From the seemingly benign Grape Devil to the infinitely terrifying Gun Devil, Denji and the Devil Hunters have their hands full with foes of all shapes and sizes. But in a world where so many people fear so many different things, there’s always room for more hellish incarnations. Here’s 10 Devils we would have loved to see roaming the Chainsaw Man universe.
Insanity Devil
If you’ve ever had that unsettling feeling of waking up in the middle of the night, still straddling that line between dream world and reality, and had to get up and walk around or take a second to get your bearings, you know full well the fear tethered to slipping out of sanity.
The fear of losing one’s mind, often referred to as dementophobia, is bedded in the fear of losing control; being reduced to a rudderless boat on full throttle fueled only by a cocktail of base instinct and a tapestry of neurons firing in all the wrong directions.
We can only imagine what the Insanity Devil might have looked like in the Chainsaw Man universe, but we’re almost glad we don’t have to confront the embodiment of the very primal fear of losing what separates us from, well, the primal.
Claustrophobia Devil
People that opt for the stairs over cramming themselves inside a stuffy elevator know all too well the fear that would feed the Claustrophobia Devil. With about 12.5% of the population avoiding confined spaces in response to the fear, the demonic embodiment would almost certainly pose as a formidable foe.
Even if you don’t technically suffer from the phobia itself, it’s easy to imagine the terror that this Devil would wreak on people; distorting their reality by making them think they’re in a tiny room where the walls are creeping inward, trapping victims in coffins, or sending poor souls on an infinite elevator ride of pure anxiety.
Gravity Devil
Who hasn’t come to a ledge, looked down at the ground below and felt that stomach-dropping, cold-sweat inducing fear of plummeting to the bottom? It is an almost biologically hardwired response to have in the face of gravity and its unforgiving consequences.
The Gravity Devil would most assuredly feed off a mix of barophobia (fear of gravity) and acrophobia (fear of heights), towering high into the sky like a demonic watchtower, snatching its victims from their terrestrial comforts and dropping them to their demise, soaking in their panic as it does so.
This terrifying Devil would also undoubtedly have the ability to manipulate gravity itself, propelling its victims into perpetual weightlessness for fun, or increasing the forces pushing down on them until they flatten like a pancake and flipping the remains into its mouth like a horrifying breakfast flapjack.
Clown Devil
Somewhere along the way, clowns stopped being light-hearted spectacles of amusement and started being the stuff of nightmares. If the number of killer-clown movies isn’t enough indication of peoples’ fear of the makeup-drenched cretins, a literal serial killer (John Wayne Gacy) found the persona as a fitting profession. Need we say any more?
Fear of clowns, or coulrophobia, would have made for possibly one of the strongest Devils in the Chainsaw Man canon. If you’re not outright terrified of them, they at least make you uneasy, and that kernel alone is enough for a demon feeding on fear to exploit.
When it comes to imagining what the Clown Devil might look like, visions of IT’s Pennywise crossbred with the Joker spring to mind; a quippy, hyper-intelligent savage with a bloodlust for killing humans with giant circus hammer and filling a circus arena with their corpses.
Sickness Devil
Nosophobia, also known as the fear of sickness, often manifests itself in the form of hypochondria, where people always fear something is medically wrong with them. Sickness is a particularly potent fear, because it is something, at one point or another, that every single human experiences.
What makes the fear of sickness doubly startling, is that it is impossible to see with the naked eye. It is an invisible but ever-present threat that exists on every doorknob and every subway pole.
As for what it might look like in Chainsaw Man, a beast emitting a locust-like swarm of green germs that can shapeshift and morph into any desired form fits the bill quite nicely. Capable of surviving even if one tiny speck of its toxic cloud is left alive, this Devil would prove a most formidable foe for Denji and the crew.
Commitment Devil
There are few things scarier to a millennial or gen z than pledging oneself to something (or someone). People like to be free, have options, and the ability to move about from situation to situation without being hampered by responsibilities and duties. The Commitment Devil would have put a screeching halt to all the flightiness.
It’s easy to picture this Devil as businessman-priest hybrid in human form, acting as an intermediary between the contracts signed by other Devils and humans, preying on their dread of signing an ironclad agreement between the two, delighting in exploitatively binding mankind to its own species, and responsible for carrying out retribution if the contract is not fulfilled.
Loneliness Devil
Autophobia, the fear of loneliness, is an affliction a lot of people struggle with. While it is often spawned in childhood as a result of some sort of trauma, it is a cross that many bear into adulthood, making it an opportune niche for a Chainsaw Man devil to occupy.
Especially in Japan, where hikikomori — those that have withdrawn from society completely and live as modern hermits — account for nearly 1.6% of the population, the concept of total loneliness is one that is ever-present in the culture, and would undoubtedly be a fear of those in the Chainsaw Man universe.
As for the Devil’s form, it would most appropriately be a monster whose mouth is a large, black hole of sorts; sucking all light and life in its path, appearing to its victims in their moments of utmost solitude and despair.
Dentist Devil
It may be a stretch to say no one likes the dentist, but the figure likely comes pretty close. A visit to the tooth doctor usually means bloody gums and the blood-curdling whir of high-speed dental tools filling the air with the putrid smell of bone dust. Yes, they keep our teeth healthy, but we can’t help but flinch in fear at the thought.
In turn, the Dentist Devil would have made a cheeky addition to the Devil roster. Imagine the Gun Devil, but instead of pistols and bullets forming a non-descript blob of destruction, micro-drills, teeth, and dental picks pepper a grotesque body of oral horror tracking you down for one final checkup.
God Devil
Many religious traditions evoke a sense of fear of their belief’s particular God. While reverence and awe are more palatable emotions to feel for those practicing, there is an unmistakable thread of fear tethered to many traditions’ highest ranking deities. The term God-fearing man/woman doesn’t come from nowhere.
Humanity’s fear of divine judgement would almost certainly translate to an immensely powerful Devil in Chainsaw Man, feeding off of all religions and translating that terror into its own brand of unholy retribution.
The God Devil could take many forms, but to cover a common thread across beliefs, it would likely be a bodily form of radiating, blinding light, upon which no human can set their eyes. Prolonged eye contact with the God Devil would sear away at a mortal’s eyes and cause their very sanity to rip at the seams. What we wouldn’t give to see Denji fight the God Devil blindfolded.
Truth Devil
The truth is a fickle thing. We like it when it is pleasant and non-threatening to our ears, but will go out of our ways to ignore it when it doesn’t suit our interests. In Chainsaw Man, the Truth Devil would undoubtedly bring new meaning to the phrase, “you can’t handle the truth.”
Feeding on humanity’s alethophobia, this Devil would take the form of a normal human, but whose face is a mirror, reflecting whatever horrible truths the person looking refuses to face. It is hard to imagine this Devil being particularly hostile to humans, but rather the rare instance of a completely neutral Devil that is merely a merchant of cold hard reality.
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