This party's getting crazy! Let's meme!
Please add entries in the following format:
- The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] Explanation Like this.
- Further mutations and successor memes, if any.
General
- UR A FAGET.
◊ Explanation An MS Paint parody of the series' adherence to Rule of Cool, showing Dante breaking out flashy choreography simply to mail an insulting letter to Vergil. Also was used by the detractors of the reboot to insult the new design of Dante◊. - Featuring Dante from the Devil May Cry™ Series! Explanation A mockery of the PAL cover of Nocturne◊ (called Lucifer's Call there for trademark reasons) which seemed to imply that Dante would be the main selling point (which he may have been for some), despite his relatively minimal role in the plot, with his only appearances being as a mandatory boss relatively early in the game, an optional Route Boss later on, and a recruitable ally near the end of the game. The label has been used in many a parody whenever a game is trying too hard to appeal to a "mainstream" crowd, or for crossovers in general. It's also used mockingly for other games where his inclusion seems gratuitous, such as Puzzle Fighter and the PlayStation 2 version of Viewtiful Joe. Sometimes used more lightheartedly when talking about more appropriate games like Project × Zone.
- "Satan Might Weep" / "Satan May Sad" / "The Saga of Demons Weeping" Explanation A trend of replacing the words in the phrase "Devil May Cry" with their synonyms. It's either used to make a longer version of the franchise's title, or as tongue-in-cheek phrases towards third-party/custom characters who bear a resemblance to the DMC characters. Initially limited to text-based forums and comment sections, these phrases saw a resurgence when DMC fans tried out the A.I.-generated art tools that started trending on the internet in the 2020s.
- Stinger Spam Explanation The Devil May Cry series tries to discourage the trope mentioned via the Stylish Rank system getting diminishing returns from repeating the same moves over and over, but that doesn't stop new/lazy players from just repeating the highly useful Dash Attack Stinger (even Knockbacking in 3 and onward... which practically makes you want to just repeat it more rather than actually running up to that enemy) which has been a staple and signature move of Dante throughout the series.
- "Woohoo!" Explanation The sounds Dante makes have proven at least slightly memetic for the fandom, with "Woohoo!" being a pretty common copy-pasted quote and adjective referring to him. Hell, some outright call him "Wacky Woohoo Pizza Man", which was further popularized by a meme-laden recap of DMC5 entitled "wacky woohoo pizza man adventures." (Spoiler warning for those who haven't played 5, naturally.)
- "EYAAAH EYAAAH EYAAAH" Explanation Combining the two aforementioned memes, the sound makes when Dante uses Stinger has become memetic in its own right.
- Judgement Nut Explanation (Spoilers!) The phrase "Judgement Nut" has been used interchangeably within the fandom; some use it as a Fan Nickname for Judgement Cut (Vergil's quick draw move with Yamato in all appearances since 3), some use it to joke about how Vergil had sex with Nero's mom (which also finds its way into more NSFW material), some use it as Vergil-specific innuendo similar to "The time has come, and so have I" or "Pull my Devil Trigger" from Nero's battle themes, and others use it to express excitement about Vergil-related content (such as him being Promoted to Playable in the Special Editions of 3, 4, and 5) or when getting S to SSS Style Ranks when playing as Vergil.
- Judgement Nut Never End Explanation A derivative of the above. This is sometimes used as a Fan Nickname for Vergil's Judgement Cut End technique from 4:SE while others use it to call out the tendency of players spamming Judgement Cut, but there's also a photo-edited image of Vergil from 5 subtitled with this phrase that is used a lot in Vergil-related memes.
- Power Rangers in Devil May Cry Explanation Making references, comparisons, and jokes with certain Power Rangers roles and characters because Reuben Langdon (Dante), Dan Southworth (Vergil), Johnny Yong Bosch (Nero), and David de Lautour (DmC Vergil) were in that franchise prior to Devil May Cry. The memes further spread when Eric Myers/Quantum Ranger (voiced by Dan Southworth) in Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid referenced Vergil with battle quotes such as "Foolishness, Lord Zedd" and "I need more quantum power!"
- Are they a Vergil? Explanation Vergil being one of the most iconic Stock Shonen Rivals in gaming led to a creation of a checkbox template to determine whether other characters fulfill the requirements to be considered Expies of Vergil. This naturally led to some really absurd characters being put through the template.
- "Vergil is not broken, he's lore-accurate." Explanation Any complaints about playable Vergil being a Game-Breaker or Purposely Overpowered in the Special Editions of 3, 4 and 5 get shot down by this commonly copy-pasted joke response, since being powerful is his primary desire/characterization in the lore. Over time, this meme phrase would cross over into Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 by fans trying to justify why Vergil is a High-Tier Scrappy in that game, to the point where this sentence can be seen frequently copy-pasted in the UMvC3 Steam reviews circa 2022 and beyond. This spread further in 2023 when TheRussianBadger uploaded a video entitled "LORE ACCURATE VERGIL STOMPS MARVEL FOR $50 AND SOME DRIP" and likewise pointed out in that video the tendency of Vergil fans stating he's "lore-accurate."
- "Lore-Accurate Gameplay" Explanation Flawless combat and/or Legendary Dark Knight mode gameplay videos are being titled with this phrase to follow the above trend, sometimes character-specific (e.g. "Lore-Accurate Vergil Gameplay").
- "Bullying" Explanation Although this is mostly limited to combo videos and No-Damage Run showcases by the advanced players, "bullying" means humiliating a boss fight by performing a bunch of stylish or ridiculous moves without getting hit by the boss. The most "bullied" boss varies depending on the game, but it's usually the one that appears a lot in these videos. Over time, this concept evolved into ensuring that the boss would barely fight back, or countering/deflecting every possible move the boss throws at you.
- "Mom Impersonator" Explanation Fan works, memes, or fan-dubbed voice lines depicting Vergil's apparent dismissive attitude towards Trish because the latter is an Identical Stranger of his mother Eva. It has a bit of substance since in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Vergil is disgusted by Trish, seeing her as a sick copy of his mother, but some memes blew it out of proportion.
- "They're the same fanbase." Explanation After the release of Devil May Cry 5, the huge overlap between Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance and Devil May Cry fans reached the point where crossover memes became very common, leading people to joke about both fandoms being merged into one. It also stems from the trend where online users with Devil May Cry-related profile pictures post Revengeance memes, and vice versa.
- "Emiya Vergil" Explanation Although this is specific to DMC fans who are also into the Fate series, there's a trend which involves changing the colors of Vergil and Emiya's skin tone and longcoat. Due to the both of them already having the same "slicked-back white hair" style, this attempts to label them as palette swaps of each other. Vergil's Summoned Swords are also depicted in a way that resembles Emiya's Unlimited Blade Works.
- Smiling Vergil / Devil May Smile Explanation Vergil rarely smiles or laughs in the series, so fans use apps or photo-editing software to force him in doing so. This trend is commonly applied to his artworks and screenshots from 3 and 4, two games where he's very serious.
- Legendary Dark Cockroach Explanation Sparda's demon form has a mix of reptilian, chiropteran, and insectoid features. Though myths have indeed associated these traits with demons, some jokes focus or exaggerate the "insectoid" part. Sparda is often compared to a bug, called "cockroach", or drawn like a bug◊ in fan works.
- Vergil Hair / Motivated Hair Explanation Vergil's slicked-back silver hair is nearly as iconic as his quotes, serving as an example of Memetic Hair on the internet. Simple meme edits crop his hair from any of the DMC games and put it on top of other pop culture characters should the meme make a DMC reference. Other edits have the character slicking their hair back just like Vergil does. DMC fans also label anything that closely resembles Vergil's hairstyle with nicknames such as the "Motivated Hair". Going even further, one fan made a Salon Tutorial for the DMC5 version, while a Mortal Kombat 11 developer noted Fujin was "motivated" when showcasing his slicked-back pointy hair cosmetic.
- DMC2 is the best game ever made. Explanation Inspired by the Vinesauce meme of people begging Vinny to play the game (recapped in its entirety here), which may or may not have tied to the rise of a joke Twitter account praising the game. Many got in on the joke, praising DMC2 as an underrated masterpiece that will one day be Vindicated by History.
- PLAE DEE EM CEE TOO IZ DEH BAEST Explanation Vinny, after noticing that DMC5's in-game recap of the series completely glosses over the events of 2, asked his chat about the fandom's general consensus on 4, prompting one viewer to state that the second game is best. Vinny, not taking the bait, received another comment which he read aloud with a comically exaggerated "Slavic" accent (commonly known as his "RP Guy" voice), leading to the above and creating a Running Gag of Vinny putting on the same voice every single time he "praised" the game and/or its version of Dante (DONTE ES GUD AND BETS IN GAEM), mimicked the viewers "begging" him to play 2 (PUH-LEEZ), simply mentioned the game (VWHAAAHT? DEE EM CEE TU?!), and so on, right up to rendering Hideaki Itsuno's "DMC is back!" declaration (see the Devil May Cry 5 section below) as "DEE EM CEE IZ BAHCK!" Expect the comments section for pretty much any video about DMC2 and/or its Troubled Production to include some variation of this line (or anything else Vinny said), with strange phonetic transcriptions to match his voice.
- "I was going to be the KEEEEEEEEEEEEENG of this world...!" Explanation Arius experiences a rather hammy Villainous Breakdown after his second defeat at the hands of Dante, likely meant to show how Drunk on the Dark Side he had become in his quest for power but coming across as very Narmy all the same (thanks in part to his strange accent), to the point of prompting comparisons to Tommy Wiseau's legendary performance in The Room (2003). Also notable for setting up the below one-liner from Dante.
- "King? Yeah, here's your crown..." Explanation One of the few memorable lines from Dante in the game, helped by it being featured in a scene that even critics admit is a highlight of DMC2's poorly regarded story: Dante, having just set up the Big Bad with a sly ploy and wiped the floor with them in battle, proceeds to send them flying out of their sanctum and down to the streets below with his trusty Ebony & Ivory.
- "Two great games for the price of three" / "Two great games for one great price. Also, Devil May Cry 2." Explanation Devil May Cry HD Collection (as well as the preceding Devil May Cry 5th Anniversary Collection) is a Compilation Re-release of the first three games in the series. But due to the controversial status of DMC2, fans tend to deliberately leave it out of the discussion while praising DMC1 and DMC3. These are very common fan reviews that come up in summary videos and digital distribution platforms, the latter quote sourced from Game Informer's review of said collection in their concept tab.
- "𝕯𝖆𝖓𝖙𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖛𝖎𝖗𝖌𝖎𝖓 𝖌𝖔𝖊𝖘 𝖙𝖔 𝖎𝖘𝖑𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖋𝖎𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖚𝖙 𝖘𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖆 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖊 𝖘𝖎𝖟𝖊 𝖇𝖚𝖙 𝖒𝖊𝖊𝖙𝖘 𝖌𝖎𝖗𝖑𝖋𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖔𝖑𝖉 𝖑𝖆𝖉𝖞 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖎𝖘 𝖙𝖔𝖔 𝖉𝖊𝖕𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖛𝖎𝖗𝖌𝖎𝖓 𝖙𝖔 𝖍𝖆𝖛𝖊 𝖘𝖆𝖝 𝖘𝖔 𝖍𝖊 𝖌𝖔 𝖋𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 𝖉𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖓 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖘𝖍𝖔𝖔𝖙 𝖌𝖚𝖓" Explanation A very humorous way to sum up the story for Devil May Cry 2, mainly due to nothing important happening on Dante's disc to the point where his campaign comes across as a Random Events Plot.
- "The time has come, and so have I." Explanation The first line from "Shall Never Surrender", the theme song of Nero. This is a variation of the popular "I Came" image macros, often used with an image of Nero making an orgasmic expression as an expression of approval, and with the opening lyrics as the caption.
- Is sanity the price to pay... FOR POWER?! Explanation Before Dante and Agnus fight, they randomly engage in a hammy parody of Shakespeare. This specific line is an impassioned question delivered by Dante. Absolutely uncalled for, but absolutely hilarious.
- KYRIEEEEEEEE!! Explanation Nero's habit of screaming out his love interest's name whenever she's in danger quickly became a source of Narm for a lot of fans. This is pretty much bound to show up eventually in discussions about 4's story.
- What the hell is this? Explanation A line Dante says upon discovering a rainforest at an altitude in which it logically shouldn't be found. Usually used to express disapproval or confusion of something. Also sometimes edited to depict Dante, to his bewilderment, finding his way in another fictional universe. After January 18th, 2020, it's also been used to express bafflement over certain characters being in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate over Dante such as Byleth, Steve and Sephiroth. The scene's memetic value is acknowledged in the Special Edition of Devil May Cry 5 as a game clear art, with Dante doing a nearly identical pose like what he did in 4 while Nero and Vergil are casually taking in the background.
- TRICKSWORDROYGUN Explanation From 4 onward, Dante changing his Style will have him strike a pose specific to each Style and shout out its name. As there is no Cooldown to swapping Styles or break in Dante's shouts from doing it, many players have amused themselves by quickly changing between all of Dante's Styles to have him shout out the first part of all of his Styles repeatedly.
- Bleach May Cry Explanation The similarities between Nero and Ichigo from Bleach have not gone unnoticed, to the point the fandom jokes about this game being a ripoff of the latter. To wit, both feature a protagonist voiced by Johnny Yong Bosch who wields a superpowered katana and whose love interest is a red-headed Damsel in Distress wearing white and voiced by Stephanie Sheh.
- "Hey, Dante! Will we meet again?" Explanation Nero's parting words and question towards Dante in the epilogue. Because Dante's hand gesture is treated as a salute of affirmation, Nero's line was repeatedly used by fans hoping for the classic continuity to return after Capcom attempted to reboot the series with DmC. This has seen a resurgence after the announcement of DMC5 on E3 2018 confirmed the return of the classic continuity, much more so when TheGamingBritShow channel uploaded the "Will We Meet Again?" meta recap video with Starsailor's "Tell Me It's Not Over" playing in the background. The song has been associated with the DMC fandom for a while because of that.
- "You aren't human, are you?" Explanation A screenshot of Dante's unfazed expression◊ after (yet again) being impaled by his own sword. With context, this cues Nero that his opponent is obviously not human and asks anyway. In memes, this is mostly used as a reaction image to express nonchalance and But for Me, It Was Tuesday. Other variants edit the sword to depict Dante surviving any weapon thrown at his chest, even by non-DMC characters such as Sephiroth.
- Nero Dancing / Nero Jamming Explanation From the Devil May Cry X: The Last Judgement Pachislot spin-off, the clip of Nero dancing and jamming to some music in his headphones became a reaction template for awesome songs and soundtracks. A video using the clip to praise the Sonic Frontiers soundtrack went viral in November 2022, causing Devil May Cry fans to spread and reuse the clip. The video uploader confirmed the source from The Last Judgement and mentions that the original full footage became a piece of lost media on the internet, but "Nero Dancing" on Facebook managed to keep this clip.
- "DMC is back!" Explanation Hideaki Itsuno often said this phrase in interviews or at game shows, along with the game's producers and other staff, to celebrate the release of 5. Fans often gleefully use it to declare the reboot Fanon Discontinuity.
- "Neroposting" Explanation The many Freeze-Frame Bonus faces of Nero in the trailer were enough to form a collective meme, thanks to the photo-realistic game engine.
- "PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER!" Explanation The line from Nero's new battle music in 5, considered to be the successor to "The time has come, and so have I", coupled with an image of a blissfully smug Nero (a certain screenshot for the meme is taken from a frame of the prologue cutscene when Nero hops back into Nico's van).
- Nero krumping/Devil Trigger Dance. Explanation A funny-looking frame of Nero◊ about to use his Devil Breaker from the first trailer drew some comparison to the similar-looking frame of "Marge krumping", becoming popular as a result. Many iterations of the dance were made, and Hideaki Itsuno himself eventually performed the move at PAX West 2018.
- Hobo Dante / Old Man Dante. Explanation Fans poking hobo/grandpa jokes at Dante's much older and disheveled look◊ seen in the last few seconds of the E3 trailer.
- Joking the glimpse of Dante in said trailer bears a resemblance to Arthas◊ on the cover of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne has also seen a number of iterations.
- Likewise, Dante's appearance◊ invited comparisons to◊ Lt. Hank Anderson.
- 30-year old boomer Dante. Explanation Fans took to photoshopping sunglasses and cans of Monster Zero Ultra onto Dante as a reference to the "30 year old boomer" meme. When the Gamescom trailer was shown during PAX, a Monster Java ad played right after a close-up of Dante's face, further increasing the meme.
- "Cheer up, Crew Cut! You taking notes?" Explanation A nameless soldier who appeared in the debut trailer, nicknamed "Crew Cut" by Nero, became an Ensemble Dark Horse overnight, to the point that some joked that he was the secret third character before V's reveal. During a Capcom stream, senior producer Michiteru Okabe hinted that there was a small secret involving him. As this line from Nero is mostly associated with the soldier, a common trend photo-edits the soldier to make him hold papers to write notes on.
- "World's Best Dad" Explanation (Spoilers!) After the reveal trailer showed a hooded figure ripping Nero's Devil Bringer off, multiple◊ pieces of◊ fan art◊ correctly assumed Vergil was the culprit and made jokes about how he's a great father to his son.
- "I need a hand!" / Dad Jokes Explanation (Spoilers!) Making hand or arm-related puns as a reference to Vergil pulling Nero's Devil Bringer off. The fandom then gave it a dad joke vibe after this game officially confirmed that Vergil is Nero's father.
- "KESH FURST!" Explanation Due to how Nico pronounces "Cash first" in the announcement trailer, fans have deliberately spelled the phrase in this manner as they often find it either out-of-place or humorous.
- Cyberdemon Explanation Because of having to replace his Devil Bringer with the mechanical Devil Breaker system, Nero is now literally a cyberdemon.
- Journalist Music Explanation Upon learning that the music becomes more intense as the player does better, many made jokes about how gaming journalists would end up complaining about how the music was bad. This actually came to pass with PC Gamer's Gamescom preview.
- "YOU CANNOT KILL ME!" Explanation The chorus of Dante's battle theme, "Subhuman," screams "YOU CANNOT KILL ME!" Guess what happened to it a few hours after the video (of the original version) was uploaded to the Devil May Cry YouTube channel? Similarly, Capcom eventually kept "Subhuman" in the game, but completely replaced the original vocalist due to the controversies surrounding him instead of removing the song outright.
- "YOU CANNOT PEEL ME! I AM A MANGO!" Explanation The lines "YOU CANNOT KILL ME! I AM OMEGA!" are sometimes misheard. This phrase also overlaps with jokes associating Dante with mangoes.
- Cody "Nero" Rhodes Explanation Fans pointing out Nero looks like a white-haired Cody Rhodes.
- "Nero" Claudius Explanation In anime and video game culture, DMC Nero shares his name with Fate Series Nero Claudius, so the jokes about blending them became inevitable. This was mostly seen in the fanart circles depicting Nero Claudius with DMC5 Nero's outfit. The game modders also followed suit, resulting in this model swap, and this hilarious mod replicating Nero Claudius's hair in the RE Engine.
- Kylo V Explanation Fans pointing out that V looks like Adam Driver, which naturally led to jokes and memes comparing V to Kylo Ren. Capcom acknowledged the resemblance, stating that they had designed V before Episode VII had even come out and it was unintentional on their end. There's since been a mod that gives V Kylo's outfit and crossguard lightsaber, and V has an unlockable Special Taunt in-game where he coats his Cane Sword in demonic energy, making it resemble a purple lightsaber.
- Goth Adam Driver Explanation An alternative comparison between Adam Driver and V which focuses more on V being stereotyped as a "Gloomy Goth".
- So it is written. Explanation V reading his book and stating "So it is written" at the end of the TGS trailer became a goldmine for memes, which usually replaced the quotes and changed the cover of the book to something more ridiculous.
- "Ergil" Explanation (Spoilers!) Since V and Urizen are respectively the human and demon halves of Vergil, there were jokes about Urizen's real name being "Ergil" in reference to V being the first letter of Vergil's name. Though this also doubles as a Fan Nickname, it mostly functions as a repeatedly-used comment in forums, such as "If V is a part of Vergil, shouldn't Urizen be named Ergil?"
- Dante◊ posting.◊ Explanation After the GA 2018 trailer, two shots of Dante wearing Dr. Faust became a reaction template similar to Drake's "Hotline Bling" reactions.
- Dead weight. Explanation During the prologue, Dante angrily tells Nero that he's "just dead weight" while ordering him to retreat from Urizen and not throw his life away fighting him, haunting Nero throughout the game, and serving as a slight which Nero does not take kindly to. Many found it humorous to see a capable demon hunter obsessing so much over being called "dead weight," and the epithet became a popular Fan Nickname for him. Nero then turns this around on Dante for the game's finale when he interrupts the latter's Duel to the Death with Vergil and takes over by backhanding Dante out of the action. A popular mod for the PC version with voice acting by Balrog's VA even replaces the "Dismal" rank with "Dead Weight."
- "Get out of my way, Nero!" Explanation Late game, Dante yells "Get out of my way, Nero!" so he can attack Vergil, when Nero wasn't even standing anywhere close to the two of them. This tends to be used in tandem with the "dead weight" meme to argue which of the two started it first, or to poke fun at both.
- Deadbeat Dad and his Deadweight Son Explanation (Spoilers!) On a subsequent playthrough, clearing Mission 20 where Nero fights Vergil (who was recently revealed to him to be his father) unlocks a bonus art with the caption "Another deadbeat dad..." It's not hard to make dead weight meme connections after seeing that caption and knowing the relationship between the characters concerned.
- Gay Cowboy. Explanation At the infamous DmC presentation event at
GDC 2013, the art director for the game, Alessandro Taini, in the midst of the topic of his belief that the original Dante was "too flamboyant", said he tried to imagine the original Dante in a Western movie, and the result was Brokeback Mountain. Five years later, at NYCC 2018, one of Dante's new weapons revealed at the event was Dr. Faust, a demonic cowboy hat that uses Red Orbs as ammo. - The Dante Dance Explanation Dante breaking into a Michael Jackson routine when he receives Dr. Faust was so popular that it reached the same memetic status of the Torture Dance and the Chika Dance in only a few days. And similar to the Chika Dance, people started putting other, strangely fitting music over his dance. There's an entire Twitter account dedicated to this.
- What form of power is this? Explanation (Spoilers!) Vergil's reaction to Nero arriving in his Devil Trigger form quickly became a meme, due to Vergil's confused facial expression.◊ The fact the line practically reads like an Ascended Meme of Vergil's power obsession helps.
- "FUCK YOU!" Explanation (Spoilers!) Nero drops an epic Atomic F-Bomb when he first activates his Devil Trigger during his fight with Vergil. Fans made comparisons with the scene from DmC listed below and pronounced this moment "The Fuck You done right."
- V/Urizen is Vergil's Nobody/Heartless. Explanation (Spoilers!) The entire situation with Urizen and V being the two halves of Vergil made a lot of Kingdom Hearts fans joke that the two were his Heartless and Nobody respectively. Bonus points for Kōki Uchiyama (the voice of Roxas, Sora's Nobody) playing V in the Japanese version as well.
- DMC5 is the Kingdom Hearts III we were promised! Explanation Some fans not happy with the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts III often bring up Devil May Cry 5 in order to demonstrate how they believe the combat should have been handled.
- Furies quickly became infamous for their Speed Blitzing attack style, leading to numerous memes about how they are frustrating to fight against.
- The Socially Awkward Explanation (Spoilers!) Fan art of Vergil trying to readjust into society in the most Comically Serious way possible has become increasingly common following The Reveal. Fueled by the additional menu screens unlocked by clearing the game once, which shows Vergil in the motorhome with either Dante or Nero, with both scenes screaming awkward silence.
- "That day, if our positions were switched... Would our fates be different? Would I have your life, and you mine?" / "Vergil Dancing" Explanation (Spoilers!) In Mission 18, Vergil recalls the tragic incident on their childhood home and monologues this question after he just fought Dante. Fans jokingly interpret this as a What If? scenario by depicting Vergil as the playful one and Dante as the stoic brother. It's also commonly-used in Game Mod demonstrations swapping the two's character models, and has spawned the "Vergil Dancing" edits derived from Dante's Michael Jackson-esque dance scene with the Dr. Faust hat.
- "If you want it, then you'll have to take it..." Explanation (Spoilers!) In a similar vein to the "Greedy Vergil" meme from DMC3, the conversation between Dante and Vergil atop the Qliphoth has been subjected to a lot of edits, templates, or copypastas. Some parts of the dialogue lines are often changed to fit a certain context, sometimes even editing or modding objects in place of the brothers' weapons to make it as if they're fighting over something mundane or comical.
Dante: Hey Vergil, your portal-opening days are over. Give me the Yamato.
Vergil: If you want it, then you'll have to take it. But you already knew that.
- "Don't you dare say it!" Explanation Just like the "Remember what we used to say?" meme edits from DMC3, one of the post-game cutscenes here references the series-recurring "Jackpot!" catchphrase said by Dante and Vergil, which naturally attracted meme edits replacing "Jackpot!" with something else hilarious. Some of the more popular variants derived from other pop culture and memes include It's Morbin' Time!" and "Amogus".
- "Dante, I'm trying to fight these demons, but I'm dummy thicc and the sound of my asscheeks keeps alerting them." Explanation Fans convincing the three main voice actors to say a line based on the "Dummy Thicc" meme. The most commonly used voice clip is from Dan Southworth (Vergil's VA) when he repeatedly played along with it during a 2019 AMA livestream following the release of DMC5. A longer version had him append "I understand you and Nero have the same problem".
- "I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING!" Explanation (Spoilers!) To the surprise of nearly no one, the lyrics of Vergil's new Leitmotif in 5's Special Edition, "Bury the Light", almost instantaneously became memetic, especially the first line of the chorus. Aside from serving as a Badass Boast that fits his character, it also serves as a call-back to a line of dialogue in a conversation between Arkham and Vergil in Devil May Cry 3.
- "I AM THE _____ THAT IS APPROACHING!" Explanation Replacing "Storm" with another word, usually one that also starts with S and has less than three syllables. Specific communities, such as fans of a Virtual YouTuber who streamed a Devil May Cry game or covered a song from it, use words that are already associated with their group or their streamer, such as "Swarm" by fans of Neuro-sama, "Shark" by fans of Gawr Gura, or "Stone" by fans of Koseki Bijou.
- "BURY THE LIGHT DEEP WITHIN!" Explanation The first line of the third chorus is also used repeatedly in forums and comment chains.
- Sponge May Cry Explanation Editing Devil May Cry music and quotes (mostly Vergil-related) into SpongeBob SquarePants clips. This short video of Patrick wielding a katana gained a lot of views on September 2020, and the trend quickly started from there.
- Blasting Speakers with Bury the Light Explanation A trend wherein "Bury the Light" is played over loudspeakers, usually loud enough to blow wind towards the listener. It was thought to have originated from this video that used the song alongside clips from Family Guy and Jackass. Later on, a fan uploaded a similar video using the in-game assets.
- Motivation Status / Devil May Cry Status / Vergil Status / Nero Status / Dante Status / V Status Explanation "Revengeance Status" and "There Will Be Bloodshed"/"Samroll" are Interrupting Memes in which an unrelated video suddenly transitions to a scene from Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. As of early 2022, the Friendly Fandoms between Revengeance and Devil May Cry allowed the latter fandom to adopt these memes from the former, but using the Image Songs and footage from Devil May Cry 5 instead. Originally a twist of some online users to the "Revengeance Status" trend, DMC fans began calling the "Status" memes with DMC-related phrases to distinguish it from the other game.
- "The Motivated Combo" Explanation The clip used in the Vergil Status videos is by SunhiLegend, and it became memorable on its own for demonstrating the amazing combos that can be performed in-game while toying with a single enemy. It got to the point where fans gave nicknames for the entire combo clip, and there was a trend of dissecting or imitating all the moves shown in it.
- "Bury the Light, but it's Marin Kitagawa" Explanation Since 2022, a clip of Marin Kitagawa from My Dress-Up Darling has been edited to depict her screaming some lyrics from "Bury the Light." It became viral on YouTube and TikTok, so Vergil and "Motivated" memes were quickly associated with it. The clip eventually had variants replacing Marin with other characters and VTubers such as Saruei and VShojo's Zentreya.
- "Berried Delight" Explanation In 2022, a Redditor shared a screenshot of a dessert recipe named "Berried Delight." Because it sounds just like the phrase "Bury the Light", some video edits play Vergil's theme song with that screenshot and other posts related to strawberry desserts, albeit often trimmed so that only the exact "Bury the Light" scream is heard. Since it's originally a meme about a pun, it evolved into pointing out just about any pun, wordplay, homophones, or rhyming words that can be connected to the Devil May Cry franchise.
- "Berry Delight" Explanation The meme is also alternatively and simply phrased as "Berry Delight", but nonetheless allows the same wordplay/puns. Amusingly, DMC fans have found out that there is a dessert shop named "berrydelight", further creating another layer of the origin pun.
- "Devil Trigger/Bury the Light goes with everything" Explanation Following an older video trend (specifically "Guile's theme goes with everything" by Street Fighter fans), "Devil Trigger" and "Bury the Light" are edited as a Background Music Override in some fitting scenes, usually upbeat moments or dancing for "Devil Trigger", and dramatic fighting or shouting for "Bury the Light".
- Vergil chair Explanation (Spoilers!) Fans quickly grew to love a mod that replaced Vergil's chair that he sits in before fighting Dante with a plastic patio chair. Even before the mod was officially released, people were making audio edits to include the chair scraping around. The meme spread enough to the point wherein content regarding plastic chairs spawn Vergil-related quotes even if said content isn't about DMC, such as in this video.
- Vergil May Cry / Vergil May Vergil Explanation (Spoilers!) Players noticed that, technically, Vergil is three separate characters in the game. He appears as himself, V is his human half, and Urizen is his demon half. Not only that, but the other two playable characters are Vergil's brother (Dante) and Vergil's son (Nero). The plot of the game somehow revolves around Vergil, as it can, with complete accuracy, be described as: Vergil hires Vergil's brother and Vergil's son to fight and defeat Vergil so that Vergil and Vergil can fuse and become Vergil. Players then started making jokes about this observation in forums and in comment sections.
- "Vergil hiring Vergil's brother and Vergil's son to defeat Vergil so Vergil can become Vergil (featuring Vergil)" Explanation (Spoilers!) The trend was further popularized by Max0r in Part 2 of his "Incorrect Summary" videos for the game, and his version became the most-quoted variant within the fanbase.
- Vergil will never pay child support. Explanation (Spoilers!) Due to the plot heavily revolving around Vergil being Nero's father and antagonizing him anyway, as well as Nero being unaware of this fact, it's become common to joke that Vergil's real motivation—from splitting himself in half to unleashing the Qliphoth tree to becoming the Demon King—is to get out of paying Nero for decades of child support. Someone even reworked his theme music to be about the meme, with Victor Borba's approval!
- "Vergil is so OP" Explanation With the release of Special Edition, Vergil's power is associated as the absurd cause of various external events, bringing forth text-based jokes and comments that turn him into a Memetic Badass.
- "Vergil is so OP, the vanilla version can't handle him" Explanation Within the classic continuity, this is the third DMC game wherein Vergil gets Promoted to Playable only in the Special Edition. Additionally, Vergil was only playable post-launch for DmC and Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Fans had already noticed some sort of trend with Vergil and Special Editions, so they did not let this one slide either.
- "Vergil is so OP, he needed a next-generation console" Explanation Devil May Cry 5: Special Edition, which includes a playable Vergil, released as a launch title for the PlayStation 5. The meme itself is somewhat diluted by the fact that Vergil was released as DLC for the original version of DMC5 as well, but many conveniently ignore this for the sake of comedy.
- "Vergil is so OP, he has a 10-minute song" Explanation Vergil's Leitmotif/Image Song, "Bury the Light", is nearly 10 minutes long, a length that is rare for video game music.
- "FUCK YOU!" Explanation Taken from the pre-boss battle banter between Dante and Poison, which had the two exchanging "FUCK YOU!" for a bit. Generally used to mock the writing and tone of the game.
- It's almost Shakespearean... Explanation In the developer commentaries for DmC, Lilith's mocap and voice actress, Robin Riker, claimed that the game is "almost Shakespearean in themes of vengeance, power, good and evil." Needless to say, this is used to mock the pretentiousness of the game's director, Tameem Antoniades, as well as the writing of the game.
- Donte's Infornication / "FORNICATE THOU!" Explanation An anonymous user posted a version of the Poison scene that was redone in the style of William Shakespeare on /v/ (complete with the game's dubstep-heavy score being referred to as an actual character named Wubeth), and it quickly spread across the gaming community.
- William SSShakespeare Explanation Like sharks attracted to blood, the DMC fanbase was all over the "Shakespearean" meme within seconds, doing the inverse wherein it's the DmC audio that's playing instead.
- "Not in a million years." Explanation One of the game's most infamous scenes by fans of the original series, as a white wig conveniently lands on Dante's head with him making this quote. While just in the game's context it comes across as Dramatic Irony, the fanbase saw it as a very unsubtle jab at fans who complained on the redesign; it lost many non-fans of the reboot over, and is very quoted for this reason, to the point Devil May Cry 5 would end up referencing it.
- "Sniper Rifle Abortion" Explanation (Spoilers!) The scene where Vergil kills Lilith and her unborn child by sniping them is such a known Wham Episode, fans mostly just use this phrase to describe it in a few words, or cite it as a Never Live It Down moment for this game's Vergil.
- "Mexican Donte" / El Donté, exterminador de demonios Explanation Fans took quite a liking to the European Spanish dub of the reboot and modded Dante to have a mustache and various Mexican symbols along with adding appropriate music to his scenes. The end result was DmC seeming more like a telenovela than the (muddled) narrative intended by Ninja Theory. Needless to say, this version of Dante is more appealing to the fans due to the sheer memetic value.
- Dante IS NOT/Dante IS Explanation At GDC 2013, Ninja Theory put on a presentation about the art direction of DmC in which they depicted the differences between the classic, colorful and campy Dante and their take on the character, rooted in grunge and punk, in an attempt to troll the fans of the original.
- Edg, Edge, n Edgy Explanation A minor trend that arose after Dante's redesign, where people drew other famous characters such as Mario and Sonic in a similar style, mocking the "edgy" look of Donte. Being drawn in MS Paint helped.
- "I don't care." Explanation The response from Ninja Theory director Tameen Antoniades regarding how people feel about the reboot, as follows: Tameen looked at me a moment and took a drag of his cigarette. Then without blinking, and without pausing to exhale the smoke from his mouth he said, "I don't care."
- "Sparda being sent to the CBT dimension", as popularized by Pat and Woolie. Explanation Sparda in DmC suffers a severe case of Adaptational Wimp where, rather than being a legendary Ascended Demon who fought against his kind and seemingly faded into myth, this version instead was just a relatively unspectacular demon who had children with an angel, got captured and is currently undergoing eternal torture that makes him look like he's in an S&M club.Acronym explanation (NSFW!) CBT is an acronym for "Cock and Ball Torture".
