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This is about the original character. For the DmC counterpart, see here.
Vergil DMC5

Vergil as he appears in Devil May Cry 5.

Vergil is a major character from the Devil May Cry series of hack and slash action games. He is the older twin brother of Dante, the son of the legendary demon knight Sparda and his wife human Eva and the father of Nero.

He first appeared in the original Devil May Cry as one of the final bosses, Nelo Angelo. Since then Vergil has appeared as one of the two main antagonists in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, as a playable character in the game's "Special Edition", appeared as a playable character in the "Special Edition" of Devil May Cry 4 and Devil May Cry 5. In the latter game, he is the final antagonist after V and Urizen merge back into himself revealing both his human and demon halves.

Biography[]

Appearance[]

For the most part, Vergil looks identical to Dante in hair and facial features. However, Vergil usually has his hair swept back instead of brushed down like Dante's, presumably to resemble his father and to distinguish himself from his twin brother.

Before being transformed into Nelo Angelo, Vergil wore a blue long coat with three coattails and a snake like pattern on the right side of the jacket underneath is a black vest with a navy blue ascot tie, dark green pants and brown boots. After that, he wore heavy armor that pulsed colors according to his vitality. The armor included a humanoid helmet with horns protruding from the forehead and a cape. In his final confrontation against Dante, he removed his helmet to reveal a sickly white skin tone with blue veins and red eyes, with his hair still swept back.

Nelo Angelo's armor gained a slight redesign in Devil May Cry 3 which did pulse, but not according to Nelo Angelo's vitality.

In Devil May Cry 5, Vergil looks nearly identical to his younger self from the third game but is older in appearance due to the passage of time, however his clothing appears to be predominately darker shades of blue. His coat is now black and the serpentine patterns and designs are neon blue and the three separated coattails has tattered at the edge. Vergil is no longer wearing an ascot tie, he instead wears a black sleeveless zippered-turtleneck beneath his midnight blue formal vest. He now wears charcoal gray fingerless gloves, black pants and dark boots covered by teal gaiters with several straps. Vergil's black coat appeared to be navy blue during the daylight when he faced Dante and Nero in the final battle.

When he initially appears in his weakened state, Vergil wore a tattered long black hooded cloak to cover his outfit and half of his face was shown to be pale white with blue veins, retaining these features even after his defeat from Dante as Nelo Angelo and being freed from Mundus's corruption, however when V and Urizen reunite to bring Vergil back his skin returns to normal.

Personality[]

Due to tragic life events including failing to protect his own mother, Vergil became cold, calculating, ruthless and withdrawn and he is almost the complete opposite of Dante's personality, avoiding most traits of humanity. Even though they are twin brothers, Vergil is calm, cool, and collected, very different from the festive boisterousness of his younger brother. This doesn't mean he's devoid of emotions though; he occasionally shows a dry sense of humor when annoyed and genuinely amused, and some episodes of wrathful rage in battle.

He is quiet and prefers swords over guns, since he considers firearms unworthy of a "true warrior" (he does however uses magically-summoned phantom blades which bear little functional distinction from firearms). However, his silence is not due to a lack of self-confidence; it is because he never shows fear for anything.

However, despite his cold persona and ruthlessness, he is an honorable warrior who follows a strict combat discipline, having essentially inherited Sparda's honor. He refuses to use firearms as he sees them as crude weapons, he despises fighting dirty and (as Nelo Angelo) he refuses to attack his opponents from behind. Likewise, in Devil May Cry 5, Vergil does not finish off Dante when he's weakened, instead telling him to recover before fighting. Vergil also has no tolerance for failure or insubordination from those under his command; he immediately slays the Hell Vanguard that failed to retrieve Dante's amulet, and stabs Arkham when he believed that the latter´s human side resurfaced by not killing Lady when commanded to, and thus was no longer needed. On both occasions, when he backstabs his partners, he does so directly without trying to catch them off-guard.

However, despite all that happened between them, it has been seen that Vergil's brighter side is not entirely gone but just suppressed. Dante and Vergil were close during their childhood and although as adults, they would not hesitate to fight each other for the sake of their goals, it seems Vergil still truly cares for his brother. During their fight against Arkham in Devil May Cry 3, Dante and Vergil were quick to cooperate with complete efficiency despite their previous fights to overwhelm and soon finish him off, in which Vergil was willing to fire one of Dante's guns, simultaneously saying a catchphrase, "Jackpot", after Dante asks his brother, "Remember what we used to say?", which he genuinely smirks at.

While Dante seeks to protect humanity from the demons, Vergil wants more demonic power, regardless of the consequences to those around him. Having emulated the traits of his powerful father Sparda, down to the cold persona, he seems to want his brother to awaken to his own powers too, as shown by how he purposefully stabbed Dante with Rebellion even though he knew what it could do and clearly looked pleased when Dante's powers truly awakened. Finally, despite his normal personality of cold dismissal, he truly cherish two things - the Devil-blade Yamato, a dark O-Katana left to him as a keepsake by his father, and his own half of the Perfect Amulet, a keepsake from his mother, displaying his genuine attachment to his parents. In Devil May Cry 3, Vergil seems to reveal some of his feelings by claiming to Dante; "Might controls everything, and without strength you cannot protect anything, let alone yourself", referring to their mother's death, meaning Vergil seeks power as compensation for failing to protect her. His failure may also have made him forsake close human relationships as he sees it too fragile to nurture. As revealed in Devil May Cry 5, Vergil has some resentment towards Eva for supposedly favoring Dante over him and how she saved his brother but apparently left him behind while still loving her, as V, Vergil's human side, shows sorrow at seeing her picture in Dante's shop and when looking at the manor he, Dante, Eva and Sparda once lived in and the horse he once used to sit in. Likewise, V shows some care for Trish clearly because she looks like Eva, promising to extract her from the Cavaliere Angelo safely and he also attempts to question how Eva would view the path he's taken to Trish. After learning that Eva did try to save him and died for it, Vergil seems to regret believing his mother would abandon him for Dante, wondering what would have happened had Eva saved him instead.

Vergil's relationship with Nero is complicated at best: He clearly doesn't know that Nero is his son and doesn't hesitate to rip off Nero's arm to regain Yamato. However, after V and Nero bonded and Nero unwittingly helps Vergil to be restored, Vergil shows respect towards him, thanking him for his help. After learning that Nero is his kid, Vergil is genuinely surprised and seems almost pleased. He does show care for his son by telling him to stand down and let him finish his duel with Dante and was reluctant to take him seriously until Nero proves himself a worthy opponent. He seems almost proud of his son's growth and gives him his treasured book of poems to remember him by as he goes to the Underworld to seal the portal with the Yamato.

V is the human side of Vergil, and he is able to see his past without the coldness and uncaring eyes of Vergil himself. This is his human manifestation that he has kept suppressed all his life to attain his goals of power. V describes Vergil as "One who lost everything", and that all the defeat he suffered only caused him to sink lower. V recognizes the gravity of crimes he committed and how important the things he threw away in the endless pursuit of power really were, such as his humanity, younger brother, and his own son. V originally went to Dante in the hope that he could right the wrong that Vergil created with the birth of Urizen. V explained to Nero that "he", meaning Vergil, only wanted to be protected and loved, but since he was alone his only option was to survive. After reemerging V and Urizen, Vergil retains some of V's mannerisms and humanity. Like V, he seems to be ashamed of the lows Urizen stooped into in his quest for power and after his defeat at Nero's hands, Vergil willingly works with Dante to undo what Urizen did. He even hints he has come to gain V's respect for humanity's tenacity, as he says after being defeated by Nero that he can still fight as if showing that he isn't giving up yet, and likewise he seems to have accepted mortality, as he calmly tells Dante all things, including them, will eventually end.

As Nelo Angelo, Vergil lacks speech (though in the special edition of Devil May Cry 3 in his Nelo Angelo costume, one of his taunts has him say "Come on" in a dark and menacing voice). He is also pained when forced to remember Dante and their family.

Concept[]

Vergil's name was taken from Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro.[1] The alias Nelo Angelo is a mis-translation of "Nero Angelo" ("Black Angel" in Italian). The misspelling has been maintained throughout the series, including in the novels, because Nelo Angelo became widely known.[2] Nelo Angelo was created as a rival for Dante; he was designed by Makoto Tsuchibayashi. Unlike other enemy demons from Devil May Cry, Nelo Angelo did not have original frameworks; the game designers used those of Dante. Unlike Dante, Nelo Angelo does not have guns; he was instead provided with a projectile move called Summoned Swords (幻影刀?) to make him stand out. The staff had no problems using the projectiles for the character because the model did not change.[3]

During the original Devil May Cry game, Vergil is killed by demons early in his life and his soul is controlled by Mundus. Capcom staff writer Bingo Morihashi wanted to create an alternate scenario in which Vergil was alive, and he was given freedom by Hideki Kamiya to adjust the character's backstory and make Vergil a living teenager for the events of Devil May Cry 3.[4] While his character was designed by Daigo Ikeno for Devil May Cry 3, his Devil Trigger form was created by Kazuma Kaneko.[5] Because no design for Vergil except that of his alter-ego existed, Morihashi was put in charge of designing his appearance. Most of Capcom's staff believed Vergil was Morihashi's favorite character because he became appealing. Morihashi stated that the idea of Vergil wielding a Japanese sword existed in a previous design. Vergil does not wield guns in contrast to Dante; Morihashi said that making Vergil's characterization was challenging because, being the older twin brother, he was intended to be more likable than Dante.[6]

Ikeno stated that because Vergil and Dante are identical twins, they share a hairstyle in the opening of the game, which was intended to make new players confuse them. Vergil's clothing was intended to contrast with his brother's; similarly, Nelo Angelo's design was prominently blue while Dante's was red. The staff had problems with the creation of Vergil's outfit because of the way it moved in 3D computer graphics; they joked that Vergil should remove his coat whenever he starts fighting.[7]

When the character was made playable in Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition, Capcom had to remove some of his moves due to space limitations. They tried keeping the moves he uses when being faced as a boss in Dante's campaign. His move set was made to reflect his calm personality that contrasts with Dante's brash confidence. When creating the characters, Vergil was made stronger than Dante but harder to control because the player has to learn more moves. Vergil became a popular character among the game's development team; Hideaki Itsuno stated that he was also well-received in the United States because several characters from Hollywood films wield a katana. Vergil's popularity resulted in Itsuno discussing with his producer ideas for a game focused on Vergil.[1] The team also wanted to add multiple alternative skins for him, especially a Nelo Angelo outfit. Itsuno also planned to add Vergil to the original Devil May Cry 4 game in the same way he had been added to the previous game.[7] When reconsidering whether Vergil would be a character that could be reskinned, however, the staff thought the fanbase would not like it.[8]

Story[]

Early life[]

Vergil and his younger twin brother Dante were conceived by the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and the human Eva, where they resided in a secluded mansion near Red Grave City. Growing up, Vergil would often fight with Dante over various things, and trained alongside his brother with his father.

At some point before Mundus's attack, Vergil would often visit a man due to his keen interest in literature, namely poems. There, he avidly read many works, though developed a particular liking towards William Blake's poems most of all. One day, the man gave Vergil a collection of Blake's poems as gift, in which Vergil responded by writing his name on the back of the cover. When asked by the man, Vergil told him about his relationship with his brother, and the man understood. Vergil would keep this book throughout his life, even in adulthood.

Sometime before their eighth birthday, Eva gave Dante and Vergil each a half of the Perfect Amulet. Around the same time, Sparda disappeared and later died from unknown circumstances, and Eva and the twins were left vulnerable. At some point after these events, demons - sent by the Prince of the Underworld, Mundus - attacked their home, setting part of it ablaze. During the attack, Vergil was playing alone at a playground a few yards from the house, where he was most likely ambushed. Eventually, he found himself in a cemetery surrounded by demons. Upon seeing his house burning in the distance, Vergil awakens his inner demon and kills all of the demons with Yamato. Vergil then went on the run believing his mother had abandoned him, a suspicion that would haunt him for the rest of his life. In actuality, Eva was killed while desperately searching for him.

It is unknown what exactly happened to Vergil after he went on the run other then that he became an extremely strong swordman and that he grew up hating humans as well as having a never-ending desire to attain power. Dante believed Vergil to be dead up until they met one year before the events of Devil May Cry 3.

Investigation in Fortuna[]

Sometime prior to the events of Devil May Cry 3, Vergil had been traveling the world, looking for information about his father Sparda. It was during this time that he visited the city of Fortuna,[9] to investigate the Order of the Sword, a religious congregation that worships Sparda. Upon his arrival into the city, Vergil wondered why they worship a demon like Sparda as a god. As he pondered, a horde of Scarecrows surround him, but Vergil dispatches them with little effort. After that brief encounter, Vergil then continued deeper into Fortuna, intending to learn more about the Order and their intentions. As he walked, he passed by a group of pedestrians, with a woman in a scarlet red dress taking notice of him as he walked away. After finishing his investigation of the Order's plan, Vergil soon leaves the town pondering whether or not one can call them misguided for their worship. As he walks away, he vows that one day the Order will know the true power of the son of Sparda.

At some point before or during his investigation in Fortuna, Vergil met and impregnated an unknown woman who would give birth to a baby boy, whose existence Vergil wouldn't be made aware of until years later.

Devil May Cry 3[]

While looking through various books in what appears to be a library, Vergil is approached by Arkham who knows about his origins as Sparda's son and wish to cooprerate with him to unleash the powers of the dark knight. Arkham helps Vergil to break the first seven seals Sparda cast upon the Temen-ni-gru (a holy tower constructed by devil worshippers), and then directs him to the Forbidden Land at the base of the tower. Vergil is later seen alongside Arkham at the top of the emerging tower. When the Hell Vanguard they sent to kill Dante returns, having failed its task, Vergil immediately dispatches it.

Vergil waits at the top of the tower for Dante, and at one point dispatches Arkham to eliminate Lady. When Dante reaches the peak of the tower, the two banter and then ferociously battle. Vergil emerges victorious, and takes Dante's half of the Perfect Amulet as his prize. Though Dante's Devil Trigger begins to manifest and Vergil prepares to fight him again, Arkham urges him to ignore Dante because "[they] already have all [they] need". The two then jump off the tower to reenter the Forbidden Land.

As Vergil and Arkham approach the final door to the Lair of Judgement, Vergil reveals his knowledge of Arkham's betrayal, and deals him a mortal blow. He then enters the chamber and commences the ritual to open the gate to the demonic world. During this ritual, he is momentarily interrupted by a blinded Beowulf, who has mistaken him for Dante (who defeated and blinded Beowulf earlier). However, Vergil quickly vivisects the devil, and takes his soul as a Devil Arm.

While Dante was hurrying up to the final seal, Vergil had no luck on unlocking the seal, and was later interrupted by Dante. The twins engaged another fight which was interrupted by Lady causing the battle to end in a tie. Both demonic brothers are equally wounded, and Jester makes his appearance by announcing that everybody has served their role nicely. Jester later turned back and forth between Arkham and Jester, explaining why Vergil's ritual was incomplete, and why Vergil had failed against Dante and Lady. Arkham completes the ritual, and then plays with the three warriors while waiting for the tower to activate. Once it does, he knocks them off the ascending platform, wherein Vergil falls into an abyss.

Later, after Dante enters the Netherworld, Vergil is seen passing through the Divine Library, with Lady still huddled up, wounded and in grief, after her battle with Dante. She hears his footsteps and looks up to see who it was, but by that time, he had already gone through the door that Dante took. Vergil later interrupts Dante's fight with the ascended Arkham, and the twins finish Arkham off together. However, Vergil has not given up his goal of obtaining the Force Edge, and the twins are again forced to fight. Though Dante is able to defeat Vergil, he cannot convince him to return to the Human World. Vergil lets himself fall even deeper into the Netherworld.

In the post-credits epilogue scene, Vergil wakes up in the "Room of Fallen Ones", still wounded from the earlier battle, Suddenly three glowing orbs approach, Vergil recognizes the orbs as those belonging to the demon emperor Mundus. Smiling and remarking "If [his] father did it, [he] should be able to do it too", Vergil prepares himself as he run towards the orbs, with the intent to attack Mundus.

Becoming the Black Angel[]

Though the battle between Vergil and Mundus was never shown, the former loses (most likely due to being still too wounded) in the fight, and as a result, Mundus creates an demonic armor known as "Nelo Angelo" for Vergil, who would be controlled by Mundus under this form. Also known as the "Black Angel", Vergil (as Nelo) would become known in the demon world for fighting evenly and with honor against his opponents, despite serving someone as dishonorable as Mundus.

During or after the fight with Mundus, the Yamato gets broken and later somehow ends up in Fortuna, deep inside the secret facility that belongs to the Order of the Sword's scientist Agnus, who tried to restore the sword but with no success.

Devil May Cry[]

Vergil later appears at Mallet Island, he is unrecognizable to Dante as Nelo Angelo. Eventually, Dante does notice his honorable personality, and questions why such a person would serve Mundus.

Nelo Angelo first appears to Dante as a reflection in the bedroom's mirror, from which he emerges and challenges Dante to a duel in the castle garden. They fight, and Nelo Angelo manages to pin Dante to a wall. However, Dante's amulet slips out just as Nelo Angelo attempts to deliver the killing stroke, and the sight of it awakens Vergil's memories, causing Nelo Angelo pain and forcing him to flee. He returns to challenge Dante in the garden near the Colosseum, but is defeated and again forced to flee.

He finally returns one last time in a hall in the warped castle, where Dante questions the knight's loyalty to Mundus, and he shows his true face (yet Dante shows indifference). He challenges Dante one last time, and though he has been granted with new powers, Dante defeats him. Vergil screams in pain as he disappears in a torrent of blue flames, leaving only his half of the amulet. By looking at the amulet, Dante has a flashback and realizes that Nelo Angelo is Vergil.

Devil May Cry 4[]

Sometime after Vergil's "death" as Nelo Angelo, his remains were used to create the Bianco and Alto Angelos enemies. While Vergil doesn't appear in the original version of the game and is not mentioned by name, Dante refers to the Yamato that Nero has as "[his] brother's".

In the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 4, Vergil is added as a playable bonus character (along with Lady and Trish). Gameplay-wise, he has all his abilities from Devil May Cry 3 (and some elements from his DmC counterpart) but his role in the Devil May Cry 4 story takes place long before the events in Devil May Cry 3.

Devil May Cry 5[]

See also V's story and Urizen's story.

Vergil resurfaces in Devil May Cry 5.[10] Several years after the events of Devil May Cry 4, Vergil was able to escape the Demon World as well as rid himself of Mundus's influence over him; however, his body was weakened and crumbling from battle after battle. He eventually confronted Nero and, despite his weakened condition, was able to easily remove his Devil Bringer arm completely, as well as regain Yamato, leaving Nero bleeding and unconscious.

Having regained his sword, Vergil then returned to his family's burned mansion. Fueled by his desire to defeat his twin brother Dante along with his pursuit of power, Vergil then stabbed himself with Yamato in order to separate his human half from his demon half as well as gain power without having to be hindered by human thought or emotion. This in turn sparked the birth of "V" and "Urizen".

After Urizen was defeated by Dante, a dying V approached him and commented on how he and Urizen are one in the same before he impaled Urizen with his cane, which in turn merged the two halves together once again and in the process, restored Vergil. Vergil then easily overpowered Dante, before telling him to recover from his wounds and get stronger in order for them to settle their score, then left but not before he thanked Nero. At the high top of the tree, Vergil laments on how things would have turned out if he and Dante's positions were switched, but nonetheless, he sat there and patiently waited for Dante for their last battle.

Dante eventually arrived and demanded that Vergil hand over Yamato to him to seal the portal to the demon world, but Vergil said that if he wanted it then he will have to take it from him. The Sons of Sparda soon fight each other, but are evenly matched. During the battle Dante informed Vergil that Nero was his son, much to the latter's surprise. Before the two could deal the killing blow, their fight is abruptly stopped by Nero, who was now in his true Devil Trigger, and proclaimed that the sibling rivalry between Dante and Vergil must end as he cannot allow either of them to die. Vergil, however, challenges his son to a fight over this proclamation and after a long and arduous battle, Nero defeats Vergil who was quite impressed with how much stronger Nero had gotten.

Vergil, being stubborn, says that he still has more than enough strength to fight but agrees that the portal must be closed by severing the roots of the tree, though mainly because it will interfere with their "business". Both he and his brother then make their way towards the Demon World in order to cut down the tree and close the portal behind them, but not before he gives Nero "V's" book as a memento from him until he comes back. In the Demon World, Dante and Vergil approach the base of the tree only to be surrounded by demons whom they soundly defeat. Eventually, the tree is completely destroyed with the portal closing behind thus sealing Dante and Vergil in the Demon World. A few weeks later, the brothers are seen sparring with each other while also bickering on who won their last few matches, thereby rekindling their relationship as true brothers. As the two begin another sparring match, they are interrupted by a hoard of demons whom they quickly make work of. Vergil tells Dante not to say his catchphrase, which Dante does anyway, much to his annoyance.

Powers and abilities[]

Powers[]

As a son of Sparda, Vergil was immensely powerful. Due to how long he had researched his demonic powers, his experience in utilizing them is considerably greater than Dante's and he has fully awakened to his true strength, allowing him to best Dante when he was not at full power with ease and match Dante when he finally awakened his true powers. After being corrupted by Mundus, Vergil receives new enhancements.

  • Superhuman Strength: Although he prefers precision and speed, Vergil holds phenomenal physical strength, capable of easily overpowering many far larger demons and fighting Dante equally, even once overpowering and ripping Rebellion out of his grasp in a blade lock, although notably at the time Dante had not fully awakened. Attacks using Yamato's Sheath can be effectively damaging due to Vergil's strength and he is able to throw his blade with enough force to pierce through a Scarecrow. As Nelo Angelo, he not only could almost match Dante but he even once overpowered him, striking him with enough force to send him to a wall and stun him and easily lifting him off the ground with one hand.
  • Superhuman Speed, Agility and Reflexes: Vergil's most capitalized on attribute is his outstanding superhuman speed, agility, reflexes and precision. He is capable of easily keeping up with and even outpacing Dante in battle as well as performing jumps much higher than human ability while also doing a variety of spins, even when he was covered by the armor of his Nelo Angelo form.
  • Superhuman Durability and Endurance: Vergil's durability and endurance allows him to easily withstand attacks from most powerful characters, even Dante and weave them off. His stamina is also considerable, as shown by how he is able to quickly fully recover from fatigue after his battle with Dante to aid his brother in defeating Arkham. Vergil also has displayed incredible regenerative healing ability, on one occasion suffering Dante's Rebellion cleaving through his torso and being able to stand and even walk after.
  • Teleportation: Vergil has advanced teleportation abilities owned from his far greater experience and research of his demonic powers than his brother.

Abilities[]

Vergil has displayed himself to be an exceptional combatant, particularly in weapon handling, as he can quickly understand the capabilities of whatever weapon he picks up and master them. For most of Devil May Cry 3 and the DMC3 manga, he is shown to be a superior fighter than Dante due to having far greater experience and knowledge. Although Dante ultimately bests him in their final fight, it was only after Dante had gotten used to Vergil's skills and even that was not without great effort. Even as Nelo Angelo, despite the loss of his sanity, Vergil still proves himself to be a difficult challenge for his brother, even once overpowering him.

Vergil is shown to be an exceptional master swordsman, proving him to be not only equal but even also superior to Dante, performing highly impressive feats that at times rivaled and even surpassed his brother, such as striking so fast that the opponent does not realize they have been slain until he sheathes his weapon and moving his sword so fast as to cut through volumes of raindrops when clashing with Dante as well as even dislodging Rebellion out of Dante's grasp in a clash of blades and later cleanly cutting through Lady's bullet while Dante couldn't, still overwhelming Dante. Although Dante is able to win finally, it should be noted at the time Dante finally saw through Vergil's skills and hence had an advantage and even then he still could not win easily. As Nelo Angelo, he remains an exceptional swordsman, able to nearly stand toe-to-toe with Dante.

Although not an often shown talent, he has shown excellent hand-to-hand combat skill and proficiency, with Beowulf. He uses a variety of punches and roundhouse kicks. As Nelo Angelo, his skill was such that he was capable of disarming Dante and defeating him unarmed during their first encounter.

Gameplay and weapons[]

In Devil May Cry 3: Special Edition, players may play on a separate file as Vergil. Vergil's scenario has a new prologue, but all other cutscenes were removed. Also, while the Vergil boss fights are still fought, the boss wears red instead of blue to give the impression that Dante is being fought. The boss is sometimes named "Vante" by the fans to resolve the confusion.

Vergil possesses his Devil Trigger and all three of his Devil Arms (Yamato, Beowulf, and Force Edge) from the beginning of his scenario. His signature Dark Slayer Style behaves somewhat like an upgraded Trickster Style, allowing to quickly move on the battlefield and ambush enemies. It must also be leveled in order to allow purchase of higher level actions for Vergil's weapons. Vergil also cannot obtain as many actions per weapon as Dante can, and uses his Summoned Swords instead of firearms.

Vergil's Yamato is a faster weapon than Dante's Rebellion, but has weaker power and range. Yamato can be compared to Agni & Rudra in its role, although it has completely different moveset. Vergil's Beowulf cannot charge attacks like Dante's, but overall is more powerful. Vergil can also use Yamato and Force Edge together, and his actions with the pair of swords resembles Dante with the Rebellion. Finally, while firing his Summoned Swords cannot propel Vergil like Ebony & Ivory can propel Dante, they can still juggle enemies, can be used without interrupting other actions, and can be used both to guard himself or to surround the enemy.

Instead of Dante's "Legendary Dark Knight Dante" and "Super Legendary Dark Knight Dante" costumes which allow him to assume Sparda Devil Trigger, Vergil possesses the "Corrupt Vergil" and "Super Corrupt Vergil" costumes which allow him to assume his Nelo Angelo Devil Trigger. While in human form in either incarnation, his appearance is similar to Dante's "Legendary Dark Knight Dante" look, except without the monocle, and has evil red eyes, a pale complexion, a darker purple coat with yellow borders, and highly noticeable dark veins in his face.

As Nelo Angelo, Vergil becomes noticeably stronger than Dante would in his Devil Trigger and his entire moveset changes to that of that one he possessed in the first game. His armor and zweihander serve as his weapons and both inflict dark elemental damage. He attacks with slow but strong sword slashes, punches and kicks that generate an azure-colored flame. He can also charge up to fire explosive azure blasts of energy with either weapon. Nelo Angelo still retains his Air Trick, but comes in the form of vanishing in a blaze of azure flame instead of a blur. While the powerful armor gives him higher resistance to flinching, he is noticeably slower than his original devil form.

Crossover appearances[]

Marvel vs. Capcom series[]

In Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, Vergil is the fourth alternate color scheme for fellow Capcom character and villain, Albert Wesker.

Vergil appears in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 as one of the twelve new additions to the game, with Daniel Southworth and Hiroki Hirata reprising their role in English and Japanese respectively. His DLC costume is Corrupt Vergil. He plays very similarly to his DMC3 counterpart, using long ranged normals and specials while dealing a large amount of damage and controlling space with his reach and teleports. His handicaps are his relatively low health and high meter usage.

Cross series[]

Vergil appeared in the crossover strategy game Project X Zone 2, paired up with Dante. His Nelo Angelo form also appear as a Rival Unit.

Cameo appearances[]

Vergil appeared as a card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS and Street Fighter X All Capcom.

In Sengoku BASARA 4, Mitsunari Ishida has Vergil's outfit as a DLC costume.

Vergil's attire is a costume for Stylish Alastor in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble.

Trivia[]

  • As mentioned above, Vergil is named after the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro. In the Divine Comedy, Publius acts as Dante Alighieri's guide through Hell and Purgatory. Although Publius was virtuous, his lack of Christian faith prevented him from entering Heaven.
  • Traditionally, Vergil's mixed lineage of a demon father and human mother would make him a cambion, although the name is never given in the games, and he is usually referred to as "half-demon" or just "demon", along with other characters of similar demonic heritages.
  • Vergil's playable appearances in the series feature him in either an enhanced "special" version of a game that already exists.
    • However, this tradition can now be considered broken since Vergil is available for the original versions of Devil May Cry 5 (marking the first time since its inception to be featured in the original version), although he is only available through downloadable content.
    • Additionally, Vergil's playable crossover appearances so far feature him either in an updated version of a existing game (Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3) or a sequel (Project X Zone 2).
  • Before the fact of Nero being Vergil's son was officially established in Devil May Cry 5, there were several hints and confirmations.
    • In the novel Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune, it was purely assumed that Nero is the son of Vergil and a prostitute (due to the fact that no one knew who Nero's mother was).
    • The claim that he is Vergil's son was also allegedly confirmed at the "Captivate 2009" by one of the Capcom employees who worked on Devil May Cry 4's localization.[11] According to said employe, DMC4 was originally going to include this fact but it was removed for the possibility for setting up a story in the future, making it ambiguous.
    • The claim was later confirmed in the official Devil May Cry series artbook Graphics Arts 3142,[12] and by Hideaki Itsuno in June 2018.[13][14]
      • While the 3142 Graphics Arts artbook confirmed Nero's placement with his relation to Vergil and his family, a few other sources released later such as the Capcom 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia still refered Nero's placement as unknown for some reason. Devil May Cry 5 openly acknowledges Vergil's paternity over Nero which decisively overrules said sources.
    • In Vergil's Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition ending, the shadow that looms behind him has a strong resemblance to Nero's Devil Trigger form, futher supporting the relation between them.
  • In Devil May Cry 3, at the end of the battle against Arkham, Vergil uses one of Dante's handguns, Ebony and Ivory, to defeat Arkham's blob form. This is the first and only time Vergil is ever shown to use a firearm.
  • The character has been voiced by Daniel Southworth ever since his first appearance in Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening.
  • Lorenzo Belli, from Capcom's survival horror game Haunting Ground, is fairly similar to Vergil. Like Vergil, he is a relative of the protagonist who is obsessed with obtaining an element of power that his relative possesses (the Sparda and Perfect Amulet for Vergil, and the Azoth for Lorenzo), and even tries to kill his relative to acquire it. Furthermore, they both have the same hairstyle (Lorenzo on hard mode).
  • Vergil's character, fighting style, weapons, and element somehow resembles Mitsunari Ishida from Capcom's Sengoku BASARA series of hack and slash strategy games as his current fighting style is based on Iaido.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 http://www.1up.com/news/postmortem-dmc3se
  2. cite book|title=Devil May Cry 2|year=2006|publisher=Tokyopop|isbn=978-1598164510|author=Gokeida, Shinya|page=205|quote=As the game uses 'Nelo Angelo' we have chosen to do so here, too.
  3. cite book|title=Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts|publisher=Capcom, Udon Entertainment|year=2015|isbn=978-1927925485|pages=203
  4. cite book|title=Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts|publisher=Capcom, Udon Entertainment|year=2015|isbn=978-1927925485|pages=211
  5. https://web.archive.org/web/20070929223856/http://www.gamespot.com/news/6107931.html
  6. cite book|title=Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts|publisher=Capcom, Udon Entertainment|year=2015|isbn=978-1927925485|pages=11-12
  7. 7.0 7.1 cite book|title=Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts|publisher=Capcom, Udon Entertainment|year=2015|isbn=978-1927925485|pages=206
  8. http://www.gamespot.com/articles/devil-may-crys-future-isnt-tied-to-how-well-devil-/1100-6428432/
  9. Devil May Cry 4: Special Edition Website Inroduction (Vergil)
  10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJMHApEqsk
  11. https://web.archive.org/web/20151023020941/www.capcom-unity.com/carbo/blog/2009/04/28/captivate_2009__devil_may_cry_news_no_new_game_unfortunately Captivate 2009 - Devil May Cry News (No New Game Unfortunately)
  12. http://devilmaycry.wikia.com/wiki/File:Nero_Vergil_Relation_Confirmation.jpg
  13. https://us.blastingnews.com/gaming/2018/06/devil-may-cry-5-director-confirms-that-vergil-is-neros-father-possible-release-date-002630961.html
  14. https://gearnuke.com/devil-may-cry-5-interview-neros-lineage-design/


See also[]

Gallery[]

For more images of this character, see their Gallery.

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