Devil May Cry ending explained: Who is King Mundus? What does it mean for season 2?

All eight episodes of Netflix's Devil May Cry zip by faster than Dante himself in full Devil Trigger mode, so there's a lot to tie together by the time the finale gets going. And in true Dante fashion, the show throws us in headfirst for a climactic battle that ends with a demonic reveal and more blood than you'd find in a black pudding factory up north.

In case you got too swept up in the fight sequences or Dante's flowing locks (or even just stopped paying attention for a bit), we're here to lend a hand and revisit hell on earth so you don't have to – yes, literally hell on earth – to explain what happened at the end in the final episode.

Who is King Mundus? How did that surprise character survive? And how does Dante maintain his hair with all that flipping around and somersaulting? The answers to two out of those three questions will follow shortly as we explain everything you need to know about Devil May Cry episode 8, titled 'A River of Blood and Fire.'

Warning: We'll be getting into big spoilers below. So make sure you're up to date before reading on.

Devil May Cry season 1 ending recap

The finale ends with our heroes, Dante and Lady, already assuming that this is the end, that they've saved the day. But The White Rabbit isn't out for the count yet. Stumbling across a demon survivor, Rabbit chows down on them like a carrot, using their otherworldly blood to heal his wounds and mutate into something much larger and more formidable. Something monstrous, even.

The credits roll and then we cut back to Darkcom clearing all the dead bodies of each vanquished demon. Dante is surprised because he usually just leaves the corpses lying around when he's done with all the killing, not even thinking about what might happen if humanity discovered the existence of demons. More on that later.

Lady demands Dante hand over his amulet, the one that holds the power to open a doorway to hell, but he points out that Vice President Baines shouldn't be trusted. Our hero isn't wrong, because we then cut to Baines himself describing Lady as an "attack dog" he should bring to heel. As if he could overpower her without his cronies.

Dante's mate, Enzo Ferino, jumps in just as Lady threatens to blow Dante's brains through his haircut, diffusing the tension with his affable sleaze. Baines walks over then to ask where Sparda's sword went.

Rabbit took it to a nearby river, apparently, and that does not please Baines, who begins to doubt Lady's capability. It's a bit savage given all that she's achieved, not to mention how she blames herself for the death of her team. Baines reveals a bit of his true self at that point, explaining that "everyone is expendable" in the fight for "humanity's souls."

When he asks where the amulet might be, Dante claims Rabbit took that as well, but he's lying, of course. Lady, sensing that Baines might not be as great as she first thought, pretends that she doesn't know where it went either.

After Baines skulks off, dissatisfied, Lady tries to take Dante in herself. His blood is just too dangerous to be out in the world, because it's the key to unlocking the gates of hell. But then a giant, mutated version of Rabbit shows up and starts slicing through the Darkcom soldiers like cotton candy.

Lady and Dante quickly recognise him as Rabbit because he's wearing the same valve they saw earlier that he uses to keep himself alive. But way more demon blood is pumping through that apparatus now, increasing his strength (and ugliness) tenfold.

Enzo runs off – "so reliable" – as Dante and Lady start shooting at Rabbit using their anti-demon bullets. The problem is that his DNA is still too human for them to work properly, so Rabbit shrugs them off with ease.

Ever the tactician, Lady immediately realises that the valve is Rabbit's weak point, so she keeps shooting at it but his gross, giant arms keep getting in the way. Dante squares up to Rabbit with his sword and gets smacked around a lot, trying his best to keep the amulet away from him.

That's when Enzo suddenly jumps in out of nowhere to try and save Dante. Yes, the short, sleazy man with no experience of fighting stands up to a humongous mutant powered by demon blood to protect his incredibly able demon hunter friend. As you might expect, this doesn't go too well for Enzo, but he gets points for effort, at least. That will be a small comfort though after Enzo dies in Dante's arms, making up for his earlier betrayal at the start of the season.

Enraged by the loss of his friend, Dante levels up with more energy in demonic form, but Rabbit still smacks him through a bunch of buildings and knocks the wind out of our hero completely. Just as Rabbit is about to get Dante's blood and open the portal, Lady shows up with a helicopter and shoots the hell out of him with a giant mounted gun and missiles too.

Dante jumps on to escape and catch a breather, but Rabbit gives chase and soon catches up, leaping onto the helicopter like a Hulk on steroids. Their helicopter crashes in the ensuing skirmish and then Rabbit manages to grab hold of the amulet at last. All he needs now is the blood of Dante's entire bloodline to end this world and bring hell to earth.

Dante points out that he would also need the blood of his brother, Vergil, for this to work, but Rabbit already has it, revealing that "your other half is very much alive." The news rocks Dante who recalls his twin dying when they were kids. Rabbit impales Dante on the sword then, mixing the last ingredients that he needed to kickstart the apocalypse.

A vortex appears overhead and the sky turns red as giant monsters arrive on earth to eat people and just have a great time all round. Rabbit taunts Dante – "All that inherited power and it still wasn't enough to stop me" – but then Lady shows up in the nick of time and destroys his valve with one last bullet.

"You shouldn’t have told me about Vergil," says Dante as he recovers, eyes aglow. "I have to live for him."

And with that, Dante tears the sword out of his chest, crackling with energy as he transforms into full Devil Trigger mode. Rabbit gets in a low blow during their fight, describing Dante as "unloveable", but that doesn't faze Dante who gets in a killing blow right after.

Dante separates his amulet from the sword, reversing the portal's effects. The red sky recedes and the demons leave as Dante transforms back into his regular squidgy human body.

"He’s definitely fucking dead this time?" asks Lady, but yes, Rabbit really is gone for good.

The pair share some banter, as cheeky heroes so often do, and then Dante reveals his quest for the future, aka season two, which is to find his lost brother Vergil after discovering he isn't as dead as he thought. They joke about becoming an oddly matched buddy cop team-up – "Lady and Dante, not Dante and Lady" – but then Lady suddenly betrays him, injecting a serum in his neck while Dante's back is turned.

"Baines was right," says Lady. "With what your blood can do, it's too dangerous to have you out in the world. I’m sorry."

We then cut to Baines who's secured the device Rabbit used to detect rifts between earth and hell. He then confronts the soldier who brought it to him, knowing that the guy was actually working for the demons all this time.

"I did what I had to do to protect my kids," says the soldier, knowing that Rabbit would kill his family if he didn't follow orders. Baines rants about God's plan in response, suggesting that he will be the one to build the kingdom of heaven on earth. And he'll do so using Rabbit's tech, the same tech he wants to keep away from humans so they couldn't use it against him.

Baines pushes the soldier out of his flying helicopter once he's done blabbing and that's when Operation Inferno begins. Jets are scrambled and missiles are launched into the other realm, murdering hundreds of innocent refugees as Green Day's 'American Idiot' aptly plays over the carnage.

A montage reveals that Dante has been cryogenically frozen to prevent him from escaping his Darkcom cell as his sword and amulet are transported away in separate containers. More soldiers appear in the other realm then, planting the American flag as we hear the President announce the existence of demons to the public at large.

"Hell is real," he reveals. But hell might be coming even sooner than he thinks if the final scene of the series is anything to go by.

Who is King Mundus?

Devil May Cry ends the season in a Uroboros detention facility where Darkcom soldiers are mining minerals and keeping some of the remaining demon refugees captive. Why? We don't know. But we're not given long to figure out why when some of the guards are suddenly sliced up by an unseen figure, cutting them into tiny pieces like the Resident Evil laser grid from the movies.

It's then revealed, somewhat unsurprisingly, that the assailant is none other than Vergil, Dante's long–lost older twin brother. He's powered up in demon form with horns and everything, a stark contrast from the glimpse of a more human Vergil we saw a demon impersonate back in episode one.

Vergil lets the refugees out of their cells, explaining that "Our King Mundus grants you your freedom."

"Show him gratitude," Vergil adds. "It was Mundus who freed me from my own bondage."

Vergil glows and then transforms into the human version of himself who has a very similar fashion sense to Dante, even though they've not hung out for a very long time. They even share the same style coat, except Vergil's is blue while Dante's is red. Who knows, maybe it's a twin thing? Either way, that look is very faithful to the games this series is based on, as is this idea of Vergil and Dante clashing in an inevitable season two.

The series concludes with one more foreboding message from Vergil where he exclaims: "The sapiens and their armies aren’t aware of the storm they ride into. I am that storm."

For viewers unfamiliar with the games, Mundus is the overarching antagonist of Devil May Cry, the big bad who's also referred to as the Prince of Darkness. He ruled the Demon World back during that conflict the show speaks of where Sparda rebelled. That's Dante's demon dad, remember? Sparda rebelled against Mundus and locked him away, but it looks like the king is out now and ready to wreak some havoc again with Vergil's help.

How did Vergil survive?

Where Vergil has been hiding all these years isn't clear, although it's obvious he's long been in cahoots with the king Dante will need to face in future seasons. It's probably safe to assume he's been chilling in the demon realm, however. And by "chilling" I mean levelling up and buying nice blue coats.

Is there a Devil May Cry post-credits scene?

No, there is no post-credits scene at the end of Devil May Cry, although the final scene we just described before sure does feel like one. So that means you can just check out the credits in peace and dive back into a replay of the best Devil May Cry games for the rest of the day. May I suggest the original? Sometimes you just can't beat a classic.

Will there be a Devil May Cry season 2?

Netflix rarely confirms a second season renewal until the first season has already been out in the world for a bit so they can track viewership figures before coming to a decision.

Devil May Cry is clearly confident enough to end on a cliffhanger, however, and showrunner Adi Shankar appears to have a multi-season arc in mind, much like Castlevania did. That show ended up running for four seasons, not to mention the Nocturne spinoff, so the same could be true for Devil May Cry too, assuming it doesn't bomb harder than Dante six whiskeys in.

Devil May Cry is available to stream on Netflix now. If you've already binged the new show, check out our guides to all the new anime, best anime, and the best anime on Netflix that should be on your radar.