he hunts demons for pay and for keeps. Kamiya named him for Dante Alighieri, built his personality on the manga hero Cobra, and dressed him in red because, in Japan, red is a hero's color.

His equipment is half the portrait. From his father he inherited the sword Force Edge, later awakened as the Sparda; his everyday blade is Rebellion; and his twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory, carry the inscription "For Tony Redgrave. By .45 Art Warks," a nod to the alias he used in the years covered by the novels. When his devil blood wakes, the Devil Trigger turns him briefly into what his father was.

THE PORTRAIT

Dante's original design, 2001

Dante's original 2001 design by Makoto Tsuchibayashi: red coat, Ebony and Ivory drawn, Rebellion on his back

The 2001 design

Makoto Tsuchibayashi's Dante: long red coat, black gloves, both pistols out, Rebellion riding on his back. The silhouette every later design answers to.

The designers

Tsuchibayashi drew the first Dante. Daigo Ikeno redesigned him for Devil May Cry 2 and 3, Tatsuya Yoshikawa for 4 and 5, and Alessandro Taini for DmC's alternate Dante. Few game heroes carry so many credited hands and stay this recognizable.

THE VOICES

Four English Dantes, one Japanese constant

Drew Coombs · 2001

The original voice, in Devil May Cry and the Viewtiful Joe appearances. His delivery in the first game's most emotional scene, a line reading that cracks mid-sentence, became a beloved piece of series folklore in its own right.

Matthew Kaminsky · 2003

The voice of the quiet Dante of Devil May Cry 2, the one performance in the role defined by restraint, matching that game's rewritten, taciturn hero.

Reuben Langdon · 2005 onward

Voice and motion capture for Devil May Cry 3, 4 and 5, and the English voice of the 2007 anime, where he was credited under the name Justin Cause. He auditioned for the part four times before he was chosen, and has defined Dante since.

Toshiyuki Morikawa · Japanese

Dante's Japanese voice, in the anime and across his Japanese appearances. The 2025 Netflix series recast the English role with Johnny Yong Bosch, who had voiced Nero, Dante's nephew, in the games.

Who is Vergil?Who is Hideki Kamiya?The anime

Who is Dante?

THE PORTRAIT

THE VOICES

THE FIRST WORD