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This article contains spoilers, as such, it is recommended to read it with caution, or not at all.

William Baines is a major antagonist in Netflix's Devil May Cry.

He was the Vice President of the United States and the head of Dark Realm Command, serving as Lady’s superior. Baines had his own agenda: to wage war against Makai through using the U.S. military under his command. After President Hopper's death, Baines became acting President of the United States, but was betrayed and killed by Arius, who revealed his true nature to him when he confronted him about his true motives.

Appearance

Baines is a slightly elderly man with gray hair (black in his youth) and brown eyes. He wears a blue two-piece suit with an American flag pin, a white dress shirt with a red tie with five white stripes, black gloves and brown dress shoes. He is always seen sporting red-tinted glasses.

Nine years prior when he was still a senator, his hair was still black, and the top part of his tie was blue.

Personality

Baines, at first, appears to be a reasonable and fair authority figure, who wants to assist with hunting demons with the help of the Dark Realm Command (DARKCOM) and shown a few times to be religious and, like any person, saw the demons as not only a threat to the world but to God himself. However, he is an extremely corrupted, cold, and pragmatic politician with a deeply religious agenda; believing that all that happens is according to God. While he presents himself as a respectful person in public, it is to conceal his true manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and ethically questionable nature that is willing to wage open war against the Demon World itself.

Being a fanatical and xenophobic Christian zealot, Baines is openly contemptuous toward demons and even hybrids, treating them with extreme prejudice regardless of their character. His hatred runs so deep that he insists it was God’s will that saved him from certain death after Air Force Two was destroyed, sending him, Enzo, Dante, and several civilians plummeting from high altitude, even though it was Dante who ultimately awakened his Devil Trigger and rescued the hostages midair.

Baines later reveals this mindset to Anders, whom he knew was working for the Rabbit, before throwing him out of a helicopter while declaring, ‘I was saved by God. Let’s see if your Devil’s gonna help you too.’ He also views the idea of demons fleeing Makai, a magical realm which he believes to be Hell as contradictory, believing demons belong there and would only leave in order to attack humanity. Despite this, he was willing to extend an olive branch to Dante, believing his human half meant he could still be ‘redeemed’ by serving under him.

However, Baines’s arrogance extends toward humans as well. He sees those working beneath him as expendable, viewing the president as an easily manipulated fool obsessed with appearances, while dismissing Lady as nothing more than an attack dog driven by rage. Despite his constant claims of protecting humanity, Baines is ultimately revealed to be a hypocrite. He is fully willing to sacrifice innocent people while fanatically proclaiming it to be God’s will, all while hoarding powerful demonic artifacts within his personal collection.

Trivia