I remember some comments regarding Dante's intelligence when the Ninja Theory game dropped and discourse around it has sprung up again following the first season of the Netflix series.
Devil May Cry is an action story. That means the majority of problems are solved through force, with guile playing a very limited role as far as the protagonist concerned. It isn't helped that three out of the five classic games feature Dante being duped in some way, usually by the villain: DMC 1 has Trish luring him to Mallet Island, DMC 3 has him, Vergil and Lady being played by Arkham and DMC 5 has V manipulating him so he can he reunite with Urizen and become Vergil again.
In fact, the only game in which Dante shows any particular cunning is Devil May Cry 2, where he swaps the Arcana Medaglia with his own two-headed coin. Yeah, the game that fans most prefer Capcom never acknowledge is also the only game where Dante actually shows himself to be something other than a really powerful meathead. The 2007 Madhouse anime (which is canon to the games) does give him a great moment to show off his smarts in the gambling episode. But that's it as far as cleverness goes.
Dante may not be stupid but he's not exceptionally clever.
Devil May Cry is an action story. That means the majority of problems are solved through force, with guile playing a very limited role as far as the protagonist concerned. It isn't helped that three out of the five classic games feature Dante being duped in some way, usually by the villain: DMC 1 has Trish luring him to Mallet Island, DMC 3 has him, Vergil and Lady being played by Arkham and DMC 5 has V manipulating him so he can he reunite with Urizen and become Vergil again.
In fact, the only game in which Dante shows any particular cunning is Devil May Cry 2, where he swaps the Arcana Medaglia with his own two-headed coin. Yeah, the game that fans most prefer Capcom never acknowledge is also the only game where Dante actually shows himself to be something other than a really powerful meathead. The 2007 Madhouse anime (which is canon to the games) does give him a great moment to show off his smarts in the gambling episode. But that's it as far as cleverness goes.
Dante may not be stupid but he's not exceptionally clever.
