Dante Sparda was born in 1931 in Los Angeles. He was born into a close family, and the first few years of his life were happy ones. With his older brother Angelo, mother Maria, and father Donald--whose large, strong figure still looms large in Dante's memory--the family took care to find joy in the simplest things. While Donald only made a modest living as a construction worker, Dante vividly remembers the wonder his father seemed to find in even the most mundane pleasures of life; a wonder that brought with it a sense of deep serenity that seemed to enfold the entire family. While Dante's white hair and oddly-colored eyes often led to rejection from strangers, such pains were forgotten when he was with his family. Here was the one place Dante felt safe and loved.

    When Dante was 8 years old, his father died.

    Dante did not know how or why, and his mother would not tell him any details, other than he passed away fighting “bad men.” Maria then moved with the children across the country to Gotham City, so that the “bad men” wouldn't find them.

    And, like that, the serenity was gone.

    Growing up in Gotham City was not easy for Dante. With his peculiar appearance, neighborhood children had never been kind, but on the dark streets of Gotham, the torments were even worse. The other children teased him, cursed him, called him "freak" and worse. Far worse. Were it not for his big brother, Angelo, protecting him, childhood would have been unbearable. As it was, it was merely miserable.

    The years passed. Dante's watched his mother's youth and beauty wilt and crack under a weight he could only dimly perceive. She held secrets, and as Dante grew and began to notice the changes he was undergoing, he began to ponder the depths of them.

    Dante could now do things others couldn't. He could see in the night as if it were day. He never got sick. He could perform physical feats of strength and speed far beyond what was considered “normal” for a young man. Dante finally confided in his brother and was amazed when Angelo told him that the same things had happened to him. Angelo said he had spoken to their father about it not long before he died. Their father told Angelo that he was different from others, and to keep his abilities a secret. Dante resolved to do the same.

    On a cold day in 1950, Dante was returning from an apprenticeship interview when he saw smoke rising from the direction of his house. Racing home, he found the apartment building his family lived in a smoking ruin. The firefighters recovered the remains of his mother, but could find no trace of his older brother. They did, however, find a sealed envelope that was miraculously untouched by the flames. Taking the envelope in numb fingers, Dante wandered the streets in shock and despair. Eventually he remembered the letter that he was given, sat down in an alley and read it.

    The letter was from his father and it had been written just before he died. In it, he told Dante the truth of his powers, his past, and of himself.

    The man Dante knew as his father was actually a Demon Knight called Sparda.

    Years ago, Sparda had been the chosen lieutenant of a powerful Demon King named Mundus. Sparda had been given the task of leading Mundus’ armies out of Hell and onto the Earth to claim it for his own. However, through his own conscience or perhaps divine providence, Sparda saw the evil that Mundus lusted to unleash, and decided he could not be a part of it. Instead he turned on his master, slaying Mundus and scattering the demonic armies before fleeing to the Earth. Once there, Sparda assumed a human form and attempted to lead a human life. He fell in love, married, and had two sons, both half-human, half-demon.

    The letter explained Dante's power, and gave Dante instructions on how to harness it and make it grow. It also told him how to fashion weapons that would hurt the spirit and the demon, the enemies that would now hunt Dante tirelessly. Sparda told Dante everything, for he knew that the followers of Mundus were coming, and time was short.

    The last lines of the letter would stay with Dante the rest of his life. "I shall die soon. I do not dread it, nor do I regret the decisions that have brought me to this point. I existed for uncounted millennia, but I only lived for these last few years. An eternity of hatred versus a few ephemeral moments of love--of family? It is no choice. No choice at all. And that so many of my kin choose deathless hate is a tragedy profound enough that even a Devil may cry."

    Dante put the letter away. Night was falling on Gotham and his family was gone. Demons had killed his father. Demons had killed his mother. His brother? Angelo was older and had the same powers as Dante, perhaps he could have escaped and disappeared.

    Dante decided to disappear as well.

    Dante left Gotham that night and travelled for 5 years, learning of the occult, honing his skills, and pushing the limits of his abilities. He fashioned a pair of revolvers- “Ebony” and “Ivory”- weapons that were lethal to the demonic and astral, and never emptied of ammunition. He also fashioned a Demonic sword –“Rebellion”- and imbued it with some of his power, making it a truly potent weapon.

    During his travels, he was confronted by demonic killers who were expecting to deal with a scared boy, not a powerful, prepared man. Of these encounters, Dante would only say, “Begging for mercy, even a Devil may cry.”

    Finally, in 1955, Dante became tired of running, and decided to become the Hunter, instead of the hunted. He returned to Gotham, and became a one-man supernatural investigation organization called, “Devil May Cry”. He set up shop in a seedy part of Gotham, with grisly trophies of the demons that had crossed his path lining the walls as decorations. He sent out business cards to the major occultists of the day, making it known that “The Son of Sparda" had, at long last, returned.