With Netflix’s Devil May Cry series approaching closer to our mini-screens, the fans are thrilled to see their favorite characters coming to life and reliving the thrilling adventures and the eccentric battles featuring Dante. The adaptation has already gotten the attention of hardcore gamers and has showcased sneak peeks of some of the content that will be present in the first season of the video game adaptation.
From White Rabbit to Vergil, the teaser trailer has confirmed the inclusion of some of the most renowned antagonists from the video game series. Despite the addition of so many evil personas, fans worry that Netflix might follow the same steps as the 2007 show.
This notion was first born and bred in the fans’ minds as the upcoming series might ignore the most infamous villain from the first game. The antagonist is none other than the Emperor of the Dark, Mundus.
The 2007 Devil May Cry adaptation dug its own grave with an alternative storyline
Needless to say, Capcom’s Devil May Cry franchise is the pinnacle of the fantasy action-adventure genre that has been an essential part of our childhood. Since 2001, the franchise has only grown bigger and bigger, as it features Dante, a demon hunter, on a mission to exterminate the demon race from the face of the Earth.
The games had multiple sequels, featuring a layered plot and a storyline that spans 6 hours. Each sequence focuses eminently on action, epic boss battles, and character progression. In fact, one of the core reasons the games are so popular in 2025 is the perspiring boss fights that sometimes take us multiple attempts to clear.
With evergreen popularity and a large fan base that features multigenerational gamers, it became a prime candidate for an anime adaptation. Hence, in 2007, when it was announced the beloved game was receiving an adaptation, they were thrilled.
However, the excitement did not last long because the show made an attempt to be unique and tried to come up with a unique and alternative storyline that was heavily distinct from the source material. The project was undertaken by Studio Madhouse, and unlike Studio Pierrot, they could not capitalize on the opportunity and came up with a rather disappointing work.
The 2007 show claimed that it was set sometime between the first two games, but it holds very little value for the ardent fans of the franchise. The episodic approach led to a lack of a gripping storyline and disappointingly bad action scenes, failing to please the fans. Additionally, what makes it a boring watch is how the executives of Studio Madhouse thought it would be a brilliant idea to avoid featuring one of the most renowned villains in the franchise, Mundus.
Instead, they believed that it would be a fantastic idea to show Dante struggling with the financial crisis and acting as a bodyguard for an orphaned heiress from demons. What ultimately became a key reason for the show losing itself in the sea of unknown was featuring a lackluster villain called Sid, who manipulated Dante to collect rare demonic items to harness the power of Abigail, who once fought against Mundus.
Clearly, the idea did not work, as it joined the long list of failed adaptations and made the studio earn the reputation of not creating a faithful adaptation of a popular work.
How can Netflix fix its errors from the 2007 adaptation?
One of the major flaws that made the 2007 Devil May Cry anime was that it omitted the presence of Mundus, the ruler of the Demon World and the primary antagonist of the very first game. The Emperor of the Underworld was the strongest enemy that Dante had faced and was responsible for our hero’s tragic past. Thus, it led to a colossal gap in the narrative, which could have added a layer of depth to the lore.
Now, Netflix has the opportunity to correct this grave mistake by properly introducing the Demon Emperor and even exploring his connection to Sparda. Since the OTT platform has been focusing heavily on making its adaptation more faithful, it feels promising that it might feature a more structured and high-stakes storyline similar to the original games.
From the first look of the teaser trailer, it seems that the show might not feature the franchise’s most formidable threat just yet. However, what can be assumed is that the adaptation might give its fans the epic demon war in the second season to make it not hit its prime too early.
Devil May Cry (2025) will be released on April 3, 2025, streaming exclusively on Netflix.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
