Speculation on who will join the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster has hit a fever pitch as the release window for the fifth character in the Fighter Pass continues to shrink.
But now, Devil May Cry 5 voice actor Brian Hanford made some comments about Dante potentially gearing up to fight in yet another fighting game series in an AMA with JoJo Wifi.
Hanford, who voices V, one of the main protagonists in DMC 5, spent a large portion of the interview gushing about Ultimate and how he loved playing the game—even revealing that he mains Kirby. But the most important comments came when he talked about V’s place in the lore of DMC and his goals as a voice actor.
“This is what kills me about it,” Hanford said. “I’m the new character. So I’m not in the DMC lore enough to ever be considered for Super Smash (Bros.). And that would be like the ultimate life goal, are you kidding me?”
Throughout the interview, Hanford made it clear how much he loved Nintendo’s franchise fighter, while also admitting that he only started playing DMC when he found out he got the part of V in the newest installment. On top of listing it as one of his biggest goals to play a part in the franchise, he also might have let some information slip.
“To be part of Marvel vs Capcom or Super Smash Bros, or both, which is what Dante is going to be, it’s like, come on,” Hanford said. “That’s what I want. I would love that.”
This statement could have just been in reference to early conversations about Dante being rumored as DLC or it might have been an unintentional slip up on the part of the voice actor. It’s likely that it was just Hanford misspeaking because unless V is also being included in Ultimate somehow, it’s hard to see him knowing that kind of information.
The idea that the slip was nothing more than a misspoken sentence is further backed up by his following comments about how he thinks Nero makes more sense as an Ultimate fighter than V or Dante.
“If I am taking my complete prejudice off the table and not being so selfish, I would say that it honestly makes more sense for Nero to be the next installment just because of all of the Devil Breakers,” Hanford said. “There are just so many options for him in terms of attacks whereas V is a very passive fighter because he lets his familiars do their thing and then just finishes them off with a cane.”
DMC director Hideaki Itsuno previously made comments around the game’s release that a DMC character would only make sense if the franchise had games on the Nintendo Switch.
“Well, that’s the thing. Devil May Cry has never been on a Nintendo platform,” Itsuno said in an interview with VG247. “So it seems like the first thing to do would be to get Capcom to put Devil May Cry on a Nintendo platform in some way, shape or form—whatever game that might be.”
That requirement has already been met multiple times since both DMC and DMC 2 are available on the platform, with a special edition of DMC 3 set to release on the Switch in February. All of this is adding up to make a compelling case for the care-free devil hunter actually making the cut in Ultimate.
Even if the release of DMC 3 on Switch doesn’t have any bearing on a potential Dante DLC for Ultimate, Sabi, a leaker known to put out information on Smash, points out that it could just be a reference to the post-Fighters Pass content.
We already know Nintendo is developing even more DLC for Ultimate that will begin releasing after the final fighter for the initial pass is available, but we have no clue what it’ll actually be. Dante could end up headlining the next wave of fighters coming to Ultimate, but fans will have to wait until the next Nintendo Direct for confirmation.
