I genuinely don't understand why people keep saying that DMC5 "whitewashed" Vergil.
DMC5 didn't suddenly turn him into a good person. It gave context to why he became the person he is.
Understanding a character's motivations is not the same thing as excusing their actions. If we aren't allowed to understand why Vergil did what he did, then he's not really a character anymoreāhe's just a cool villain with a katana.
People act as if DMC5 rewrote his personality, but how can you "whitewash" characterization that was barely explored in the first place? You're talking as if we had full access to his inner thoughts and motivations before DMC5, when we really didn't.
The way some fans talk about the series, you'd think Vergil had a fully developed character arc before DMC5, but he didn't. Before DMC5, we knew he wanted power, we knew he was Dante's brother, and we knew he had an incredible presence as a character. What we didn't have was much insight into his thoughts, motivations, or emotional state.
And honestly, if we're talking about inconsistent characterization, Dante is a much bigger example. Depending on which game, novel, manga, or supplementary material you're looking at, his personality can feel completely different. Sometimes it feels like Capcom itself wasn't entirely sure what direction to take him.
Meanwhile, Vergil's motivations in DMC5 are still deeply selfish, even by the end of the game. He chooses to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions, but not because he suddenly feels compassion for humanity or remorse for all the lives that were lost.
As Visions of V suggests, V himself realizes that Vergil needs to confront the things he left behindāmost importantly, Dante. That's exactly what Vergil ends up doing. He takes responsibility for his own mess instead of forcing Dante to keep carrying the burden for him.
But he isn't doing it for humanity. He's doing it because of Dante, because of their relationship, and because he can no longer keep running from it.
He isn't suddenly altruistic. He isn't suddenly innocent. DMC5 is literally built around the consequences of his actions. The difference is that now we understand the trauma, fear, and obsession that drove him down that path in the first place.
DMC5 also expands on Dante. One of the biggest things it establishes is how much he values family. So much so that, by the end, he chooses to go with Vergil rather than simply abandon him. That doesn't mean Dante approves of everything Vergil has done. It means their relationship is more complicated than a simple hero-versus-villain dynamic.
As for people asking why Capcom seems reluctant to revisit certain storylines or concepts, I think the answer is obvious: making the overall narrative more consistent would require changing, reinterpreting, or expanding on things that some fans have idealized for years. The moment Capcom tries to do that, people accuse them of ruining the characters.
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