This Near Pure Good was headlined on October, 2022.
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♫ Well, Cuphead and his pal Mugman - They like to roll the dice. By chance, they came upon Devil's game and gosh, they paid the price - paid the price... And now they're fighting for their lives on a mission fought with dread. And if they proceed but don't succeed... Well... The Devil will take their heads. ♫
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~ Theme song explaining Cuphead and his brother, Mugman's story
Cuphead is the titular main protagonist of the 2017 Studio MDHR video game of the same name and its DLC sequel, The Delicious Last Course. Additionally, Cuphead serves as one of the two main protagonists (alongside his brother, Mugman) of its Netflix animated series, The Cuphead Show!.
In-game, Cuphead is voiced by Luke De Ayora for one specific line when being revived, proclaiming "Thank you!" like his brother, Mugman. In The Cuphead Show!, he's voiced by Tru Valentino in English and Natsuki Hanae in Japanese.
He is a young anthropomorphic cup that has found himself and his brother in debt with the Devil after making a reckless bet with him. He manages to resolve this mistake after he not only defeats the Devil but even burns all the contracts from everyone else that owed him, setting them free from the Devil's clutches and influence.
Although he did give his and the other Inkwell Isle residents' souls to the Devil in the bad ending after obtaining all the contracts he collected, thus technically becoming a villain or even a fallen hero, this cannot be considered a corrupting factor since the bad ending is explicitly implied to be not canon. This is even more emphasized due to the DLC plot taking place directly after the good ending, which is canon.
Managed to redeem his recklessness by refusing to give the Devil his contracts and later confront him.
Defeated not only King Dice, a direct and powerful servant to the Devil, but later the Devil himself.
Burned all the Devil's contracts after beating him, freeing all of Inkwell Isle from their debts and saving the place from the Devil's rule.
Helped the Legendary Chalice gain a physical body and become alive once again.
Depending on the player's choice of characters, he helps Ms. Chalice/Mugman defeat Saltbaker to rescue Mugman/Ms. Chalice from being baked into a Wondertart. If he is kidnapped by Chef Saltbaker, he thanks Mugman and Chalice for rescuing him.
Unlike Mugman and Ms. Chalice, Cuphead didn't sympathize with Chef Saltbaker after the latter mourned the destruction of his bakery, even saying he got exactly what he deserved. However, Saltbaker tricked him and his friends into fighting innocent people and intended to bake his soul (or Mugman's or Ms. Chalice's) into the Wondertart, so this response was justified.
Cuphead offered Chef Saltbaker a positive influence to redeem himself from his heinous actions, as perceived in the end credits.
While it could be argued that Cuphead is lethal due to using his fingergun to defeat bosses and collect their contracts, since the bosses also attack him unprovoked (and can even kill him if they deal enough damage to him), this can likely be done out of self-defense. Additionally, the ending cutscene reveals that most of the bosses are still alive, meaning he just essentially knocked them out at worst and they were able to recover later.
What Prevents Him From Being Pure Good?[]
Despite reforming from most of his corrupting qualities, Cuphead is still a jerk with notable arrogance and moments of lacking sympathy that prevents him from being Pure Good. This is demonstrated when Chef Saltbaker mourns the destruction of his bakery. While Mugman and Ms. Chalice sympathize for him, Cuphead, on the other hand, simply dismisses him out of anger. However, this is understandable since he was scornful of Chef Saltbaker's heinous actions and unlawful deception towards the trio, making this a minor prevention.
Trivia[]
He is currently the only Cuphead character to be Near Pure Good.
He was originally proposed for Inconsistently Admirable and even approved for the wiki for some time. However, it was decided that he managed to reform himself from most of his corrupting qualities, thus approving him for Near Pure Good.
Cuphead's Netflix counterpart does not qualify for NPG due to the fact that he behaves like a mischievous jerk (and also fails the heroic standards to Mugman quite a bit). However, this could be subject to change in the future.
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