Is Cuphead evil?

[Burusagi]

You go around killing (?) other people/creatures who are in debt to the Devil - and one can only assume they were likewise tricked into it. This at the very least makes Cuphead quite selfish, and at worst quite evil wouldn't you say?

[Julius Seizure]

Cartoon characters weren't held to any kind of moral standard in the pre-Hayes Code era the game emulates. They don't strictly have to be role models or anything.

In case this is an actual, legitimate issue you have with the game, don't worry. The boys get their chance to do the right thing in the end, and the worst they're actually doing in the meantime is roughing them up for the contracts.

[Smash45]

Beat the game first, come to conclusions later.

[Burusagi]

Originally posted by Julius Seizure:

Cartoon characters weren't held to any kind of moral standard in the pre-Hayes Code era the game emulates. They don't strictly have to be role models or anything.

In case this is an actual, legitimate issue you have with the game, don't worry. The boys get their chance to do the right thing in the end, and the worst they're actually doing in the meantime is roughing them up for the contracts.

I don't have an "issues" with the game.

I just wanted to start a discussion about it.

[Sad Pug]

In the end, the only evil guy is you, because you chose evul ending instead of stopping it once and for all.

[älcheminty]

Well cuphead isnt reallly killing anyone just beatin the tar out of them until they fork up the contract.

[Aristocratic Cthulhu]

The evil ones are those not paying the devil. Pay your debts, kids!

[Polaric]

Knockout and FINISH HIM are very different things

[JeffCraig]

There is no concept of morality in the Cuphead world.

But... Cuphead IS going around killing people to get the Devil his souls, so take that however you want.

[West Dragon]

The bosses you fight received their powers from the devil himself. They opted into a contract with him and now they are forced to face the consequences of their actions by facing off against the game's "protagonists" who also opted into a contract with the devil.

Cuphead was not tricked. The devil explicitly told him what would happen if he lost and instead of taking his winnings and going home, Cuphead was blinded by greed and accepted the devil's offer.

The game basically follows the model of classic tales that were later adapted into cartoons in the early to mid 20th century. A prime example being Pinnochio in which a puppet is given life and then a chance at becoming a real boy so long as he behaves himself, but falls into temptation and has no one but himself to blame for the bad decisions he makes despite all clear warnings and words of wisdom given to him.

[100% lob juice]

The characters in 30's cartoons weren't usually heroes or anything, they were just dudes who got into zany situations, much like Cuphead and Mugman.

[Supa]

you go around killing bosses and collecting their souls and in the end you can choose between good and bad ending: literally dark souls

[Discreet_Pigeon]

I wouldn't say cuphead is evil at all and like what everyone else mentioned he is no hero exactly either. Cuphead's whole adventure is essentially selfish to save himself from a situation he put himself into and in order to get out of it he decides to doom everyone else in a similar situation as himself to pay off his own debt to the devil. Depending on the ending you choose does cuphead decide to do the right thing or give into the devil.

[AliceEngine]

Originally posted by Supa:

you go around killing bosses and collecting their souls and in the end you can choose between good and bad ending: literally dark souls

There are no good or bad endings in DS, except maybe the DLC one in 2 because you refuse to put up with the cycle BS.

[Blue Candle]

You see in old cartoons nobody really dies. Even when they get sent to hell they just come back the next episode all dandy and happy. Cartoon characters are used to taking abuse, its only when they lose something they love do they seem to be truely hurt.

Now if you want to get into the morality my views is cuphead made a gamble with the devil. The devil could of just taken their souls but gave them a chance. The only person who was dragged into this and I see is an inocent is Mugman who's soul is also now on the line as he didn't want to do the gamble with their souls. As with the other souls you have to collect they may have been tricked but I doubt that with how much power they have and where they are in life. They flaked on their deals and have to pay up.

From here there will be spoilers. With the defeat of the final boss you also now flake up on your deal deciding to just power through and beat up the devil. He gave you fair deals with the exception for Mugman. Of course with the devil being the symbol for all that is evil in the world is it ok to beat him up. A classic story of good VS evil. While the devil is a villian who did nothing wrong he is the devil who uses peoples addictions and vices to make deals like for power, fame or knowledge.

Overall it seems to be the devil makes legal agreements and deals with fools while the good guys makes the right desicion to save people breaking said legal agreements. Both party's seem to be people who you don't want to make an agreement with while one can be predictiable while the other unpredictiable. Both party's do right and wrong things only to be saved by the black and white concept that the devil and his casino buddys are evil.

Or it's all just a cartoon and I got way to deep into this and just started typing stuff out rambling on to seem smart.

[WIFEBURGER]

Cuphead and Mugman don't kill anyone, they simply beat people into submission and get them to sign contracts.