Thought about looking into the release dates of Devil May Cry 1 and 2 on the Nintendo Switch, to more or less estimate when DMC 3 might release, until I found out that the release date has already been announced; it being February 20, 2020. The cognitive gears began to turn, and I am beginning to feel convinced that our mysterious Fighter #5 of the current Fighters Pass might end up being Dante himself (despite all the deconfirms, yadda yadda). Firstly, we have Hideaki Itsuno's remarks in regards to Dante being brought to Super Smash Bros. In short he hypothesized that for Dante to be in Smash, Devil May Cry games would have had to have been released on Nintendo systems at some point.
https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2019...m-needs-bring-series-nintendo-platform-first/
Very well. Months later, Devil May Cry (1) was ported to the Nintendo Switch on June 24, 2019. A few months later, Devil May Cry 2 was also ported to the Switch on September 19, 2019. And now we have Devil May Cry 3 coming up on February 20, 2020. Hmm, February... yes,
that month. Back when Sakurai first announced the Fighters Pass during the November 2018 Smash Direct, within the announcement, in fine letters at the bottom it read that all sets of the Fighters Pass (Challenger Packs) would be released through the end of
February 2020. I know some may brush off the idea of these game releases having any sort of meaning in relation to Dante potential coming to Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC fighter, but Itsuno's remarks, plus the subsequent ports of the Devil May Cry games tells me otherwise. Sure, by February 2020 we won't have all of the Devil May Cry games released to date (4, and 5), but the first three were the ones that were originally released within close time windows, AND were the games in which Dante was the main protagonist (Nero taking over from 4 and onward). And if that weren't enough, Nintendo might be playing the 5D chess game if this comes to pass.
Dante is a demon. In March 20, 2020 DOOM Eternal, and DOOM 64 will be coming to the Nintendo Switch. Exactly a month later. Bringing these pieces together, I can now imagine a double January Smash reveal. The reveal of fighter #5 would be Dante, slated to be released sometime around late January, or early February (a few days after the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Online Open Tournament that will take place between Feb. 1-2). As Dante's cinematic reveal nears the end, we get the surprise of the second reveal (maybe immediately after Dante's, or around the end of the Direct, continuing from Dante's reveal), we see Dante looking at the next new-comer; the first DLC fighter of the second wave; the Doom Slayer. Dante being a demon, and them both being in a hellish environment, the misunderstanding takes place and Doom Slayer charges towards Dante. Challenger Pack #5 = Dante from Devil May Cry. Challenger Pack #6 = Doom Slayer from DOOM.
This is just me speculating based on certain facts (Itsuno, Devil May Cry ports, release dates). This is by no means a rumor, nor leak. But I'm feeling confident about this possibility.