Chainsaw Man: Every Major Devil and Their Powers, Explained

Chainsaw Man devils are monsters born in Hell from humanity's fears, and each one is exactly as strong as the fear its name carries. That one rule explains why a devil named after tomatoes is a routine bounty job while the Gun Devil killed 1.2 million people in about five minutes. Below: how the system works, how devils differ from fiends and hybrids, and what every major devil in Chainsaw Man can do. Anime-only viewers can read the first half safely; manga reveals sit behind clear warnings.

Devils, fiends and hybrids at a glance

Type	What it is	Example	Can it die for good?
Devil	A feared concept given a body, born in Hell	Eternity Devil, Bat Devil	No: it is reborn with its memories wiped
Fiend	A devil living in a human corpse, far weaker than its true form	Power (Blood), Beam (Shark)	The body can die; the devil returns to Hell
Hybrid	A human whose heart is a devil, transforming on a trigger	Denji (Chainsaw), Reze (Bomb)	Barely: blood and the trigger revive them
Devil transformation	A human reshaped by a contract, not fused with the devil	The Zombie Devil's yakuza	Yes; turning back may need outside help
Primal Fear	Ancient, instinctive fears that have never once died	Darkness Devil (manga)	Never died; only erasure ends one
Four Horsemen	Four sister devils: Control, War, Famine and Death	Revealed in the manga	Manga spoiler territory, see below

How do Devils get their powers in Chainsaw Man?

The whole Chainsaw Man devil power system rests on names. Every devil arrives in Hell tied to one concept, anything from fish and tomatoes to abstractions like the future or a curse, and the concept does not even need to be real: the world has a Ghost Devil, a Zombie Devil and an Angel Devil. What feeds a devil is not the thing itself but how frightening its name feels to ordinary people. Makima makes the point with cars: harmless objects, yet a Car Devil would be formidable because everyone pictures crashes. By the same logic, the Blood Devil's clout comes from gore and bleeding rather than from blood as a substance.

Fear also moves with the news, so devils can surge. When the world turned to guns as protection against devils, gun crime flooded the media, and the Gun Devil first appeared on the day of a mass gun attack in America. It crossed Japan in 26 seconds, killing 57,912 people, and took 1.2 million lives worldwide in roughly five minutes. Then it vanished, but bullet-like chunks of its flesh still roam the world, and any devil that eats one grows stronger; a fragment is what leads Division 4 to the Eternity Devil's sealed hotel floor in episodes 5-7.

Blood is the short-term fuel. Fear sets a devil's ceiling, but drinking blood heals wounds on the spot, which is why Power gulps it mid-fight and why Denji needs a top-up before he can rev back to life.

Hell, rebirth and why devils rarely stay dead

Killing a devil only relocates it. A devil that dies on Earth reappears in Hell; one that dies in Hell is reborn on Earth. The new incarnation keeps the name and powers but loses its memories and personality, so the Bat Devil or Typhoon Devil you meet later is effectively a stranger wearing the same concept. There are hints of residue, though: in the manga the Angel Devil admits that he and the other devils at Division 4 share one last memory from Hell, the roar of a chainsaw engine.

Hell itself is a dreamlike place of grass, dark seas and countless floating doors, and the Hell Devil can drag humans there for a price. The exceptions to the cycle are the Primal Fears, such as the Darkness Devil: fears so old and instinctive that they have never died, so they have never been reborn.

Contracts: what devils charge for their power

Humans fight devils by renting other devils. A contract is binding (breaking one kills you), and the price has to be something the devil values and that genuinely costs the human. In Japan only devil hunters may legally make one. The first season shows the range:

• Fox Devil: Aki Hayakawa feeds it pieces of his body and summons its head with a hand sign and the word "Kon". It only lends its head to hunters it finds handsome, and it refuses Aki after he makes it swallow Katana Man.
• Curse Devil: three stabs of Aki's nail sword and the devil appears to finish the target, paid for with years of his lifespan.
• Future Devil: it shows Aki four or five seconds ahead in exchange for living in his right eye, a bargain because it wants to watch the future it saw: Aki dying "in the worst way possible" (episode 10).
• Ghost Devil: Himeno gives her right eye for its invisible right hand, then offers all of herself for the whole devil in episode 8.

Veterans stack them. Kishibe holds contracts with the Knife, Needle and Claw devils at once in the manga. Even Denji's power began as a deal, with Pochita becoming his heart in exchange for Denji living out his dreams.

What is the difference between a Devil, a Fiend and a Hybrid?

A devil is the concept at full strength. A fiend is a devil that has taken over a corpse, usually as a last resort, and it pays heavily for the disguise: its powers shrink, its head gives it away (Power's horns, Beam's shark head), and a fatal wound kills the body like any person's. Some still need restraints: the Violence Fiend wears a poison-dispensing mask to keep his strength manageable.

A hybrid is the reverse: a living human whose heart has been replaced by a devil. Hybrids look completely human until they pull a trigger tied to their weapon (Denji's chest cord, Reze's grenade pin, the blade hidden in Katana Man's left arm). With enough blood they can recover from almost anything, and they do not appear to age. They are so rare that Aki assumed they were a rumour.

The Chainsaw Devil: the devil other devils fear

Spoiler warning: everything from here down to the anime status section reveals manga events beyond the Reze Arc film, including Part 2.

Pochita's reputation in Hell is the "Hero of Hell", the one devil that devils themselves are afraid of. His defining power is not the chainsaws but what happens when he eats: the devil's concept is deleted from the world and from everyone's memory. Makima reveals he has already erased the Nazi, World War II, Nuclear Weapons and AIDS devils, which is why Kishibe draws a blank at the mention of Nazis or nuclear weapons. Hybrids are the odd exception: Pochita erased their original name, yet they kept existing.

Part 2 shows the limits. A hard enough blow can force him to vomit a devil back up (when he swallows the Ear Devil, every animal briefly loses its ears), and a concept can return if humans rebuild it from scratch, as America does with nuclear weapons.

The Four Horsemen and the Primal Fears

The Four Horsemen are sister devils who fought Pochita in Hell alongside the Weapon Devils, all sharing ringed eyes and an odd inability to tell faces apart.

• Control: Makima controls anyone she considers beneath her, then borrows their contracts through chains. Her deal with the Prime Minister passes any fatal wound on to a random Japanese citizen, so Denji kills her by eating her as an act of love, which the contract does not treat as an attack. She returns as the child Nayuta.
• War: Yoru shares Asa Mitaka's body and turns anything she owns into a weapon, stronger the guiltier Asa feels about it. Pochita once ate part of her, so she starts Part 2 badly weakened.
• Famine: the real Famine Devil only arrives around chapter 195, draining life from whatever she touches.
• Death: the eldest and strongest, she enslaves anything she has killed and spends much of Part 2 posing as "Fami". She even hollows out her own body and still cannot die.

The four Primal Fears shown so far are Darkness, Falling, Aging and Death. The Darkness Devil strips the arms off a whole group of hunters and assassins the moment it appears, and the Falling Devil states that humanity currently has no means of killing one.

Every major devil and its powers

Devil	Who uses it	Power	Cost or catch	Animated?
Chainsaw	Pochita, Denji	Chainsaw limbs, regeneration, erases what it eats	Denji needs blood to revive	Yes (erasure is manga)
Control	Makima	Commands lesser beings and uses their contracts	Only an act of love slips past her contract	Makima yes, reveal no
Blood	Power (fiend)	Blood hammers, knives and spears	Weakened by fiend status	Season 1
Gun	Governments	Extreme speed, bullet-shedding flesh	Body split between nations	Backstory only
Future	Aki	Sees seconds ahead	Lives in Aki's right eye	Episode 10
Ghost	Himeno	Invisible hand, then full body	Her eye, then herself	Season 1
Angel	Angel (Division 4)	Drains lifespan by touch, forges it into weapons	Needs skin contact	Season 1, Reze Arc film
Bomb	Reze (hybrid)	Explosions, blast-powered flight	Must pull her neck pin	Reze Arc film
Darkness	Primal Fear	Unseen force, heals in the dark	Makima can still wound it	Not yet
War	Yoru	Turns her property into weapons	Scales with Asa's guilt	Not yet
Death	Eldest Horseman	Enslaves whatever she has killed	Cannot even kill herself	Not yet

Who is the strongest devil in Chainsaw Man?

By the series' own rule, the Death Devil: nothing is feared by more people than dying, and she is both the eldest Horseman and a Primal Fear. The only answer to her is Pochita's erasure, which he eventually uses on her. That is why our strongest Chainsaw Man characters ranking still puts Chainsaw Man first: the most feared devil is not the hardest one to beat. Among characters the anime has shown so far, Makima is the strongest by a distance, even though her true nature is still unanimated.

How does Chainsaw Man end?

Spoiler warning: this section gives away the final chapters.

The manga finished in March 2026 with chapter 232, closing Part 2 after 135 chapters and the series at 24 volumes. During his war with Yoru, Pochita eats the Death Devil, and in chapter 231 he tears out his own heart and devours himself, erasing Chainsaw Man and leaving a world where he never existed. In the final chapter Denji is a broke teenager again, saved by Power, who revives him with her blood in exchange for lifelong servitude. Nayuta recruits them both, and they attend school while hunting devils, Denji now holding a chainsaw instead of growing one, until Asa calls him "Chainsaw Man" purely for the way he fights with it. Because the reset undoes Pochita's meals, the concepts he had erased appear to come back too. As of October 2026, no Part 3 has been announced.

Where the anime stands (October 2026)

MAPPA's 12-episode first season (October to December 2022) covers roughly the first 38 chapters, and the Reze Arc film (released in Japan on 19 September 2025) adds the Bomb Devil and Typhoon Devil. An adaptation of the Assassins arc was announced at Jump Festa on 21 December 2025, and a June 2026 teaser confirmed the film's director, Tatsuya Yoshihara, is returning at MAPPA. Shueisha's announcement calls it a TV anime, but as of October 2026 there is no premiere date or window. That arc should bring the Darkness Devil and Kishibe's triple contract to the screen. Our Chainsaw Man watch order has the viewing sequence, and the Chainsaw Man characters guide covers the people behind the contracts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Makima a devil in Chainsaw Man?

Yes. Makima is the Control Devil, one of the Four Horsemen, and can command anyone she considers beneath her. The manga reveals it during the Gun Devil arc, around chapter 75, which the anime has not reached as of October 2026. After her death she is reborn as a girl named Nayuta.

Is Power a devil or a fiend?

Power is the Blood Devil living in a human corpse, which makes her a fiend. That is why she has horns, why her blood weapons are weaker than a full devil's would be, and why she heals by drinking blood.

What devil is Denji in Chainsaw Man?

Denji is not a devil but a hybrid. After the Zombie Devil's yakuza kill him in the first episode, his devil-dog Pochita, the Chainsaw Devil, becomes his heart. Pulling the cord in his chest turns his head and arms into chainsaws, and with enough blood he can recover from almost any wound.

Did the Chainsaw Man manga end?

Yes. Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga ended in March 2026 with chapter 232, after Part 1 in Weekly Shonen Jump (2018-2020) and Part 2 on Shonen Jump+ (2022-2026). The story spans 24 volumes, and no Part 3 has been announced.

Is there a Chainsaw Man season 2?

Yes, in effect. An anime of the Assassins arc, continuing straight on from the Reze Arc film, was announced in December 2025, with MAPPA animating and Reze Arc director Tatsuya Yoshihara returning. Shueisha describes it as a TV anime, but as of October 2026 no premiere date or release window has been given.