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So sad that humans will always be humans, no more. Has the Sparda blood been spoiled over the ages?
~ Mundus before attempting to kill Dante.

Mundus (in Japanese: ムンドゥス Mundusu, Latin for "world"), also known as the Dark Emperor, the Devil King, the Prince of Darkness and Master Mundus, is the overarching antagonist of the Devil May Cry franchise.

He was originally defeated by the legendary Dark Knight Sparda after the great demon had a change of heart, then betrayed and fought the entire armies of the demon world for the sake of the human race. Then centuries later, Mundus was yet again defeated, only this time by Sparda's own son Dante. Mundus is the source of evil responsible for the events in the Devil May Cry franchise. He is solely responsible for the death of Dante and Vergil's mother, Eva, and the corruption of Vergil.

He is the ruler of the demonic underworld and the arch-nemesis of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda and later his sons, Dante and Vergil.

He was voiced by Tony Daniels.

Appearance

Mundus appears in a variety of forms throughout Devil May Cry.

Avatar Form

The first, avatar-like form is a trio of glowing red lighting-surrounded eye-spheres arranged in the form of a triangle. It is unknown if this is a full transformation or simply an avatar of himself he uses to manifest himself to his servants or enemies. This avatar of Mundus, as it was hinted by its look, possesses the powers and abilities to manipulate and summoning lightning and thunderbolts. This is the form in which Vergil fought at the end of Devil May Cry 3.

Statue Form

The second form is that of a gigantic statue of a celestial winged young man with three eyes and long hair. He may lack mobility in this form, but Mundus makes it up with his power. Able to generate 3 deadly energy spears out of his eyes, and an energy beam that can be fatal.

Fallen Angel Form (The real one)

The third form, which is his most known look, transforms Mundus into an older version of himself. In this form, Mundus acquires a long beard, angelic wings, and a large hole in his chest, which is most likely a scar from his battle with Sparda so many years ago.

True Form

In his final battle with Dante, the stone on his body is continually blasted away, revealing his true form: a grotesque, writhing mass of living tissue with three eyeballs and hundreds of hands spewing from its body. Upon his defeat, Mundus turned into an ethereal avatar of his head before being sent back to the demon world.

History

Life before Devil May Cry

Little is known about Mundus's past, except that he lead an invasion of the human world 2,000 years ago until he was betrayed by one of his chief generals, Sparda, who managed to defeat both Mundus and his army and sealed them all back into the Demon World.

Enslaving Vergil

At the end of Devil May Cry 3, Vergil encountered Mundus while he was in Hell. Vergil thought that if his father could defeat Mundus, so could he. However, Mundus easily defeated Vergil. He then decided to corrupt Vergil, by transforming the half-demon into an alternate Devil Trigger; Nelo Angelo.

Devil May Cry

Mundus eventually planned his escape back into the human world by creating a gateway inside a castle on Mallet Island. He later used his minion, Trish, a demonic clone of Dante's mother; Eva, to draw Dante, the son of his old enemy, Sparda, there so he could kill him at the same time. After Dante managed to reach Mallet Island, Mundus sent an army of powerful and loyal demonic servants to kill Dante, only for each of them to fail, multiple times. After Griffon was defeat by Dante for the third time, he begged Mundus for another chance. But Mundus replied by killing Griffon in cold blood.

After Dante managed to defeat Nightmare for a third time, as well as rescue Trish from falling debris, Mundus told Trish that he was disappointed with her. So when Dante was about to confront the Dark Emperor in his throne room, Mundus held Trish hostage. Mundus threaten Dante that if he even blinks, she died. Mundus then shoots three energy spears right at Dante. Just when he was about to kill Dante, Trish intercepted, taking the fatal blow.

The two engaged in a titanic battle, with Dante unleashing the Devil Trigger of his father's sword in its true form, the visage of Sparda. He finally succeeded in defeating Mundus, but as he attempted to escape Mallet Island, the Dark Emperor opened a rift and engaged Dante in a final battle. As Dante was shooting down Mundus, Mundus began to crumble apart, revealing his hideous true form. Just when Mundus was about to kill Dante, Trish, who survived the fatal blow, appeared and gave Dante enough power to defeated Mundus. With the defeat of Mundus, Dante managed to drive Mundus back into the demon world. However Mundus swore that he would return, in which Dante replied to him by giving his regards to his son.

Mundus has been mentioned in the Devil May Cry 5 prequel novel, still sending demons after Dante.

DMC

In the videogame DmC: Devil May Cry, Mundus who is the game's main antagonist, much different and hides behind his human disguise by the name "Kyle Ryder" and he is the absolute ruler of the twisted demonic world of Limbo. In the game his war with angels as well as the human world he seeks to conquer was over 10,000 years ago and both he and the demons have been secretly living among an unsuspecting mankind and controlling the entire Earth, but he was stopped and vanquished in the end by both part angel/part-demon brothers Dante and Vergil, the sons of Mundus' blood-brother and former lieutenant, the great demon warrior Sparda.

Personality

Mundus is depicted as the epitome of evil within the Devil May Cry universe. He is very unscrupulous, sadistic, smug, and manipulative, so he has no loyalty or compassion for his minions, gleefully killing one of his own generals, Griffon, after he failed to defeat Dante as well for his amusement and pleaded for his master's aid, or even using Trish as a bargaining chip over Dante to ensure an easy victory and to gloat at him, which could be seen as cowardly. Like most other demons in the series, Mundus has a low opinion on humans, even going so far as to wonder if Dante's human heritage had weakened his father's blood.

Though he hates Sparda, he did note he could see the same "light" from Sparda's eyes in Dante's, which could indicate a measure of respect he once held for his greatest general, though this could also simply be a fallback reference as to how both Phantom and Griffon saw Sparda within Dante. Mundus is also very driven by his goals, setting servant after servant to destroy Dante before finally taking the fight to the devil hunter himself. And even after losing again, he still forced a smaller Hellgate open in a bid for vengeance on Dante.

Powers and Abilities

  • Supernatural Powers: As a Transcendent Demon King, Mundus has possesses near omnipotence and incalculable mystical power. Mundus was the only foe who was challenging to defeat by the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda. He was also able to easily defeat Vergil, an extraordinarily powerful supernatural being and even Dante required the power of the Sparda to stand a chance against Mundus. Mundus' only known rival was the prehistoric demon king Argosax. According to Trish, Mundus had originally used the Qliphoth Fruit to become all powerful and take over the Underworld.
    • Near Immortality: As a transcendent demon king, he is immortal, having lived for thousands of years without aging or falling ill. He is also invulnerable to most forms of physical and mystical harm. So far, only an ascended demon like the Dark Knight Sparda as well as Dante, enhanced by his father's sword, were capable challenging and harming him. Even an ascended Demon like Sparda was incapable of permanently killing Mundus.
    • Preternatural Strength: As a transcendent demon king, Mundus possesses high amount of strength. He is able to easily punch through stone.
    • Flight: By virtue of his wings, Mundus is capable of taking flight.
    • Underworld Lordship: Being the ruler of the underworld, Mundus' position and great demonic powers allow him to rule the underworld with little to no opposition. It is unknown if he still holds his status after Urizen's plot.
    • Near Omnipotence: As stated by Trish, Mundus was a very powerful ancient demon who consumed the Qliphoth Fruit in order to become nearly omnipotent. As a result, he possess many incalculable supernatural powers, such as;
      • Demonic Power Manipulation: Mundus is able to harness and control demonic forces and energies. He uses this power to project powerful beams of demonic energy. He can even project red energy needles from his third eye, hands, or back that are strong enough to cause Dante pain. By charging large amount of energy into his third eye, Mundus can fire a powerful beam of white energy which is seemingly lethal to powerful beings like Dante or Trish. He can even use his power over demonic energies to enhance the power and strength of individuals.
      • Pocket Dimension Creation: Mundus is powerful enough to create a pocket dimension filled with stars and at least one planetoid.
      • Demon Summoning: During his fight with Dante, he is shown to be capable of summoning demons, such as lava dragons.
      • Sentient Life Creation: Mundus is capable of creating sentient living beings, demons as well as demonic bioweapons. He was the one who created Trish, Nightmare, Leviathan, Blades, Assaults, and Frosts. He even stated to Dante that he can create as many mortal "mothers" as Dante wants.
      • Mind Manipulation: Mundus is capable of suppressing one's memories and altering one's personalities to make them serve him.
      • Orb Manipulation: Mundus can summon and utilize orbs for various reasons. He has dark grey ones that generate a force field to protect him from attacks or that he can fire at an enemy. He has smaller white ones that can fire white energy needles. He even has red ones which act as an extension of his consciousness.
      • Elemental Manipulation: Mundus has a medium control over the elements, being capable of sending lightning from the sky at his targets as well as projecting fireballs. He can even summon meteors to rain down from the sky or to hurl large boulders at his enemies.

Gallery

Trivia

  • Mundus may have been worshipped by the inhabitants of Mallet Island since statues of him appear everywhere and items suggesting demonic rituals are found throughout the game. But it is possible that these were constructed by the demons found on the island.
  • Mundus' three eyes may be a reference to the three faces of Satan in Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy.
  • His angelic appearance is a reference to the story of Lucifer, who was an angel that fell from grace and became Satan.
  • In the opening to Devil May Cry 2, a statue resembling Mundus' non-transformed statue form is seen when there is a narration recounting Sparda's history.
  • Before and during the fight with Berial in Devil May Cry 4, a wooden sign with "Mundus" on it can be seen, first falling from its post and again on the ground. The words "Mundus Vivendi" on the sign means "Mundus lives" in Latin.
  • His name comes from the Mundus Ceresis, a pit that contained an entrance into the Underworld in Roman mythology, which was ruled by Pluto. Mundus himself is referred to as Pluto several times in Devil May Cry.
  • Though Mundus's appearance and basis is rightfully in the fashion of that of Judeo-Christian design, the absence of any God sort of figure mentioned throughout the series appears to draw basis from the Demon King Mara and the demonic entity's depiction from Japanese Buddhism; known as Dairokutenmaou, or the Great Sixth Heaven's Demon King, Mara keeps his figure as a being who dwells in the furthest reaches of the 6th Heaven of the Desire Realm, responsible for the creation of the world to keep all in its carnal grasp, and is the leader of demons who follow his command. Like Mara, Mundus bears this in his aspects, from his heavenly façade to being the literal king of the Demonic World.
  • Mundus is mentioned by Ghost Rider in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Before the battle between Trish, he will say "I eat demons like Mundus for breakfast.". Also, Phoenix (Jean Grey) after defeating Vergil will say "Perhaps if I'm not too busy, I'll take care of Mundus, too.". Dormammu also says to Dante that he should stick to combating Mundus, because he implies that Dante is not powerful enough to beat Dormammu.
  • There was one transcript from the BradyGames strategy guide of Devil May Cry reads "Mundus is actually a Latin term referring to the "vile world" or the "imagined universe". The world is also included in the dream-philosophy works of Carl Jung. Therefore, it is not difficult to see how the god of the evil Underworld would have such an allegorical name.
  • In Devil May Cry 4: Deadly Fortune, it is mentioned that Mundus' statue form was a result of his power being "too strong" for him to cross to the Human World in his true form.
  • In a 2018 Famitsu interview, Hideaki Itsuno stated that the Cavaliere Angelo in Devil May Cry 5 was a faulty creation of Mundus himself.

External Links

Navigation

Devil May Cry Logo Villains

Devil May Cry
Griffon | Mundus | Nelo Angelo | Nightmare | Phantom | Trish

Devil May Cry 2
Agrosax the Chaos/The Despair Embodied | Arius/Possessed Arius/Arius-Argosax | Bolverk/Freki & Geri | Furiataurus | Infestants/Infested Tanks/Infested Chopper | Jokatgulm | Nefasturris | Noctpteran | Phantom | Plutonian | Tartarussian | Tateobesu | Trismagia | Uroboros

Devil May Cry 3
Agni & Rudra | Arkham/Jester | Beowulf | Cerberus | Doppelganger | Damned Chessmen | Geryon | Gigapedes | Hell Vanguard | Leviathan | Nevan | Vergil

Devil May Cry 4
Agnus | Bael | Dagon | Berial | Credo | Echidna | Order of the Sword | Sanctus | The Savior

DMC: Devil May Cry
Bob Barbas | Hunter | Lilith | Mundus | Mundus' Spawn | Poison | Raptor News Network | Vergil

Vergil's Downfall
Hollow Dante | Hollow Kat | Hollow Vergil

Devil May Cry 5
Qliphoth Roots | Goliath | |Artemis | Nidhogg | Elder Geryon Knight | Gilgamesh | Cavaliere Angelo | Malphas | King Cerberus | Urizen | Vergil

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