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The Devil
Voiced in English by: Luke Millington-DrakeOther Languages
"Ooh, I love it when they run!"
The, well, devil. He's the ruler of the underworld and very much feared around the Inkwell Isles.
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- 10-Minute Retirement: The Devil briefly becomes so despondent at the fact he can no longer legally claim Cuphead's soul that he stays cooped up in his room, barely able to will himself to insult Henchman when he comes to check on him. One terrorizing of a defenseless city later, though, and He's Back!.
- Accidental Murder: Played for Laughs. After summoning his best demons to combat Cuphead and Mugman, he accidentally kills them in a fit of anger by reducing them to ash. He does the same again a second time and is stuck with his third finest demons.
- Accidental Public Confession: When Cuphead winds up zapping him with his own trident one too many times, The Devil lets it slip to Cuphead how his soul debt has expired and his soul can no longer be claimed in a fit of rage. Doesn't stop him from kidnapping Mugman, though.
- Adaptational Achilles Heel: In the games, the only real way to defeat The Devil was to grow strong enough to beat him up. The show gives him a few more weaknesses:
- Brotherly love, or at least the invisible sweater Mugman knits for Cuphead, leaves the user completely invulnerable to The Devil's power, and even shocks him if he so much as pokes the person.
- It's implied that a good deal of The Devil's power in the show comes from his pitchfork: When it gets stolen by Cuphead and Mugman in "The Devil's Pitchfork", The Devil finds himself unable to do anything but ask for the boys to give it back to him, with predictable results. In the games, the pitchfork was just a tool The Devil used, with Old Scratch being as strong without it as he was with it. A clip
explains that the pitchfork holds half of the devils magical power and gives him the power to control fire and teleport; he doesn't need it for shapeshifting, however. - His soul contracts also get hit with this; in the games, there's no time limit as to how long a soul can be left unclaimed, while in the show the soul debt officially expires if 30 days go by with the soul being unclaimed.
- Adaptational Badass: Played with. The Devil's no more powerful than he is in the game, but since none of the other characters have been seen to have the zanier powers or transformations displayed in the game (bar Grim Matchstick having three heads by default), he comes off as a much bigger threat when he gets serious. However, half of his powers come explicitly from his pitchfork; when he loses it in "The Devil's Pitchfork", he can't teleport, shock things, shoot fire, or do anything until he traces back his steps and tries to get it back from the Cup Brothers. This is unlike the games, where his pitchfork is just a tool he uses and one he doesn't even need to be imposing.
- Adaptational Comic Relief: While he's no less dangerous, he's played much less seriously here than he was in the game, being much more overtly pompous and bombastic.
- Adaptational Context Change: The reason why he's hunting down Cuphead and Mugman; in the games, it was because the brothers lost a game at his casino and now owed their souls to him, while in the show, it's because Cuphead lost at Soul Ball and had his chance to steal his soul foiled by Mugman.
- Adaptational Curves: A non-Fanservice example. He has very pronounced hips that he lacked in the video game.
- Adaptational Personality Change: He was more like a devious and unsettling loan shark in the game, while he's a hammy and flamboyant schemer in the show.
- Adaptational Villainy: Granted, this is the Devil we're talking about. But in the game, we only ever see him want to steal the souls of those who owe it to him from a deal. Here, we see him steal thousands of souls during his introduction using games and machines that don't properly convey their true nature to those that use them.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Despite having a black nose in the Video Game, his nose is red here, presumably to stand out better against his face. He also now has permanently red irises and yellow horns and claws, unlike his game counterpart, where they're usually black and white respectively, and only change colors during the second phase of his battle. His fur also has a blueish tint rather than pitch-black like in the game.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Practically every boss in the game owed their souls to The Devil, but there's no indication he's ever met before in the show.
- In the game, the Cup Brothers both owed him their souls due to Cuphead losing at his casino. In the show, his grudge is almost entirely focused on Cuphead, with him only really noticing Mugman's existence when he helps him foil his schemes or when he kidnaps him to break Cuphead's spirit.
- Additionally, The Devil has no relation with Ms. Chalice in the game aside of turning her into Ms. Malice while in the show, she owed a deal with him in order to get herself back to life.
- All for Nothing: In "Release The Demons!", after the Devil loses his top three ranks of finest demons to get Cuphead, Stickler explains that the soul contract has expired, thus making the entire campaign for naught.
- Animal Motifs: He's occasionally compared to a cat. Between Cuphead calling him "a large cat-man" in Sweater Luck Next Time, Cup Rogers' arch enemy being "the evil Cat-Man" and the entire episode Road Kill, where Elder Kettle mistakes him for a cat he names Mrs. Meow Meow.
- The Anti-Grinch: Contrary to most expectations, the Devil loves Christmas. And he loves it because it gives him so many joyous holiday moments... to ruin and cause mischief. And he loves the idea of being given Christmas gifts. The only thing he hates about Christmas is actually being nice and jolly, which he is forced to do as Santa, in order for him to be on the Nice List to be given a toy train.
- Arc Villain: While the show's main antagonist in theory, in practice, he only shows up in episodes related to the plot of Cuphead owing him his soul. In fact, thus far, the Devil isn't even mentioned in episodes that don't pertain to this plot thread.
- Ascended Extra: He appears with much more frequency in season 3 than in the prior two seasons.
- Assumed Win: When Cuphead inevitably loses his impenetrable invisible sweater, the Devil believes he could easily nab the cup's soul anytime. But by the time the second season kicks in, he is still unable to get his soul and even starts losing his mind about it. Worst of all, Cuphead's soul contract has expired a day after his latest attempt, which prevents him from claiming his soul altogether.
- Bad Boss: A Played for Laughs variant.
- He gives no credit to his employees when he throws a party celebrating his hard work and dedication. One of the staff members mentions they haven't had a break in over 3000 years.
- He "accidentally" blows a hole through Stickler's soul-collection audit book out of spite of constantly being reminded that he missed collecting Cuphead's soul and forces him to rewrite the entire list from scratch, just to buy himself some time before Stickler finds out he'd been lied to.
- In "Release the Demons!", he accidentally (and casually) kills several of his demons during his tantrums about how Cuphead pisses him off. He later tries to kill Stickler out of annoyance, though that fails because he was wearing a protective sweater.
- Season 3 has him blasting any imp who annoys him into a pile of ash.
- Bad Liar: He tries lying to Stickler that he managed to steal Cuphead's soul. He didn't seem to buy it.
- Benevolent Boss: Oddly enough, he consistently thanks Henchman for his contributions and doesn't threaten him much, even if his thanks are rather clearly not straight praise most of the time.
- Berserk Button: Because of the Devil's constant failures of getting his soul, any mention of Cuphead or, indeed, cups makes him scream with rage and set things on fire.
- It’s also a bad idea to laugh at him or mock him. It will make the Devil burn you alive or try to attack you.
- Beware the Silly Ones: As goofy as he is, it's easy to forget that this is the Devil, at least until he steals your soul or gives a You Have Failed Me speech to King Dice. And woe betide anyone who plays with his pitchfork... He also brings his nightmarish might to bear when threatening Ms. Chalice into bringing the brother's souls to him, employing some choice threats and horrifying demonstration of Rapid Aging.
- Big Bad: As the widely feared ruler of the Underworld who schemes to collect Cuphead's soul, he naturally holds the title of the show's main antagonist.
- Big Red Devil: He's got a tail, horns, pointy ears, and a pitchfork. Also, -- the "Devil" part is in his name.
- Boomstick: His pitchfork can unleash fire from its tip, as well as lightning, which is shown when Cuphead repeatedly zaps The Devil while trying to give him the pitchfork back.
- Break the Haughty: He has a high opinion of himself, not that the writers seem to feel the same way. This is especially the case in season 2. His constant failures to snatch Cuphead's soul start driving him mad to the point of losing his mind over anything cup-related.
- Breath Weapon: When he turns into his draconic form, he shows the ability to breath fire; first using it against the Cup Brothers in the series premiere and then on a random city while trying to cheer himself up.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: From the start of Season 1 all the way to the end of Season 2, The Devil has been constantly foiled in his attempts to claim Cuphead's soul, either by the brother's sheer luck or his own laziness and stupidity. He finally achieves a proper victory in "The Devil's Pitchfork", where he kidnaps Mugman while Cuphead isn't looking and takes him into the Underworld.
- Burning with Anger: He can literally set things on fire with his anger. He accidentally incinerates his first and second-finest groups of demons due to this.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He's evil, and he wants you to know it, threatening Henchman in his Villain Song to make sure that the other demon agrees he's "a real naughty boy". He also takes great pride when the residents of Inkwell Isle scream and run away at the sight of him.The Devil: My fans, they love me.
- Characterization Marches On: In the first episode, he threatens Henchman to admit he's "a real naughty boy". When he attempts to correct him later, he bonks his head. However, in later episodes, the Devil never lays a finger on him and the worst thing he does is either yell at him or simply reply with a sarcastic "Thank you, Henchman".
- The Comically Serious: As much as a goof as he can be, even he can't hold a candle to how wacky and hyperactive Cuphead is and briefly becomes this when interacting with the boys. Then there's how seriously he takes painting the fence. This continues into the third season where he gets a couple Go-Karting with Bowser moments where the humor comes from him being incredulous at how ridiculous the boys are.
- Danger with a Deadline: "Release the Demons" reveals that, unlike the game, his contracts have expiration dates, meaning he has to collect a soul before the deadline or forfeit the deal.
- Dark Is Evil: He is a Card-Carrying Villain with black fur.
- Deadpan Snarker: A downplayed example as he has about a few sarcastic moments.The Devil: [after seeing Cuphead play "SOUL BALL" without losing the game and his soul] Ugh, terrific. Looks like we have a real show-off.
- Deal with the Devil: Unlike in the game, here he can trick people into offering up their soul to him without them realizing what happened until it's too late. For example, his carnival games in the first episode will steal your soul if you lose, but there's nothing on the machines themselves to actually say that.
- Demoted to Extra: While he's the game's main antagonist, the Devil isn't mentioned in the show outside of the episodes in which he takes on a prominent role. He only appears in half of the first season's episodes and goes from the overarching villain whose actions pushes the entire story to the most recurring villain in the show, with plenty of episodes lacking his presence. Moreover, in the second season, he only gets the spotlight twice. However, in Season 3, he becomes much more prominent again, appearing with a major role in nearly every episode this season and even getting his own centered episode.
- Determinator: Zig-Zagged. He just doesn't stop trying to get Cuphead's soul, but (aside from the first episode) he always relies on the others and never bothers to do it himself until Stickler nags him about it. And the moment Cuphead wears the invisible protective sweater, well... it becomes personal and he makes multiple attempts to do so despite getting zapped several times. Mugman once even told him to just give up trying to do so. However, this leads to...
- Detrimental Determination: Even when he loses his official claim to Cuphead's soul in "Release the Demons!", the Devil refuses to give up on the idea of claiming it, leading to repeated humiliation even when everyone around him points out how much easier it would be to just let it go. This ultimately culminates in the Devil humiliating himself in front of all of Inkwell Isles when Cuphead challenges him to Rock–Paper–Scissors and keeps losing, leading to a Best Out of Infinity scenario which only goes on as long as it does because Cuphead is an Idiot Hero.
- Devil, but No God: While he is unquestionably the Devil, there is no mention of any God in the show, let alone a relationship between him and the Devil. "The Devil's Revenge" implies the existence of a heaven (not even referred by name) but that's about it.note
- Devil in Plain Sight: Literally what he is when he is wandering outside of the Underworld, notably in "Sweater Luck Next Time" where he is casually waiting in line for a carousel ride with nobody (sans Cuphead and Mugman) noticing he is the devil.
- The Devil Is a Loser:
- Downplayed. While still widely feared (at least in his first appearance), he fails to get Cuphead's soul in the entirety of Season 1 even when personally doing it himself (and only doing so in the latter half because Stickler refuses to leave him alone about it), and Cuphead and Mugman even manage to con him into painting their fence for them, getting so caught up in it he fails to notice they left.
- In "The Devil's Pitchfork", it turns out his reputation has taken a hit due to not getting Cuphead's soul in season 1, with a newspaper article calling on him to step down due to not inspiring the same level of dread and evil as he once did. It doesn't help that he had spent a long time in bed sulking before seeing the article.
- Dissonant Serenity: The Devil is incredibly calm, even joyous, while completely annihilating a city and its helpless citizens. This is The Devil, however, so it's to be expected.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Despite his status as The Dreaded, there are times that people will try antagonizing him for one reason or another. And when those times happen, he'll happily remind them that he is The Devil. Stickler harangued him nonstop over Cuphead's unclaimed soul until the Devil had enough and blasted apart the records, forcing Stickler to go over them again. And then Cuphead decided to screw with the guy in "The Devil's Pitchfork" when he thought he had nothing to fear (Cuphead had gotten his hands on the Devil's pitchfork and also found out that the Devil couldn't claim his soul anymore). This proved to be a very bad idea as he whisks Mugman away to the Underworld instead.
- Dragons Are Demonic: Like in the games, he can take on a draconic form; he first uses it to try kill Cuphead and Mugman while at the carnival, then uses it again while terrorizing a defenseless city to get back on his mojo.
- The Dreaded: Much more emphasized here than in the game. Once he shows up at a carnival, the patrons quickly clear out of the area. Though this is Zig-Zagged later on as people don't seem to mind his presence sometimes depending on his intention.
- Emotional Powers: The Devil has a habit of unleashing extreme bursts of power when his temper flares. Which happens quite frequently.
- Even Evil Has Standards: It's subtle but, surprisingly, present. He has a rather warped sense of fair play and honesty, gladly using any ability as his disposal to get Cuphead's soul, but as he points out, Cuphead did lose at Soul Ball and therefore owes his soul like anyone else at the carnival. The Devil also holds up the bargain to paint Elder Kettle's fence in exchange for Cuphead taking off the protective, invisible sweater and is incensed when the boys run off behind his back. And while he doesn't hesitate to hurt Mugman alongside Cuphead when he has the chance, the Devil never threatens to take Mugman's soul as leverage presumably because Cuphead is the one who owes him.
- Played with at the end of "The Devil's Pitchfork", he actually does kidnap Mugman so he can trade him for the pitchfork, but only after Cuphead electrocuted him repeatedly while pretending he was trying to give it back and mocked him when the Devil let it slip that he's off the hook because the deadline to collect his soul has expired, leading to the Devil to decide to just screw the rules. Even so, it seems the Devil only did that because he considers it a fair trade, trading something he finds valuable (his pitchfork) for something Cuphead finds valuable (Mugman).
- A Played for Laughs variation, but like every other denizen of the Underworld, he also cannot stand Stickler. Not for any moral reason but because the auditor is just so annoying and won't get off his back.
- In "Roadkill", when the Devil needs to bring back one soul to the Underworld to gain access to his prized possessions, even he can't bring himself to steal Elder Kettle's soul after the old man had mistaken him for a stray cat and treated him with love and kindness.
- In the Christmas Special episode "A Very Devil Christmas", he's highly unnerved by Santa Claus' Christmas ritual and goes so far as to refer to him as a 'complete psycho' to Henchman.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Although he’s a Mean Boss to Henchman (which is in of itself better than he treats most of his other minions), when the bubbles of failure (That he himself designed) start encasing everything he cherishes to encourage him to snatch a soul, Henchman is one of them, heavily implying that despite the Devil’s rudeness he genuinely does have affection for him.
- Evil Brit: He's the Devil, and he speaks with a posh received pronunciation accent. It makes him stand out amongst the rougher American accents of the other characters.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: He treats the whole "Destroy an unsuspecting city with devil powers" spiel he does in "The Devil's Pitchfork" with the same glee someone would do a trip to Disneyland.
- Evil Is Burning Hot: He sometimes bursts into flames when angered, and can even force it to become more intense with effort, like when he's trying to get Cuphead to take off an invisible sweater.
- Evil Is Hammy: The Devil's Establishing Character Moment has him sing an "I Am" Song reminiscent of one of Cab Calloway's numbers. That should clue you in to how much ham he's bringing.
- Evil Is Petty: During his Villain Song, to show how he gets "his kicks playing tricks", the Devil pops a child's balloon and steals his lollypop.
- Evil Laugh: A couple times he lets out some laughter when he's in villainous mood, befitting of a Card-Carrying Villain.
- Evil Wears Black: In his debut, he temporarily wears a white and black top hat a couple times. He also sports a black sleep mask in the season two finale.
- Expressive Ears: His ears sometimes move downwards when he's upset or point upwards when he's angry.
- Fangs Are Evil: He normally has square teeth. But sometimes he sport fangs, which can vary from long-sharpened canines to a mouth full of sharp teeth.
- Fatal Flaw: Him being who he is, he naturally has a few of these.
- Pride: He's very arrogant and full of himself, reveling in watching Cuphead and Mugman run away from him which leads to him accidentally destroying the Soul Ball game and setting all the souls free. It's even later revealed he blames the duo for destroying his carnival, when it was actually his fault. He also attributes the success to the Underworld's industriousness to his hard work and dedication, and not his overworked minions. This is also the main reason he can't tolerate just letting Cuphead go: he just can't admit that he's lost.
- Wrath: When he's after something, he'll often end up burning down everything in his path to get it. This usually doesn't end up working in his favor. He ends up burning down his own carnival in the pilot episode while chasing down Cuphead and Mugman, and in "Sweater Luck Next Time", him setting the cups' fence on fire kicks off a chain of events that leads to him being electrocuted by an invisible sweater. He also accidentally incinerates his first and second best groups of demons in "Release the Demons!" due to his inability to control his rage.
- Sloth: Most of the time he's seen lazing around in the Underworld without a care in the world while his minions work assiduously on his behalf. Despite having the ability to teleport wherever he wants whenever he wants, he initially only puts up wanted posters for Cuphead rather than actually going back up himself to collect his due, which in turn gives Cuphead enough time to seek out Quadratus for protection. The only time he ever decides to take action is when something goes wrong or when Stickler harasses him to do so. Becomes even more egregious when we find out his contracts have expiration dates.
- Flaming Devil: He has a stereotypically Camp Gay voice and flamboyant mannerisms. He even wears the appropriate outfit during the audition in "Cupstaged".
- Foil: To King Dice, his "number one." Both are villainous soul stealers in positions of power, but while the Devil is The Dreaded and feared by the residents of Inkwell Isle, King Dice is a Villain with Good Publicity and adored by the masses. Their soul stealing tactics are exact opposites; the Devil's carnival steals the souls of those that lose the games there, while King Dice's game show steals the souls of the winning contestants. The Devil's first instinct to getting Cuphead's soul is to chase him down and attack him with fire, while King Dice only resorts to violence as a last resort. Neither of them like Cuphead, but the Devil slowly (albeit temporarily) bonds with him over their shared sense of humor while King Dice progressively hates him more and more as Cuphead continues to fail his (rigged) game show.
- Gambler's Fallacy: He runs into this when he tries to keep his game of rock paper scissors with Cuphead going to try and get their souls, even though Cuphead's previous wins actually keep making his own chances of winning less likely with each game.
- Giggling Villain: He giggles after getting a new idea on how to steal Cuphead's soul in "Sweater Luck Next Time".
- The Grinch: Inverted. Depite what one may expect from him, he absolutely loves Christmas time. Mainly because the omnipresent festive cheer "brings out the devil in him".
- Hidden Depths: Say what you will about him, but the Devil definitely knows his way around a musical number. This includes singing, playing music, and dancing. His dancing ability comes up more than once, first during his Villain Song and then when he makes a big show out of painting Elder Kettle's fence. This trait gets put on full display in Season 3 when his interests expand to include theatre acting and opera singing in "Cupstaged" and he has a full on Dance-Off with Ms. Chalice in the finale.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": In "A Very Devil Christmas" he reveals that "The Devil" really is his full name, not just his title.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Mugman tricks him into blasting fire at his cursed carnival game, destroying it and freeing his stolen souls.
- Hot-Blooded: This guy does nothing by halves, be it relentlessly hunting down Cuphead and Mugman or using his awesome powers to paint the boys' fence.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: The start of the series had him retain his fearsome reputation, with the Cup Brothers outright panicking when they see him and the citizens of Inkwell Isles running away in terror. As the series goes on and the brothers keep foiling his plans, however, The Devil slowly becomes less of a feared figure and more of an incompetent loon, to the point that by "The Devil's Pitchfork", with a newspaper critic demanding he step down because he simply doesn't command the same respect before the events of the show.
- Hypocritical Humor: He calls Mugman stuffing Cuphead's soul back into his brother's body as completely unethical because the Devil stole the soul fair and square.
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- I Have Many Names: In his Villain Song, he lists off a few of his many aliases, including Old Scratch, Mr. S, and The Big D.
- Ignored Epiphany: Even Old Scratch himself can have a brush with redemption. After being worn down from pursuing Cuphead with his protective magic sweater, he is later left making small talk with him, and eventually ends up liking Cuphead's company and befriending him... only to realize he's not wearing the sweater and excitedly revert back to trying to take his soul.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Though he's perfectly happy to be The Dreaded at the same time, more and more hints have been dropped in Season 3 that the Devil is quite starved for validation and affection (from people not named 'Henchman'). It kicks off in 'The Devil's Pitchfork' when he takes a bad review of him in a newspaper column very badly. In 'Cupstaged', he flat out admits that one of the reasons he wants to become a star is for the love from an audience of "strangers". This comes to a head in the Season 3 finale when he - in near tears - slinks away with only Henchman by his side when Cuphead eventually outwits him at 'Rock, Paper, Scissors' while the crowd lovingly cheers for the cups and Ms. Chalice.
- Immortal Immaturity: At the very least he's several millennia old and presumably immortal but he certainly doesn't act like it. From time to time the Devil puts on the image of a scheming, imperious ruler (such as when reprimanding King Dice) but it tends not to hold up if he's repeatedly challenged.
- It's All About Me: His top priority is himself. For instance, while Played for Laughs, he throws himself a celebration because of how well he's running his operation, and sees their most productive year as being because of his hard work and dedication, giving no credit to his employees who did the actual heavy lifting.
- It's Personal: Even with Cuphead no longer owing him his soul, he's made it clear multiple times that he's still going to get it one way or another due to his personal vendetta against him. Oh, and he's also after Mugman's soul as well for good measure.
- Laughably Evil: While still widely feared and dangerous, the Devil ends up being one of the funnier characters, thanks to his much more goofy and bombastic personality.
- Lean and Mean: He's tall and thin, and is a literal demon from the Underworld that collects souls from innocent bystanders.
- Light Is Not Good: He's The Devil, wears a top hat that's mainly colored white a couple of times, and has a picture of himself wearing White Gloves. One of the ways he attempts to get Cuphead's sweater off is by resorting to light and heat, in an allusion to the sun and wind fable.
- Logical Weakness: The magic sweater electrocutes him whenever he makes contact with it and prevents him from ripping out Cuphead's soul, so when Cuphead is caught without protection and Mugman has to act quickly, he pulls the sweater over the Devil instead. It not only paralyzes him and leaves him in agony, but shocks him badly enough to burn off part of his fur.
- Loophole Abuse:
- It's implied that the Devil's ability to claim souls is dependent on people willingly taking part in one temptation or another that he's set up but nothing in the rules says he has to tell people what they're signing up for, which makes it easier to lure in his victims.
- He really pulled a case of this in "The Devil's Pitchfork" after Cuphead screwed him just a little too much after the Devil let's it slip that Cuphead can't have his soul stolen anymore. He may not be able to take Cuphead or Mugman's souls without a proper claim but nothing keeps him from kidnapping people wholesale, as Mugman finds out.
- Mirror Character: Has quite a bit in common with Cuphead, surprisingly. They're both Hot-Blooded, rather immature mischief makers who chase thrills whenever they can (Cuphead via getting up to adventures in the Isles, the Devil by messing with the residents). They also both try to avoid work in favour of having fun (Cuphead going to the Carn-Evil instead of painting the fence, the Devil trying to enjoy his productivity party instead of getting Cuphead's soul) and apparently share a sense of humour.
- Modesty Towel: Played for Laughs during "Release the Demons!": not only does he cover himself with pink towels despite habitually not wearing any clothes, but he also wraps the towels on his head and on his chest like a woman.
- Mood-Swinger: His temper is violent and (literally) explosive, but he tends to calm down or get distracted as fast as he gets angry...just in time for something else to make him mad.
- Mundane Utility: He uses his powers to put on a ridiculously elaborate show of painting a fence.
- Near-Villain Victory:
- In "Sweater Luck Next Time", after he discovers that Cuphead is not wearing the protective sweater, he advances on the latter and starts pulling out his soul, hoping that it will soon be his. However, he gets distracted by Mugman, who had arrived in the nick of time with the sweater and puts it on the Devil, shocking him and saving Cuphead's life.
- In "The Devil and Ms. Chalice", he won the Dance-Off against Ms. Chalice due to an inconvenience for the latter and was ready to kill her off as part of the deal, but Cuphead decides to step in to save her by altering the deal with a game of rock-paper-scissors and puts his own soul and Mugman's at risk to sweeten it up. This leads to the Devil's downfall as he's constantly losing the game and begs for more tries until Mugman decides to step in and call it quits, allowing the cup brothers and Ms. Chalice to be free from his debt.
- Never My Fault: It's revealed in "Release the Demons!" that he blames Cuphead and Mugman for destroying his carnival. In actuality, it was his doing.
- Nice Character, Mean Actor: While he is a Card-Carrying Villain in person, "Cupstaged" reveals he is also an inspiring actor and believes that for the public to love him, he has to play the hero.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His plan to send the four horsemen to steal Cuphead's soul unintentionally ends up saving him from King Dice, as he also ends up frozen in terror by them.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Sounds a great deal like James Mason.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain:
- After having been thrown through a Humiliation Conga for the entire season (King Dice killing off his third finest demons for his own ambitions, losing control of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Stickler refusing to let him take Cuphead's soul due to his debt being expired), in "The Devil's Pitchfork" — after having his pitchfork taken from him by Cuphead — the Devil kidnaps Mugman, leaving Season 2 on a Downer Ending.
- In the third season finale, the Devil proves just how nightmarish he can be when he kills Ms. Chalice in a disturbingly graphic way as a show of intimidation before resurrecting her.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction after accidentally destroying the Soul Ball game at his carnival.
- One-Man Army: Oh boy. And it shows with how he casually obliterates two sets of his finest demons during his tantrum alone.
- Opportunistic Bastard: Chalice still owes him a favor for her resurrection and as soon as he notices that she's a friend of the cup brothers, the Devil doesn't hesitate to use this opportunity to make Chalice act as his pawn to get their souls for him.
- Orcus on His Throne: Despite being able to collect Cuphead's soul whenever he wants between "Carn-Evil" and "Sweater Off Dead," he doesn't try to do so (outside of putting up wanted posters) until Stickler starts to get on his case about it. It actually has consequences for him in “Release the Demons!" where he finds out, just as he's about to personally take Cuphead's soul, that if he hasn't collected a soul he's owed within 30 days, he no longer has any claim on it.
- Person of Mass Destruction: As silly as he is, he has a terrifying amount of power. In the first episode, he easily levels the entire carnival without even really trying to. A latter episode shows him capable of letting off a huge explosion of fire that levels an entire stretch of forest.
- Pet the Dog:
- While it does pair with You Have Failed Me, there's no denying that replacing King Dice with Henchman, a big fan of Dice and his show "Roll the Dice", as the host of Dice's radio show is one of his nicer moments.
- While it's likely not the intention, the Devil holding a celebration party for his accomplishment does allow his workers to finally take a break from their 3000 years (according to one of the workers) of grueling work.
- He is shown to be more patient with Henchman during the second season, sometimes suppressing his feelings of annoyance.
- He thanks Henchman with genuine sincerity in his voice in "The Devil's Pitchfork" for telling him to go on a rampage topside to get back in the groove and remind people you don't mess with him after his depressive spell from missing the opportunity to get Cuphead's soul and the subsequence trashing of his reputation.
- In "A Very Devil Christmas", he offers Telephone's soul back, wrapped in a present, after claiming it in a game of tic-tac-toe as part of a Celesial Deadline back in "Roadkill".
- Despite witnessing King Dice's failure first-hand in "Down & Out", he doesn't dispose of King Dice completely and instead gives him a job as his personal showman. The next time we see King Dice, he seems to be quite happy with his new position.
- Phrase Catcher: Whenever he appears in a location, you can bet someone (usually the elephant citizen) will shout "THE DEVIL" in surprise.
- Pick on Someone Your Own Size: He's an adult who really wants to steal Cuphead's soul, with the latter being an adolescent.
- Playing with Fire: The Devil can conjure fire.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Has shades of Type II and III. He's the dangerous, soul-stealing ruler of the Underworld and the show's Big Bad...who either throws tantrums or sulks away when stuff doesn't go his way and is prone to mood swings. Like most cases of Type II, he's shown to be self-centered. Additionally, he also has some childish interests, such as wanting a toy train for christmas.
- Psycho Pink: Whenever he wears clothing, there's a chance it might be pink (party hat, Modesty Towel, theater costume...) and he's the show Big Bad.
- Really 700 Years Old: He's at least several millennia old, though he doesn't look like it.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: He's mostly black, is The Devil, and his eyes and nose are red.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: He's red-eyed, dangerous, and is Satan.
- Revenge Before Reason: No matter how detrimental it is to him, he can't stand the idea of Cuphead getting away with his soul and continues to keep going after him well past the point of reason.
- Sadist: He shows shades of this trope. In the first episode, he clearly likes watching Cuphead and Mugman run away from him in terror. He even flatly states, "I love it when they run!" and makes an Evil Laugh when he starts chasing them. He's also happy when he takes Mugman hostage and talks to Henchman about breaking his spirit.
- Sanity Slippage: By the time season 2 kicks in, the Devil starts losing it over his inability to collect Cuphead's soul as the cup is living rent-free in his head. All to the point of getting worked up over anything cup-related.
- Satan: Duh, he's the Devil.
- Shaking the Rump: During his Villain Song in "Carn-Evil", he wears a hat and tuxedo and does his dance routine, including his twerking. Henchman, however, manages to interrupt the dance routine to tell him about the Spanner in the Works...
- Shock and Awe: He can shoot electricity out of his pitchfork.
- Slasher Smile: While ranting about Cuphead to his second-finest demons, he eventually sports a wide, demonic smile as he talks about wanting to eat the cup’s soul.
- Soul Eating: He never does it on screen, but when REALLY worked up, he threatens to eat both Cuphead and Stickler’s souls at different points. Considering most of them he’s more focused on placing them in his soul vault, he seems to save this for when people REALLY piss him off.
- Soulless Shell: Anyone who owes him their soul is doomed (unless they're Cuphead) to become an empty body in a near catatonic state.
- Speak of the Devil: A purely literal example! After Cuphead (unbeknownst to the Devil) takes off the protective invisible sweater, he brushes off Mugman's concern because the Devil isn't around at the time. Guess who appears right after he says that?
- Spell My Name with a "The": Most of the time he's only ever called The Devil, to the extent that his name is written out as such on Santa's naughty list. The only people to break this convention are Cuphead and Mugman who each call him 'Devil' once, like it's his name.
- Subbing for Santa: Santa Claus offers the Devil a desperate last option to get his gift for Christmas by merging with him, forcing the Devil to take the role of Santa for the following night, with the threat of being stuck in his body forever if he fails.
- Tame His Anger: Attempted. In "Release the Demons!", he's seen opening a book about controlling one's temper. He soon begins ripping the pages out.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The Christmas Special has him undergo an even bigger Humiliation Conga than normal, being transformed into Santa and forced to be nice and charible, with the real Santa not even committing to his end of the bargain of giving him a toy choo-choo. The end of the episode reveals that Henchman made him a deluxe sized train set, which an elated Devil plays with.
- Verbal Tic: Tends to let out a short 'Oh!' when surprised by something (pleasant or otherwise).
- Villain Decay: While it's downplayed as it doesn't stop him from being menacing and dangerous with how he casually kills Ms. Chalice temporarily or destroys an entire city to create a giant stage in the middle of its destruction, he somewhat suffers this enough in season 3. His plots to capture Cuphead's soul become increasingly petty and childish, finally devolving into a game of Rock Paper Scissors. Which he repeatedly loses.
- Villain Has a Point: He isn't wrong in pointing out that Cuphead did lose at Soulball, so he does have a claim to his soul.
- Villain in a White Suit: He wears a white tailcoat and top hat while dancing.
- Villain Song: He sings his own "I Am" Song in the first episode, gloating about how evil he is.
- Villain Teleportation: None of the heroes can teleport, but The Devil can, albeit only with his pitchfork.
- Villains Out Shopping:
- He's in the middle of a relaxing bubble bath (complete with cucumbers over his eyes) when King Dice phones him with info on Cuphead and we see him throw a party to celebrate increased productivity in the Underworld complete with a conga line, party games and cake.
- In "Cupstaged", it is revealed he has a passion for theater; while he antagonizes Cuphead and Mugman to get his stage fame, it doesn't go beyond that.
- Villainous Breakdown: He often experiences these when things don't go his way. For instance:
- He throws a colossal demonic tantrum in "Sweater Off Dead", involving him rapidly shifting into various giant and monstrous forms... before quickly settling down and leaving in a huff.
- After his pitchfork is stolen by Cuphead and used to heckle him relentlessly, he inadvertently blabs he can no longer claim his soul. Realising how low he's sunk and that he can't even attack his Arch-Enemy, he breaks down sobbing. Cuphead makes the mistake of kicking him while he's down however and he takes a nastier turn.
- Villainous Friendship: While friendship may be too far, the Devil does seem to value Henchman's companionship on some level, with Henchman being the only one who cares about the Devil's wellbeing and the only demon who the Devil confides in and never seriously threatens in any way.
- Villainous Valor: The Devil only cares about getting Cuphead's soul as he believes Cuphead lost it fair and square at the carnevil. The Devil can't outright kill Cuphead without losing the soul and generally underestimates Mugman because Mugman is of no value to him since he never forfeits his soul in a bet. He only takes Mugman as a hostage because Cuphead took his pitchfork and refuses to give it back.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: He can transform into most anything, including a human, a giant spider, or even a hot dog cart. He seems to lose control of this ability when he gets ''really'' mad, though.
- Would Hurt a Child: Trying to shoot Cuphead and Mugman with fire? Not an issue with him. As for Ms. Chalice? Well... You wouldn't want to know.
- Wreathed in Flames: When he’s angry, he tends to create an aura of fire around himself, sometimes to the size that it burns down anyone or anything around him. This is also one of the powers he keeps without his pitchfork, too, despite needing it to shoot fire.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Sneaky and has yellow sclera (i.e. part of the eye).
- Your Soul Is Mine!: He outright states that collecting souls is his "greatest obsession", and is particularly obsessed with Cuphead's. He can also create devices that can rip them out, like the "Soul Ball" game at the carnival. However it's implied to be conditional so he can't just steal souls whenever he likes and needs some kind of claim to pull it off. "Release the Demons" also reveals that any claim he makes on a soul is temporary and can lapse, denying him any ability to take the soul for himself if he doesn't claim it within 30 days.
