Bayonetta is a franchise of action-adventure games that follow the Umbra Witch Bayonetta, who has the power to not only shape-shift through using her hair but can also summon demons to defeat her enemies. The goal for each game entails Bayonetta protecting others or revealing a part of her past.
Although Bayonetta is powerful, she is still forced to take on Angels that contain just as much power as her. They come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with some appearing harmless at first to then becoming a challenging boss fight for the player. These are by far the most powerful angels the player has interacted with across the franchise.
10 Beloved
Players first meet the Beloved in the first chapter of the first game and then proceed to fight them throughout the game. Although they are just a regular enemy, they are deemed as the heavy tank-like foe that Bayonetta will face.
Not only do they tower over the Umbra Witch, but they also lug around massive axes that can deal some decent damage if the player doesn't dodge them. In the hierarchy of Laguna, Beloveds are placed in the Second Sphere; this doesn't make them incredibly powerful but still gives them some sort of authority.
9 Grace and Glory
Players may argue that this is in fact two angels, and they would be correct; however, in Bayonetta, these enemies are usually faced together, and therefore they can be classed as one angel. Luckily, they tend to take it in turns to attack but will both gradually invade the space between themselves and the player.
As they are also found in the Second Sphere, they don't have as much power. However, as players advance in the first game, a more powerful version of the hawk-like twins can be found called Gracious and Glorious, which can be even more of a pain to deal with.
8 Resplendence
Debuting in Bayonetta 2, although the player never has to directly defeat these floating circular angels, they have been shown to be quite powerful. In non-playable cutscenes, they have been seen to attack with ginormous beams of fire that emerges from their mouth, though this is never actually a danger.
Their power is also revealed while Bayonetta is attacking others as she, at one moment, will throw another large angel at the Resplendence. However, when this colossal angel falls, the Resplendence remains unfaltering and undamaged.
7 Inspired
Protectors of the skies of Paradiso in the first Bayonetta, players will occasionally face these giant red and golden snakes as mini-bosses. Due to needing to be this border control, it is of no surprise that they would be deemed as a powerful challenge players need to face.
They are incredibly fast-paced, which allows them to quickly flick around their body to bite when close to Bayonetta, or they can hit her with fireballs from a distance. As long as the player does enough damage, they can stun them for a time, but this can be difficult to do at the beginning.
6 Fortitudo
The Four Cardinal Virtues are not only some of the hardest bosses the player will face during the first game but also the most powerful when it comes to the hierarchy of Laguna. Fortitudo, also known as the Bringer of Flames, appears to resemble a two-headed dragon with ginormous white feather wings.
Out of all the Audito, Fortitudo appears the most as the player first witnesses him in a flashback where they must fight him briefly. He appears again later in the game before taunting Bayonetta and then destroying an entire city to prove his power. The player does finally get to battle him once more; though, this isn't the end of Fortitudo, as he's seen yet again in Bayonetta 2.
5 Temperantia
Temperantia is another member of the four cardinal virtues, as well as an Audito. Players will encounter Temperantia second, and in this physical manifestation of Temperance, they can manipulate wind to their control, which may not sound that threatening, but the battle against them is still a challenge.
Its large mechanical body withholds a variety of abilities for it to use against Bayonetta, while the player is balancing on a piece of rubble this huge knight is holding. It will fire bullets at players from each of their fingers; this doesn't stop when their hand is destroyed as they also have a variety of other weapons that are littered across their body.
4 Lustitia
Also known as the Giver of Life and his control over Judgment, Lustitia may struggle to have control over the mortal it doesn't stop him from still being a powerful angel as well as grotesque and terrifying.
His ginormous size is only made worse by the many heads and tentacles that emerge from his body, including those mouths. Equipped with not only lasers and brute force from their tentacles, players risk immediately dying if they are eaten by a tentacle; this can make for a hard battle, especially if they struggle to stay on the platform.
3 Sapientia
The final Audito and fourth member of the Four Cardinal Virtues, Sapientia is the boss that players are working themselves up to. Sapientia is commonly described as being quite the narcissist, which matches nicely with him being the Virtue of Prudence as well as flaunting how strong he is.
With the power to control the water, Sapientia is a strong and fast swimmer that will use the water to his advantage when going against the player. They will encounter him several times as he becomes more aggressive, attempting not only to devour Bayonetta in the water by dragging her under but also using other weaponry, such as rocket launchers.
2 Father Rodin
Father Rodin may be a fallen angel, but this doesn't stop him from being a danger to the player. Luckily, he is on Bayonetta's side though he can be faced as an optional boss if players have unlocked his true potential throughout the game.
Many players would avoid this fight as it is one of the most difficult boss battles available in all the developers' games. He is incredibly fast and impossible to stun, meaning those that do wish to challenge him will need to keep their distance at all times.
1 Jubileus the Creator
As a primordial goddess as well as an angel, Jublileus is not only the final boss in the first game of Bayonetta but also a force few should mess with as the highest ranking angel in the hierarchy of Laguna.
Jubileus has the power to combine the three worlds of Earth, Inferno, and Paradiso together would cause a catastrophic event that is so strong that at the start of the game, she had to be locked away. Though by the end, she is free once more, and Bayonetta, with the help of others, must lock her away once again.