The Ending Of Devil May Cry Season 2 Teases A New Battle In The Distance
Dante, Lady, and Vergil might have scored one victory in the finale, but the conflict between Earth and Makai is far from over.
One of the biggest criticisms from fans regarding the first season of Adi Shankar’s Devil May Cry adaptation was that, in reconfiguring the story as a critique of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, it lost sight of exactly what it is that DmC is supposed to be – namely, a story about a demon hunter named Dante repelling numerous would-be demonic invasions of the human realm. A perceived lack of fidelity to the source material is a criticism that has plagued video game adaptations for years, from Mortal Kombat to the quickly approaching Resident Evil reboot, and in all fairness, the political commentary introduced in Season 1 is certainly a far cry from anything on the surface of the games.
However, the explosive and emotional second season certainly rectifies this problem by marrying the show’s original allegory with more recognizable elements from the lore of the games, specifically the long-awaited re-introduction/showdown between twins Dante and Vergil as well as the appearance of the shadowy Uroboros Corporation and its corporate head Arius. When it’s revealed that Arius doesn’t want to end the invasion of Makai and instead wants to resurrect and merge with its original dictator Argosax, those adaptational liberties fuse with the operatic conflict at the heart of Devil May Cry, setting the stage for one final battle between Dante and Vergil. In a recent interview with Inverse, the show’s creator Adi Shankar pretty much confirmed that a Season 3 will continue that trend of diving deeper into the lore of the source material, and provided a brief glimpse at where the story goes next.
The introduction of DARKCOM and their theocratic campaign against demons in season 1 was a point of contention for many fans.
Devil May Cry Season 2 Ending Explained
For most of the season, Mary Arkham (aka Lady), her boss Vice President William Baines, and the entirety of DARKCOM were under the impression that the sacred Arcana (four mystical objects of immense power) they’d been collecting were some sort of weapon that they could use against Makai’s ruler Mundus to bring about an end to the invasion. Of course, as anyone who has played the games knows, that’s certainly not the case – it’s revealed later that Arius isn’t just the Elon Musk of the DmC franchise, but is actually a several hundred year old sorcerer who seeks to resurrect Argosax, the closest thing to the Bible’s Satan and the previous ruler of Makai who Mundus deposed. The revelation leads to a temporary alliance between Dante, Lady, and Vergil (who discovers that Mundus has lied to him for years and was in fact responsible for the death of his mother), and they enact a desperate plan to destroy one of the Arcana before Arius can use them.
Naturally, their plan fails and Arius does resurrect Argosax, an event that brings about the demise of Baines (devout to the very end) and leaves the twins as Earth’s only hope against the conjoined power of the sorcerer and his master. Even with the combined might of both Sons of Sparda, Argosax handily defeats them both, leaving them out of options except for the most unsavory: opening the portal to Makai so that they can force Argosax through, setting up for a rematch between the former king of Hell and his successor.
Who would’ve thought that the shadowy corporate investor pulling the strings behind DARKCOM would turn out to be a villain?
This time the plan works, and Mundus slaughters Argosax with ease. However, the brothers are left to contend with Mundus, and instead of working together, their differing ideologies bring them to clash swords once more: Dante can’t bear to leave his brother behind, but Vergil thirsts for power and vengeance, resolving to slay Mundus himself and succeed him as Makai’s new ruler. The fight ends with Vergil defeating Dante and launching him through the portal back to Earth, before closing it behind him and engaging his tormentor in a final duel we don’t get to see.
Meanwhile, still reeling from the death of her father figure and the man who groomed her into becoming part of DARKCOM, Lady receives another massive shock: her biological father, who became obsessed with demonology before transforming himself into one and devouring her mother, is still alive, having survived the house fire she believed killed him. What’s worse is that he’s now stuck in a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde situation, working as a double agent for DARKCOM infiltrating Mundus’ court as a cackling Jester demon. With nothing left for her (save a budding romance with Dante), she leaves on a motorcycle, presumably to find her now-corrupted Dad.
Despite acknowledging her feelings for Dante in season 2, Lady leaves him and DARKCOM behind for an unknowable future.
What’s Next For Devil May Cry?
With so much of the first season revolving around DARKCOM, Lady, and Vice President Baines, one can’t help but wonder if his demise this season was a result of the untimely passing of Kevin Conroy (the original voice actor for the character). Earlier in the season, Baines is handed the office of the presidency after the aloof President Hopper is accidentally shot to death, which feels like it could’ve paved the way for his story to continue. However, according to Adi Shankar, Baines’ story was always meant to end here.
“Plot wise, the beats were always there,” said Shankar to Inverse. “This wasn’t like an ‘oh, we lost Kevin, so let’s write him off the show’ kind of deal. This was always the plan. It was always landing at this.”
It’s a choice that means saying goodbye to a controversial addition to the show but one that was the centerpiece for one of Devil May Cry’s central themes: the way religion can and has spiraled into massive conflict throughout history. And without Baines, Lady’s free to go on her own journey of discovery, one that brings her face to face with the unintentional architect of her buried trauma: her father.
After leading countless soldiers to their demise in his pointless invasion of Makai, William Baines finally meets his own towards the end of the season.
Lady’s father Arkham and his demonic alter-ego Jester is the central antagonist of the prequel game Devil May Cry 3, and the architect behind the first violent encounter between Dante and Vergil. He manipulates the two brothers (as well as his own daughter) into summoning the Temen-ni-gru, a tower constructed by ancient devil worshippers that serves as a pure gateway between Earth and the demon realm — which Arkham needs to steal the Force Edge and assume the power of the Demon Knight Sparda. Considering that Arkham’s presence in Season 2 is embedded within Mundus’ royal court, we can assume that his motives will be a little different, but the hatred Lady feels towards him for the death of her mother is still intact.
“I thought it was kind of interesting, this double agent Jekyll and Hyde situation,” Shankar says. “And I think the real question then is ‘who’s driving the ship?’ And how does this relate to Mary? The father she knew before he freaked out. There’s a lot of narrative threads there that are very interesting.”
“And what I loved about Jester too in the games was just that he’s this cartoony character that exists in his own physics,” Shankar continues. “He’s essentially a character out of Looney Tunes that gets dropped into this dark fantasy, Gothic, super-serious world with kind of a Matrix veneer.”
Jester’s presence isn’t the same as in the source material, but he certainly promises to be a creepy and unpredictable antagonist nonetheless.
Just based on his statements, it seems clear that Arkham/Jester will play a major role in Season 3, and not only within Lady’s arc either. Considering who wins the battle between Mundus and Vergil, the unpredictable presence of the Jester will undoubtedly be a hidden thorn in the side of whoever ends up on the throne of Makai.
Although Season 2 ends with Dante once again separated from his brother in a remix of the ending of Devil May Cry 3, it’s obvious that Adi Shankar is still eager to tell more stories in this universe, using the games as a solid blueprint for what is ultimately a unique and divisive reimagining of the franchise.
