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** He's so strong that it's implied that he'd be an ''absolute nightmare'' with a Stand. In the games, some fighters express relief that he doesn't have one.
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** He's so strong that it's implied that he'd be an ''absolute nightmare'' with a Stand. In the games, some fighters Stand users express relief that he doesn't have one.
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** He's so strong that it's implied that he'd be an ''absolute nightmare'' with a Stand. In the games, some fighters express relief that he doesn't have one.
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* StupidEvil: Zigzagged. At first, he wisely makes the decision to stop antagonizing Jonathan and instead [[BitchInSheepsClothing pretend to turn a new leaf]] to lull him into a false sense of security. However, as a young adult, he poisons George in order to get his inheritance faster, but with the same exact poison he used on his father, leading to Jonathan connecting the dots and exposing him. This also comes off as unnecessary and ForTheEvulz due to the fact that Dio is already doing great in studying law, could have waited for George to die of natural causes, and could have used George's continued support while he was still alive. However, his actions do lead to him becoming a powerful Stand-wielding vampire due to his crazy luck.
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* GentlemanAndAScholar: Once again, ''the'' gentleman of the Joestar bloodline, and he was a very good university student.
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* GentlemanAndAScholar: Once again, ''the'' gentleman of the Joestar bloodline, and he was a very good university student.
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* GentleGiant: 195 Centimeters (6'4") tall and heavily muscled, but polite as a boy scout crossed with a choir-boy. He's so well mannered he uses the polite masculine personal pronoun "boku" to refer to himself, rather than the coarse, rude "ore" that Shounen-Manga leads are expected by genre to use.
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* GentleGiant: 195 Centimeters (6'4") tall and heavily muscled, but polite as a boy scout crossed with a choir-boy. He's so well mannered he uses the polite masculine personal pronoun "boku" to refer to himself, rather than the coarse, rude "ore" that Shounen-Manga Shounen manga leads are expected by genre to use.use.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: Once again, ''the'' gentleman of the Joestar bloodline, and he was a very good university student.
* GentlemanAndAScholar: Once again, ''the'' gentleman of the Joestar bloodline, and he was a very good university student.
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** Contrast with...well, most of his descendants but especially Jotaro.
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** Contrast with... well, most of his descendants but especially Jotaro.
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* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Dies at the end of "Phantom Blood", the first installment of the Bizzare Adventure."
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* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Dies [[spoiler:Dies at the end of "Phantom Blood", the first installment of the Bizzare Adventure." ]]
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He's as responsible for the [=JoJos=] getting so strong as they did with him.
** Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him to sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]
** Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him to sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He's as responsible for the [=JoJos=] getting so strong as they did with him.
**him. Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him to sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]eyes.
**
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him to sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]
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* BadassNormal: Before getting his ripple abilities, he already was a strong fighter. He's the only main [=JoJo=] to never get a Stand either, making him the most "normal" fighter of them all. He's without a doubt the biggest physical fighter of all the main series [=JoJo's=] though.
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* BadassNormal: Before getting his ripple abilities, he already was a strong fighter. In fact, he handed Vampirized Dio a defeat despite lacking the supernatural ripple skill. He's the only main [=JoJo=] to never get a Stand either, making him the most "normal" fighter of them all. He's also without a doubt the biggest physical fighter of all the main series [=JoJo's=] though.[=JoJo's=].
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* DecoyProtagonist[=/=]FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Counts as this for the entire rest of the series, having the shortest and easiest-to-explain Part, while it's next to impossible to discuss the rest of the series without bringing up [[spoiler:his untimely fate and the subsequent jump ahead a few decades.]]
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* DecoyProtagonist[=/=]FirstEpisodeSpoiler: DecoyProtagonist: Counts as this for the entire rest of the series, having the shortest and easiest-to-explain Part, while it's next to impossible to discuss the rest of the series without bringing up [[spoiler:his untimely fate and the subsequent jump ahead a few decades.]]]] The bulk of the series focuses on his descendants.
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* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Even without a Stand, he still counts after being trained in the usage of Hamon.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy. And in the anime, he dresses and poses similarly too.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy. And in the anime, he dresses and poses similarly too.
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* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Even without a Stand, A formidable boxer before he still counts after being trained in the usage of learned Hamon.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy.And in In the anime, he dresses and poses similarly too.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy.
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* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Probably one of the most [[ItWasHisSled famous examples in manga history.]]]]
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* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Probably one Dies at the end of "Phantom Blood", the first installment of the most [[ItWasHisSled famous examples in manga history.]]]]Bizzare Adventure."
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* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: [[ItWasHisSled One of the most infamous examples in shonen history]], especially if you've read Part 3.]]
** To be fair, [[spoiler:said sacrifice]] did save his son, beginning the [=JoJo=] legacy that proved to be the only thing capable of defeating Dio and his vision. After a fashion.
* ShaggyDogStory: BIG TIME. [[spoiler:His actions to sacrifice himself with Dio end up turning for the worst, as Dio manages to become more cunning and powerful with attaching his head to his now dead body, making his sacrifice harshly pointless in the long run]].
** Though as mentioned above, this allows his son to continue the Joestar bloodline, making him responsible for every good deed the protagonists in the series accomplish.
** To be fair, [[spoiler:said sacrifice]] did save his son, beginning the [=JoJo=] legacy that proved to be the only thing capable of defeating Dio and his vision. After a fashion.
* ShaggyDogStory: BIG TIME. [[spoiler:His actions to sacrifice himself with Dio end up turning for the worst, as Dio manages to become more cunning and powerful with attaching his head to his now dead body, making his sacrifice harshly pointless in the long run]].
** Though as mentioned above, this allows his son to continue the Joestar bloodline, making him responsible for every good deed the protagonists in the series accomplish.
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** To be fair, [[spoiler:said sacrifice]] did save his son, beginning the [=JoJo=] legacy that proved to be the only thing capable of defeating Dio and his vision. After a fashion.
** Though as mentioned above, this allows
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* MonstrousHumanoid: A tall, muscular humanoid with [[NightmareFace a very ''un-''humanlike face]]. He's also covered in a dripping liquid of unknown origin. It could be sweat [[Squick but. . .]]
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* MonstrousHumanoid: A tall, muscular humanoid with [[NightmareFace a very ''un-''humanlike face]]. He's also covered in a dripping liquid of unknown origin. It could be sweat [[Squick but. . .]]
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* NightmareFace
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* NightmareFaceMonstrousHumanoid: A tall, muscular humanoid with [[NightmareFace a very ''un-''humanlike face]]. He's also covered in a dripping liquid of unknown origin. It could be sweat [[Squick but. . .]]
* NightmareFace:
* NightmareFace:
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Deleted line(s) 299 (click to see context) :
* ComfortingTheWidow - RomancingTheWidow: Joseph asks her if this happened [[spoiler:with Speedwagon and her after Jonathan's death]]. She hits him with her umbrella for being inappropriate.
* RomancingTheWidow: Joseph asks her if this happened [[spoiler:with Speedwagon and her after Jonathan's death]]. She hits him with her umbrella for being inappropriate.
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* SilkHidingSteel: Erina's attitude is a bit tougher than one would expect from a Victorian lady, as seen from her indirectly insulting Dio by washing her mouth with dirty water after she kisses her. Fans like to joke that the succeeding [=JoJos=] got their impolite attitudes from her. [[spoiler:The fact that she manages to survive at sea after a shipwreck [[PregnantBadass while pregnant]] and [[ParentalSubstitute looking after a baby that isn't even hers]] probably accounts for her toughness as well.]]
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* SilkHidingSteel: Erina's attitude is a bit tougher than one would expect from a Victorian lady, as seen from her indirectly insulting Dio by washing her mouth with dirty water after she he kisses her. Fans like to joke that the succeeding [=JoJos=] got their impolite attitudes from her. [[spoiler:The fact that she manages to survive at sea after a shipwreck [[PregnantBadass while pregnant]] and [[ParentalSubstitute looking after a baby that isn't even hers]] probably accounts for her toughness as well.]]
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* TheChick: Rare male example. His sheer emotional support and sensitivity towards Jonathan qualifies him for this as well as TheHeart, being far more sensitive than even Erina
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
* TheHeart: His sheer emotional support and sensitivity towards Jonathan qualifies him for this being far more sensitive than even Erina
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
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* ShoutOut[=/=]StevenUlyssesPerhero[=/=]PunnyName: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Speedwagon REO Speedwagon]].
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* ShoutOut[=/=]StevenUlyssesPerhero[=/=]PunnyName: ShoutOut: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Speedwagon REO Speedwagon]].
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** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them. Granted, there is still the Zeppeli bloodline that knows its threat and the means to combat it (Hamon/Ripple), but without the Joestars or the Speedwagon foundation to enforce them, they will most likely fail.
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** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them. Granted, there is still the Zeppeli bloodline that knows its threat and the means to combat it (Hamon/Ripple), but without the Joestars (Since Will agreed to teach Jonathan in the first place because of his involvement with the Stone Mask, in addition of his history with Dio) or the Speedwagon foundation to enforce them, they will most likely fail.
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** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them.
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** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them. Granted, there is still the Zeppeli bloodline that knows its threat and the means to combat it (Hamon/Ripple), but without the Joestars or the Speedwagon foundation to enforce them, they will most likely fail.
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* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The anime made Plant's design a lot more compact and snake-like while the manga art he was much more of a deformed mess.
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* DubNameChange: In the English localization, he is renamed as Blueford.
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* FallenHero: Along with Tarukus, he used to be a brave self-sacrifcing knight before Dio raised him.
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* FallenHero: Along with Tarukus, Tarkus, he used to be a brave self-sacrifcing knight before Dio raised him.
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* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tarukus.
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* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tarukus.Tarkus.
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* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Tarukus.
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* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Tarukus.Tarkus.
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! Tarukus
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! TarukusTarkus
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* DubNameChange: In the English localization, he is renamed as Tarukus.
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** [[spoiler:(Dying Thoughts) "It's just as you said Dio, we are bound by a bizarre friendship, you and I."]]
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** [[spoiler:(Dying Thoughts) "It's just as you said Dio, said, Dio; we are bound by a bizarre friendship, you and I."]]
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* LogicalWeakness: Dio is an immortal vampire, making most forms of physical attacks a temporary inconvenience at best, and his Stand is a manifestation of his soul or life force. [[spoiler: Jotaro kills him by destroying his Stand, thus destroying his soul and getting around that pesky regeneration.]]
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removing misuse of Greater Scope Villain. Being an abusive dad is not the same as being a greater background threat.
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* GreaterScopeVillain: [[DownplayedTrope Er, kind of]]. Not on the same levels as the Pillar Men, but his abusive behavior played a part in Dio becoming who he is. If his son ''was'' evil since birth, then his treatment certainly didn't help.
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He is named after Music/RonnieJamesDio and MarlonBrando.
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** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
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** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him to sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
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* AmbitionIsEvil: Dio´s staunch ambition is the core force driving his actions throughout the series. Dio´s overall goal is to always stand on top of everyone else through any means available to him. At first, he desired to take the Joestar fortune for himself. Then, after becoming a vampire, he sought to rule over . After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
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* AmbitionIsEvil: Dio´s staunch ambition is the core force driving his actions throughout the series. Dio´s overall goal is to always stand on top of everyone else through any means available to him. At first, he desired to take the Joestar fortune for himself. Then, after becoming a vampire, he sought to rule over .over the world. After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
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* DoesNotLikeShoes: Spends the entirety of the arc of the manga barefoot. Subverted in the 2012 anime adaptation, though.
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* PopCulturedBadass: In part 3, he develops an appreciation for contemporary music.
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* LightIsNotGood: In Part 3, as if to contrast his depiction in Part 1, he wears golden yellow clothes with hearts and has a Stand that looks more like a masked demigod than a force of evil that he truly is.
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* LightIsNotGood: In Part 3, as if to contrast [[DarkIsEvil his depiction in Part 1, 1]], he wears golden yellow clothes with hearts and has a Stand that looks more like a masked demigod than a force of evil that he truly is.
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* MeaningfulName: "Dio" means "God" in Italian. To say he has a god complex would be an understatement.
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* MeaningfulName: "Dio" means "God" in Italian. To say he has a [[AGodAmI god complex complex]] would be an understatement.
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* * GreaterScopeParagon: Speedwagon himself is only in Parts 1 and 2, but the Speedwagon Foundation's resources are what allow the Joestars to fight evil so effectively all the way through Part 6.
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Deleted line(s) 138 (click to see context) :
* BigGood: Throughout parts 1 through 6, the Speedwagon Foundation's resources are what allow the Joestars to fight evil so effectively.
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* * GreaterScopeParagon: Speedwagon himself is only in Parts 1 and 2, but the Speedwagon Foundation's resources are what allow the Joestars to fight evil so effectively all the way through Part 6.
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Removed per TRS.
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** Dio is quite the {{Badass}}, but for all of his power he is almost always relying on the Joestar family for really, everything. To elaborate; he needed George's money and wealth for his own greed, [[spoiler: needed George's stone mask in order to become a vampire]], [[spoiler: needed Jonathan's body after he was reduced to a head]], [[spoiler: needed Joseph's blood to work better with Jonathan's body]], and [[spoiler: he relies on Jonathan's Hermit Purple #2]].
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** Dio is quite the {{Badass}}, badass, but for all of his power he is almost always relying on the Joestar family for really, everything. To elaborate; he needed George's money and wealth for his own greed, [[spoiler: needed George's stone mask in order to become a vampire]], [[spoiler: needed Jonathan's body after he was reduced to a head]], [[spoiler: needed Joseph's blood to work better with Jonathan's body]], and [[spoiler: he relies on Jonathan's Hermit Purple #2]].
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* TookALevelInBadass: After a brief TimeSkip, post Dio's KickTheDog, he grew into a BadassBookworm of sorts...
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* TookALevelInBadass: He was originally a pretty big wimp and a SpoiledBrat, which initially allowed Dio to walk all over him. After a brief TimeSkip, post Dio's KickTheDog, he grew into a BadassBookworm of sorts...
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Battle Tendency]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart3 Stardust Crusaders]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart4 Diamond Is Unbreakable]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart5 Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart6 Stone Ocean]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart7 Steel Ball Run]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart8 JoJolion]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart3 Stardust Crusaders]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart4 Diamond Is Unbreakable]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart5 Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart6 Stone Ocean]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart7 Steel Ball Run]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart8 JoJolion]]|
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Battle Tendency]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart3 Stardust Crusaders]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart4 Diamond Is Unbreakable]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart5 Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart6 Stone Ocean]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart7 Steel Ball Run]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart8 JoJolion]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Heroes]]
! Jonathan Joestar (Stand: Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[note]]Identical to and possibly named Hermit Purple[[/note]] + The World [[note]]In combination with Dio[[/note]])
[[quoteleft:288:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar.jpg]]
[[caption-width:270:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar_all_star_battle.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in ''All Star Battle'']]
[[caption-width:270:Click [[labelnote:here]] http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in ''Eyes of Heaven'']]
[[caption-width:288:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar_anime.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in the anime]]
->Young Jonathan voiced by: Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu (TV anime), Creator/KazuyaNakai (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/JohnnyYongBosch (English)\\
Adult Jonathan voiced by: Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', ''J-Stars Victory Vs'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/JurotaKosugi (OVA), Creator/HideyukiTanaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/JohnnyYongBosch (English)
Jonathan Joestar. Nicknamed [=JoJo=]. Just a 12 year old boy minding his own business in 1880s Victorian England. One day, his father announces that Dio Brando is moving in with them, and Dio proceeds to push him out of his father's favor and ruin his life in every way possible. Jonathan, however, puts up with Dio, managing to get beyond it all and become an archaeologist. He researches a Mesoamerican stone mask that was in his father's collection, that, at first, appears to be a trap that kills the wearer. [=JoJo=] then finds out that Dio plans to kill his father and races to get an antidote from the evil Wang Chan with his newfound friend Robert E. O. Speedwagon. After getting the cure, the two men save [=JoJo=]'s father and fight Dio, who, during the fight, shows that he has used the mask on himself and not died but become a vampire, and burns down Jonathan's house and escapes. [=JoJo=] and Speedwagon meet the Italian William Antonio Zeppeli, who teaches [=JoJo=] the vampire-killing fighting style Hamon (Ripple) to beat Dio. [=JoJo=], Speedwagon, and Zeppeli go to a European village and face off with Dio.
[[spoiler: After defeating Dio, he and the love of his life, Erina, prepare to go to America for their honeymoon. However, Dio, still alive from the fight (albeit a head at this point), ambushes them and turns almost everyone on the boat into a zombie. Intending to use his body as his host, Dio lands a fatal blow on him, but with his last breath, Jonathan sacrifices himself to [[TakingYouWithMe take him with him]], providing Erina and an infant with a means of escape. After 100 years under the sea, Dio reemerges with his head now attached to Jonathan's body]].
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* TheAce: Achieved mastery of the Ripple, a skill that usually takes a lifetime, within the span of a month.
* AdaptationDyeJob: In the 2012 anime Jonathan is given [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]] as oppose to the brown hair he and the rest of his family has in the manga. Most likely this was in order to physically differentiate Johnathan from his IdenticalGrandson Joseph.
* {{Adorkable}}: Was quite the DorkKnight as a youth. He still has his moments as an adult, such as towards the end of Part 1 when he invites Erina (who he just married) to dinner, only to hit his head on the door because he's so tall.
* AdventurerArchaeologist
* AlliterativeName: '''Jo'''nathan '''Jo'''estar.
* AllLovingHero: He likes everybody -- even ''Dio'', the man who ruined his life, home, and happiness.
* AnimalMotifs: In Tonpetty's prediction, he is compared to a lion.
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:He dies]] after finally defeating Dio.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Joestar.
* BadassAdorable: A well-mannered, sincere, sweet-tempered, and kind-hearted BoyNextDoor.
* BadassBaritone: In the Phantom Blood movie where he is voiced by Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi
* BadassBookworm: Studied and published articles on archaeology in college.
* BadassFamily: UpToEleven. He was the only badass Joestar of his era, but his family basically TookALevelInBadass with each successive generation.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Spends the majority of Phantom Blood dressed in Victorian gentlemen's clothes. The only time he doesn't is for his climactic battle with Dio in the castle.
* BadassNormal: Before getting his ripple abilities, he already was a strong fighter. He's the only main [=JoJo=] to never get a Stand either, making him the most "normal" fighter of them all. He's without a doubt the biggest physical fighter of all the main series [=JoJo's=] though.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Even Jonathan can be terrifying when pushed too far. Dio learned this firsthand when he messed with Erina.
* BigManOnCampus: Best student of his school alongside with Dio, athletic, and popular. He more than qualifies.
* BigOlEyebrows: Being a Kenshiro expy he ought to have these.
* BirthmarkOfDestiny
* {{Bishonen}}: [[http://jjba.wikia.com/wiki/File:126517.jpg Later illustrations make]] [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120714072314/jjba/images/8/8b/3876_-_giorno_giovanna_higashikata_josuke_jojo%27s_bizarre_adventure_jonathan_joestar_joseph_joestar_kujo_jotaro.jpg him look much more slender and pretty.]]
* BoyNextDoor: To Erina.
* BraveScot: Owing to his family heritage as well as his chivalry.
* ButtMonkey: Dio turned his younger days into a living hell just because "he was in the way."
* CainAndAbel: The Abel to Dio's Cain.
* CallingYourAttacks: Has the most out of all the [=JoJos=].
--> SUNLIGHT YELLOW '''OVERDRIVE!'''
* CoolSword: He gets Bruford's Luck and Pluck. [[spoiler:And uses it quite well to defeat Dio.]]
* CosmicPlaything: To the point where you think that Araki personally hates him.
* CulturedBadass: He is '''THE''' gentleman of the Joestar family.
* DecoyProtagonist[=/=]FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Counts as this for the entire rest of the series, having the shortest and easiest-to-explain Part, while it's next to impossible to discuss the rest of the series without bringing up [[spoiler:his untimely fate and the subsequent jump ahead a few decades.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: His defeat of Speedwagon, his first enemy, earned him a loyal friendship that lasted over not just one but multiple generations of the Joestar family.
** Hell, his ability to hold his own against Vampire Dio gains Dio's respect, and his victory and courage earned Dio's outright adoration. Too bad Dio's a {{Yandere}}.
* {{Determinator}}: Zeppeli stated that one of the reasons he could master the Ripple in so little time was due to this characteristic. Dio realizes this is why he is so dangerous; no matter how much is thrown at him, Jonathan simply comes back stronger.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Even without a Stand, he still counts after being trained in the usage of Hamon.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy. And in the anime, he dresses and poses similarly too.
* ExtraOreDinary: Life Magnetism Overdrive.
* GeniusBruiser: His large size might give you the impression that he's a meathead, but he is quite intelligent, having majored in archaeology and become one of the top students at his university.
* GentleGiant: 195 Centimeters (6'4") tall and heavily muscled, but polite as a boy scout crossed with a choir-boy. He's so well mannered he uses the polite masculine personal pronoun "boku" to refer to himself, rather than the coarse, rude "ore" that Shounen-Manga leads are expected by genre to use.
** What's more, he ''consistently'' uses the absolute-polite prefix of ''"Kimi" (My Dear/Good Man/Good Lady)'' when referring to ''everyone'', even his '''enemies.''' Quite a jarring genre-shock when shounen heroes his build '''normally''' use ''Omae" (Hey You), "Kisama" (Bastard/Bitch)'', and ''"Teme" (A rude way of saying You)'' in the same situation.
** Contrast with...well, most of his descendants but especially Jotaro.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He may be a gentleman, but he doesn't let off evil [[EasilyForgiven easily]]; notably, he has Doobie's own snakes attack him and that's not even getting into how he beat Dio for humiliating his possible lover.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: As he dies from the wounds Dio inflicted on him, he smiles, both at Erina, and Dio himself.]]
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:If only for two days, the poor boy...]]
* TheHero: His resolve to protect his family kicks off the whole story.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Probably one of the most [[ItWasHisSled famous examples in manga history.]]]]
* HeroicBuild: The original art style Araki used made him look incredibly ripped. His physique had been downplayed or even removed in later illustrations due to ArtEvolution.
** Sometimes, taken to an illogical extreme. There are some full-body images of him that make it look like his head's too small for his body.
* HonorBeforeReason: The only [=JoJo=] protagonist to be completely honorable. All of the others are {{Anti Hero}}es, {{Combat Pragmatist}}s, who were willing to hit girls. Given that his honor eventually got Jonathan killed, you can see his descendants' point.
* HotBlooded: Not as much so as Joseph, but he does like shouting.
* IdealHero: Jonathan is very much a gentleman, and firmly believes there is good in people, as well as believing in HonorBeforeReason. Unfortunately this makes him GenreBlind as he fails to see the GenreShift until it's literally in his face.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: If the page image of him wasn't any tipoff, in the volume covers, he's seen wearing unbelievably amazing clothing. However, the clothes he wore, like many, many others in Hirohiko-brand fashion, gave up practicality for fabulousness. Doesn't make them any less awesome in the long run.
** The clothes he wore in the actual story were much less showy and more practical than what he wore in the volume covers and chapter art. But they still look pretty nice.
* IconicOutfit: His most well known outfit is a close-fitted tank top with capped sleeves, along with a pair of ''very'' skin tight pants. The anime version replaces them with leather pauldrons.
* InSeriesNickName: [=JoJo=].
* InstantExpert: Masters the Ripple in half a freaking day when it takes a ''lifetime'' for pretty much anyone else in Part 1.
* LightEmUp: '''SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!'''
* LonelyRichKid: Jonathan was one, being ostracized because of his wealth and only having his dog for a friend.[[FromBadToWorse Then Dio came along...]]
* NextTierPowerUp: Gets all of Zeppeli's Ripple energy [[spoiler:as Zeppeli dies.]]
* NiceGuy: He's polite, earnest, and openly kind, though most of his descendants don't have these traits.
* NiceHat: In the story, he wore a pretty nice deerstalker a few times.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: His intended sacrifice leads to Dio possessing his body and becoming more dangerous than before]]
* OfficialCouple: With Erina. [[spoiler:It doesn't last long, since he died on their honeymoon.]]
* OnlyFriend: Rather sadly, Dio acknowledges in his diary (the novel "Dio: Made In Heaven") that recalling how Jonathan [[spoiler:held him with genuine love and friendship as he died]], he has come to return the sentiment in full [[spoiler:100 years later.]] Nobody else, after all, has shown him that, except maybe Pucci.
* PlayingWithFire: Scarlet Overdrive.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: The Ripple [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is powered by the sun]].
* RapidFireFisticuffs: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH9cNAOe34M Beat, My Furious Heart!! Burn, Flames Of Passion!! Awaken, The Courage Of My Blood!! SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!!]]
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: [[ItWasHisSled One of the most infamous examples in shonen history]], especially if you've read Part 3.]]
** To be fair, [[spoiler:said sacrifice]] did save his son, beginning the [=JoJo=] legacy that proved to be the only thing capable of defeating Dio and his vision. After a fashion.
* ShaggyDogStory: BIG TIME. [[spoiler:His actions to sacrifice himself with Dio end up turning for the worst, as Dio manages to become more cunning and powerful with attaching his head to his now dead body, making his sacrifice harshly pointless in the long run]].
** Though as mentioned above, this allows his son to continue the Joestar bloodline, making him responsible for every good deed the protagonists in the series accomplish.
* SignatureMove: '''SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!'''
* StaticCharacter: Though he grows more determined and confident as the story goes on, Jonathan doesn't really undergo any major character development. He ends the story as selfless and loving as he started. [[TropesAreNotBad Fans don't mind too much]] since his earnestness and gentlemanly behavior help him stand out even decades later after a long line of delinquent descendants, and the fanbase adores him for it.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Jotaro and especially Joseph resemble him.
* SuperStrength: As first with his ripple training, most of Jonathan's ability came from pumping his foes and obstacles full of hamon... Then came Zeppeli's Ultimate Deep Pass Overdrive, and Jonathan became so strong that he could absolutely ''manhandle'' Tarkus, a ''literal'' giant, as well as effortlessly crush the steel collar binding his neck that aforementioned giant outright said ''he'' had problems breaking.
* SympathyForTheDevil: The only character in the entire franchise that could actually bring himself to genuinely like Dio, save perhaps Dio's mother.
* TakingYouWithMe: Tries to pull this on Dio. [[spoiler:He only succeeds in delaying him for around 100 years.]]
* TaremeEyes: To contrast Dio's TsurimeEyes.
* TenderTears: Has a heart ''so'' sensitive and kind he sheds these for everyone, even his enemies.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Jonathan was such a sweet and kind-hearted boy that his [[spoiler:final moment on Earth was not filled with hate, but rather brotherly love for Dio as he tenderly hugged his disembodied head in spite of having being murdered by him, much like his own father was.]]
** [[spoiler:Plus he told Erina to take care of a baby of a woman he has no connections with and have them escape going down with Dio because he felt pity for the infant who lost her mother, and this tops it off.]]
** [[spoiler:"[[FamousLastWords Be happy, Erina"]]]].
** [[spoiler:(Dying Thoughts) "It's just as you said Dio, we are bound by a bizarre friendship, you and I."]]
* TookALevelInBadass: After a brief TimeSkip, post Dio's KickTheDog, he grew into a BadassBookworm of sorts...
** ...And then he took another level during his training to master the Ripple.
*** [[spoiler:After Zeppeli's death, he takes [[SerialEscalation '''another''' level of badass]] enough to curb stomp any vampire with the ease of killing a tick, aside from Dio himself.]]
* TragicHero
* TraumaCongaLine: Dio puts him through the wringer, beating him at everything, stealing his girl's [[SacredFirstKiss first kiss]], burning his dog, and that's when he was twelve.
* WifeBasherBasher: Bonus points for the girl he defended ''actually'' becoming his wife 8 years later!
* WorldsStrongestMan: ''The'' strongest [=JoJo=], or even human ''period'' in the series, even as far as Part 8. In fact, feats of strength like his wouldn't even be replicated again until Jotaro and Star Platinum came around.
* YankTheDogsChain: Anytime it looks like Jonathan will get a happy ending, Dio and Araki will be there to ruin it all.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: All characters get this due to ArtEvolution but while Araki's new artstyle [[OnlySixFaces makes them look similar]], they retain their {{Iconic Outfit}}s/[[IconicItem Items]]. This is not the case with Jonathan, who is recently depicted with a scarf and ''[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Caesar's]]'' headband while Joseph (the one who is actually associated with both of those items) switched to pilot gear instead.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Supposed to be brown in the manga, but the anime follows Araki's coloring scheme (read: can be absolutely anything), so sometimes it looks green, or purple. But most of the time it's blue.
! Robert E. O. Speedwagon
[[quoteleft:338:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/speedwagon.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Creator/YojiUeda (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/MasayaOnosaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/KeithSilverstein (English)
An Ogre Street thug who becomes Jonathan's best friend [[DefeatMeansFriendship after taking a beating from him]]. After the events of Phantom Blood, he moves to the United States and strikes it rich as an oil tycoon.
He is named after Music/REOSpeedwagon.
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* AscendedExtra: While only a narrator in ''All-Star Battle'', he was PromotedToPlayable in ''Eyes of Heaven''.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: The surname "Speedwagon".
* BadassNormal: The only major character to fight alongside the Joestars and not have '''any''' super powers or powerful technology at all.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Highly hinted to be the reason for his HeelFaceTurn. Jonathan was the first person to show him any form of kindness.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: The anime left out the manga's explanation for [[spoiler:the Germans putting him in a straightjacket in Part 2: that Speedwagon had broken a glass bottle and attempted suicide with it.]]
* BigGood: Throughout parts 1 through 6, the Speedwagon Foundation's resources are what allow the Joestars to fight evil so effectively.
* ButtMonkey: Is the butt of the majority of the humor in Part 1.
* CaptainObvious: Made more apparent in the TV anime.
* CelibateHero: The ending of part 2 states that [[spoiler:before the events of part 3, he died of a heart attack at the age of 89, still single and unmarried.]]
* TheChick: Rare male example. His sheer emotional support and sensitivity towards Jonathan qualifies him for this as well as TheHeart, being far more sensitive than even Erina
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: And by friendship, we mean HoYay levels of obsessions with Jonathan after a single fight.
* DetectEvil: Claims to be able to smell Dio's evil.
* DropTheHammer: Begins using a sledgehammer in Windnights Lot to replace his old razor blade hat.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Speedwagon may be the leader of a group of thugs when he is first introduced, but he only steals for survival. He immediately hates Dio because Dio is [[ForTheEvulz pure evil and enjoys it]].
--> "Dio is somewhere in this town! I can't forgive that bastard! I steal ''things'', but he steals ''life''!"
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: By Part 2, he's lost his mullet and his hair is much shorter.
* FictionFiveHundred: Speedwagon became filthy, stinky rich in between Parts 1 and 2.
* {{Foil}}: To Dio; both were urchins whose lives changed after they met Jonathan, but whereas Dio remained bad, Speedwagon became a better person, and eventually went on to gain all the wealth and status that Dio wanted, but used it for good reasons.
* HeelFaceTurn: But only a heel because he ''had'' to be one to look after his destitute family on the uncaring streets of 19th-Century London, mind you.
* HeroWorshipper: Jonathan's #1 fanboy.
* HonoraryUncle: To Joseph. (And, offscreen, to Joseph's father George.)
* HotBlooded: So much so, he can cure frostbite by literally using his chest... no, seriously.
* IJustWantToBeBadass: Part 1. He tried to learn the Ripple to be useful to Jonathan and Zeppeli. He failed.
* TheLancer: To Jonathan.
* LargeHam: Even moreso than Dio himself in Part 1, who spends each moment hamming his loyalty, passion etc. He gets a little better with age.
* TheLoad: Subverted. Even if he had absolutely no powers, he helped Jonathan and Zeppeli a lot during their battles against Dio's vampires. He even grabs a weapon and fights during Jonathan's final battle with Dio.
* LoveRedeems: A non romance example. Jonathan and Jonathan alone acknowledged the hardship Robert endured to protect his destitute family, and thereby became the ''first'' person to acknowledge his humanity.
* MrExposition: His primary role is to provide exposition as well as commentary during fights.
* NiceGuy: Fifty years after Jonathan awoke his decency, the bloodthirsty thug and murderer Robert E.O. Speedwagon became a sweet-tempered and kindhearted old-gentleman who contributes tirelessly and endlessly to medical research and improving the lives of the destitute.
* NiceHat: Aside from his razor blade bowler, he [[spoiler:inherits Zeppeli's hat when Zeppeli dies.]]
* RagsToRiches: Starts off as a thug in the slums of London, but strikes it rich in the oilfields of Texas. The Speedwagon Foundation he creates remains an important player in the later parts of the series.
* ScarsAreForever
* SharpDressedMan
* ShoutOut[=/=]StevenUlyssesPerhero[=/=]PunnyName: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Speedwagon REO Speedwagon]].
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler:Dies only two chapters into Part 2. Subverted a few chapters later when he turns out to be NotQuiteDead.]]
* TheTeamBenefactor: From Part 2 onwards.
* UnclePennybags: He dotes a lot on Erina and Joseph in Part 2. Joseph even calls him "Uncle Speedwagon".
* UndyingLoyalty: To the point that the organization he's founded will always aid the Joestars in their crusades because of Jonathan's charisma.
* WeaponizedHeadgear: Much like ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'''s Oddjob, he uses a hat with a blade hidden within it.
! William Antonio Zeppeli
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/william_anthonio_zeppeli.png]]
->Voiced by: Creator/YokuShioya (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/RikiyaKoyama (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film) (Japanese), Joe Ochman (English)
An eccentric Italian man who trained in the martial art of Ripple, a technique that allows control over force (for example, breaking a boulder by punching a frog sitting upon it -- without harming the frog) and simulation of other energies (like sunlight) through controlled breathing. He accompanies Jonathan on his quest to kill Dio and teaches him the technique.
He is named after Music/LedZeppelin.
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* BadassBaritone: In the Phantom Blood movie and video game where he is voiced by Creator/RikiyaKoyama. Not so much in the other media, where he has a high-pitched, almost whistling tone.
* BadassMustache
* BadassInANiceSuit
* CampStraight: Very apparent in the anime.
* CoolOldGuy
* CulturedBadass
* {{Expy}}: In a later interview, Araki notes that some of his physical features (namely his mustache) were based off of Iyami of ''Manga/OsomatsuKun''.
* GratuitousItalian: In the English Dub.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Bisected at the waist by a chain. Doesn't stop him from having a nice long conversation while he dies.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Wine. He kills zombies with wine.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:His death begins the sad legacy of the Zeppeli family, none of whom ever survive the story.]]
* TheMentor: Taught Jonathan the Ripple.
** MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:And was ''told'' that this trope would happen and he still went through with it. This man's got [[CallForward Steel Balls!]]]]
* NiceHat: A black and white checkerboard patterned top hat.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: If William Zeppeli hadn't [[spoiler:let [=JoJo=] inherit his entire-lifetime's complement of power]], Dio would not have been as monstrously powerful as he was 100 years later [[spoiler:when he in turn inherits Jonathan's body, and hence the might of the old master as well. However, if he hadn't, Dio would have killed Jonathan in their fight, making this a subversion.]]
* ObiWanMoment: [[spoiler: Even when he realizes he is about to face a sudden and horrific death, he does not seem to be too fazed by this and acts very casually with regards to life.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:During his last moments, the effects of his Ripple training wear off, revealing his true age.]]
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:More apparent in the manga because of the current anime's fast pace.]]
* SatiatingSandwich: Zeppeli is introduced to the series casually eating a sandwich with some extra pepper.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: After wounding a zombie, he orders [=JoJo=] to kill it without spilling a single drop from a class of wine. If he spilled any, even if he had won, Zeppeli would have abandoned [=JoJo=] on the spot.
* SinsOfOurFathers: He is trying to stop Dio because his father was the one who originally found the Stone Mask and used its powers for evil.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish
* WalkOnWater: One of the talents gifted by Hamon. Though Zeppeli sort of tiptoes across the surface rather than walk.
! Tonpetty
[[quoteleft:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tonpetty_6.png]]
-> Voiced by: Tamio Oki (TV anime), Osamu Saka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Yoshisada Sakaguchi (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/MichaelMcConnohie (Engish)
A Tibetan monk and Zeppeli's Ripple master.
He is named after Music/TomPetty.
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* BadassGrandpa
* BaldOfAwesome
* BusCrash: Straizo has his position by Part 2, so Tonpetty implicitly died in the between time. Given no one discussed it, it was probably of [[LifeWillKillYou natural causes]].
* CoolOldGuy
* TheMentor: To Zeppeli.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The ''Jorge Joestar'' novel gives him the full name Ngapoi Ngawang Tonpetty, after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngapoi_Ngawang_Jigme Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme]].
* OldMaster: To Zeppeli.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Pretty much any combination of To[m/n]pet[t][i/y] has been seen.
! Dire
[[quoteleft:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dire_2.png]]
-> Voiced by: Taketora (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Creator/YukitoshiHori (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PaulStPeter (English)
One of Zeppeli's friends who trained under Tonpetty.
He and Straizo are named after Music/DireStraits.
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* LethalJokeCharacter: His ripple ability seems to be an extremely slow kick, but it actually turns out to be an effective trap if an enemy takes the bait and gets too close.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: How he meets the heroes.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:How he dies.]]
* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:He dies immediately after Dio uses his power, but does manage to inflict a blow before he passed on.]]
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Despite being competent enough to match Jonathan (if briefly), he is easily defeated and killed by Dio. Bad luck for him that Dio's Freezing Touch was the perfect counter to his Cross Thunder Technique.]]
** [[spoiler:However, his final blow to Dio gives Jonathan a hint on how to defeat the former.]]
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Just as he was being built up as a powerful ally against Dio, [[spoiler:the latter kills him before he do anything other than scratching his eye.]] Aside from this, all we know of him is that he was a fellow disciple of Tompeti with Zeppeli.
! Straizo
[[quoteleft:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/straizo.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/NobuoTobita (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Hiroaki Miura (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)
Another student of Ripple alongside Zeppeli. In part 2, he [[spoiler:uses a newly discovered second stone mask to become a vampire and antagonizes Joseph]].
He and Dire are named after Music/DireStraits.
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* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:He commits suicide by channeling the Ripple into his body as a vampire after being defeated by Joseph.]]
* {{Biseinen}}
* CallingYourAttacks: [[spoiler:"SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES!"]]
* CatchPhrase: "I, Straizo, will show no mercy!"
* DrunkWithPower: [[spoiler: After he becomes a vampire.]]
* EyeBeams: [[spoiler:Uses Dio's old eye beam attack on Joseph after becoming a vampire. He gives it a ''really'' stupid name (Space Ripper Stingy Eyes), too.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:He turns into a vampire during Part 2, inspired by Dio's eternal beauty and youth.]]
* FangsAreEvil: [[spoiler:After becoming a vampire.]]
* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler:After [[CrazyAwesome Joseph]] blows Vampire Straizo up with a bundle of grenades, he regenerates and continues to fight Joseph naked.]]
* GoOutWithASmile
* GratuitousEnglish: The aforementioned Space Ripper Stingy Eyes.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Why he claims he's trying to kill the Joestars after becoming a vampire.]]
* IRegretNothing: Even as he's dying, he doesn't regret [[spoiler:becoming a vampire, because he'd rather violently die as a young man than whither away.]]
* ImmortalitySeeker: [[spoiler:Even though the Ripple slows aging down, it can't stop it completely, which is why he becomes a vampire.]]
* ImplacableMan: [[spoiler:After becoming a vampire.]]
* LastNameBasis: Possibly, since the novel Jorge Joestar gives his adoptive daughter's name as Elizabeth Straizo.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Alerts Joseph to the existence of the Pillar Men, bringing them to the attention of the one man clever and brutal enough to defeat all four.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[WizardsLiveLonger His knowledge of the Ripple]] has let him age very gracefully, going from his twenties to seventies with just whitened hair to show for it. [[spoiler:He isn't satisfied with this, and becomes a vampire to truly regain his youth.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler: He's given the baby Erina saves to raise as his own. He raises the child into the ripple master Lisa Lisa]].
* PullingHimselfTogether: [[spoiler:After Joseph blows him up.]]
* ScarfOfAsskicking: His scarf doesn't just look cool, it's made from beetle intestines that let disperse the Ripple.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most of the fanbase calls him Straits or Straights.
* StealthMentor: [[spoiler:While he did have some bad intentions with it, he got Joseph fully aware of his Ripple powers to fight the Pillar Men.]]
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: [[spoiler:Turns on Speedwagon and becomes a vampire right at the start of ''Battle Tendency''.]]
* StarterVillain: [[spoiler:Takes this position in Part 2, kicking off Joseph's involvement in the plot in the process.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: And for such a minor character!
* WarriorMonk: He's a Tibetan monk.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Straizo assumes [[CombatPragmatist Joseph]] is basically the same as [[HonorBeforeReason Johnathan]]. [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon He's mostly wrong]], though he was ultimately right that Joseph would [[spoiler:agree to fight him [[ChronicHeroSyndrome if an innocent bystander was in danger]]]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Allies]]
! George Joestar I
[[quoteleft:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/george_joestar_9.png]]
-> Voiced by: Masashi Sugawara (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Tsutomu Isobe (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film) (Japanese), Creator/MarcDiraison (English)
Jonathan's father.
-----
* BadassMustache
* HeroicSacrifice
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Tends to assume the best of everyone, including complete bastards like Dario or Dio Brando.
* NiceGuy: Could never make himself hate Dio even after being poisoned and murdered by him, and with his last breath asked for him to be buried next to his real father with sincere love and compassion.
* ThePollyanna: Quite possibly the most kind-hearted and generous Joestar in the series; considering the others include [[NinetiesAntiHero Jotaro]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Joseph]], [[TheGamblingAddict Josuke]], and [[LovableSexManiac Jolyne]], it's quite the contrast.
* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Pretty much existed just to show that unlike other shonen villains in TheEighties, [[HeroKiller Dio]] didn't fuck around.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}: He's a quintessential English lord, but the Joestar line seems to have Scottish roots. As shown [[http://www.mangarush.com/manga/jojo39s-bizarre-adventure/12/p-8 here]], he visits Scotland yard wearing a pretty glorious highland dress.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Speedwagon himself said as much when he wept for the death of this most decent and kind man.
! Erina Pendolton
[[quoteleft:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erina_young.png]]
[[caption-width:280:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erina_old.png[[/labelnote]] to see Erina as she appears in ''Battle Tendency'']]
->Voiced by: Creator/AyakoKawasumi (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Creator/AyaHisakawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/NanaMizuki (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/MichelleRuff (English)
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* ComfortingTheWidow - RomancingTheWidow: Joseph asks her if this happened [[spoiler:with Speedwagon and her after Jonathan's death]]. She hits him with her umbrella for being inappropriate.
* CoolOldLady: In ''Battle Tendency''.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:The ending of part 2 describes that she died a peaceful death surrounded by a lovely family.]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Not only blonde, but saves a child of a woman that she didn't even know at the behest of Jonathan. And not to mention her treatment of Smokey (an African American) as an equal, which made especially clear since it was during the 30s, when racism was still abundant.
* HerHeartWillGoOn: [[spoiler:Never remarried after Jonathan's death.]]
* IWasQuiteALooker: While she still looks pretty good for someone in her 70's, it's clear that age ''and'' personal tragedies have taken a toll on her.
* NiceGirl
* OfficialCouple: With Jonathan.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: The poor woman not only loses her newlywed husband, but also her son George, and for a while her grandson.]]
* RacistGrandma: [[DefiedTrope Thankfully and completely defied]]. Erina Joestar is truly A Woman Ahead Of Her Times, as even though she was raised in Victorian England, an era famous for the advent of Scientific Racism, she not only treats Smokey (an African American) with as much love and respect as she would ''any'' of her white friends, but takes him in and treats him like family. Mind you, this progressive attitude is NOT shared by '''most''' other 1930's Americans even in the ''[=JoJoverse=], as made painfully clear by the racist restaurant patron in Episode 10.
* SacredFirstKiss: Dio [[ForcefulKiss forcibly takes this from her]] as a child, throwing a wrench into her relationship with Jonathan.
* SilkHidingSteel: Erina's attitude is a bit tougher than one would expect from a Victorian lady, as seen from her indirectly insulting Dio by washing her mouth with dirty water after she kisses her. Fans like to joke that the succeeding [=JoJos=] got their impolite attitudes from her. [[spoiler:The fact that she manages to survive at sea after a shipwreck [[PregnantBadass while pregnant]] and [[ParentalSubstitute looking after a baby that isn't even hers]] probably accounts for her toughness as well.]]
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most fans spell her name as the more realistic "Elena Pendleton", but the official art books ''et cetera'' spell it Erina Pendolton.
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Averted; she's willing to die with Jonathan at the end of ''Phantom Blood'', but he convinces her to escape the shipwreck and live on.]]
! Poco
[[quoteleft:215:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poco.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/YumikoKobayashi (TV anime), Creator/DaisukeSakaguchi (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English)
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* AdaptationDyeJob: Goes from being blond in the manga, to brunette in the anime.
* CowardlyLion: Too scared to fight for himself, but ultimately lends a hand in defeating Tarkus by being the only one small enough to fit inside the passage to pull the lever to get Zeppeli and Speedwagon in.
* {{Mooning}}: When he first steals from the heroes (under Dio's hypnosis), he taunts them this way. [[spoiler:Also does this to taunt Tarkus when Jonathan, Zeppeli, Speedwagon and him escape on an improvised leaf glider]].
* TagalongKid
!!Poco's sister
[[quoteleft:283:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pocos_sister_whos_name_isnt_peggy_as_far_as_we_know.png]]
->Voiced by: Creator/AyaEndo (TV anime), Junko Hagimori (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/DorothyEliasFahn (English)
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* ArmorPiercingSlap: To Poco for being a coward and to Dio when he considers making her LegalJailbait via vampirism.
* NoNameGiven
* PluckyGirl
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Villains]]
! Dio Brando (Stand: The World + Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[note]]Identical to and possibly named Hermit Purple; Originating from Jonathan Joestar[[/note]] )
[[quoteleft:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_1.png]]
[[caption-width:293:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_3.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in ''Stardust Crusaders'' manga.]]
[[caption-width:293:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_2.png[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in the ''Phantom Blood'' anime.]]
[[caption-width:265:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio.png[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in the ''Stardust Crusaders'' anime.]]
--> "'''''You were a fool to attack me. I have disowned my weakness in favor of life everlasting! '''''"
->Young Dio voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (TV anime), Creator/KenjiNojima (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PatrickSeitz (English)
->Adult Dio voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (CD drama), NobuoTanaka (OVA), Creator/HikaruMidorikawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film), Creator/IsshinChiba (''Heritage for the Future'' video game), Creator/KanetoShiozawa (commercial for the SNES game) (Japanese), Andrew Chaikin (OVA), Creator/PatrickSeitz (TV series) (English)
The scornful child of a petty thief in 1800s England. After poisoning his own father, he is adopted by George Joestar and makes it his goal to utterly ruin Jonathan's life in order to become the estate's sole inheritor. When that plan fails, Dio ends up using the stone mask to become a vampire and try to take over ''the world'' for himself.
He resurfaces in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', [[spoiler:having attached his severed head to Jonathan's body]], to resume his goal of obtaining his ideal world, but meets resistance from Jonathan's descendant Jotaro Kujo. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
He is named after Music/RonnieJamesDio and MarlonBrando.
-----
* AdaptationalBadass: Randomly gains the ability to teleport in the Phantom Blood anime.
%%* AintTooProudToBeg
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Jonathan and Jotaro prove to be superior combatants in terms of intelligence and technique with him only managing to put the pressure on them with his vampirism and The World respectively.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Dio´s staunch ambition is the core force driving his actions throughout the series. Dio´s overall goal is to always stand on top of everyone else through any means available to him. At first, he desired to take the Joestar fortune for himself. Then, after becoming a vampire, he sought to rule over . After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
* AndIMustScream: Trapped for almost a century under the sea with only Jonathan's corpse for company. Nevermind enduring the agonizing process of fusing with a body who actively rejects his presence, to the point he still isn't fully healed when he comes back in Stardust Crusaders.
* TheAntichrist:
** Very much so; he was evil from birth, [[TeensAreMonsters was a sociopathic teen]], and even gets vampiric LegionsOfHell once he vampirizes.
** Defied in following arcs, where his followers see him as a DarkMessiah. It's an act and he's very much the antichrist underneath this facade.
* ArchNemesis: Dio is this to the entire Joestar family. Every single one of them can trace at least one of their misfortunes back to him.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: In Part 1 for the zombies, and he has an even bigger cult that ranges for several sagas involving Stand Users.
* AxCrazy: While he was never mentally sound, especially after becoming a vampire, he loses what little sanity he had [[spoiler:when absorbing Joseph's blood]] and goes completely psychotic.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:He [[HeroKiller kills Jonathan]] at the end of ''Phantom Blood'', and his plan to reset the universe comes to fruition, though it backfires on him]].
** MeaninglessVillainVictory: [[spoiler:Pucci makes a grievous error that gets him killed, resulting in a universe where the Joestar line apparently never suffered at Dio's hands. For all his work, all he ends up with was a world where his greatest enemies escape him.]]
* BadassBaritone: His voice actors include Creator/TakehitoKoyasu, Creator/IsshinChiba, and ''Creator/NorioWakamoto'' in Japanese, and Creator/PatrickSeitz in English.
* BadassBookworm: He keeps a library in his hidden base that he actually reads. He also [[AmoralAttorney studied law]] in university.
* BadassFamily: Technically, he ''is'' a Joestar. [[spoiler: His 3 sons in part 6 are badasses too. And his first son, the protagonist of Part 5, gets what is possibly the most broken Stand in the series]].
* BerserkButton: Dio has many, particularly those related to his childhood and weaknesses.
** Dio absolutely does not stand anyone looking down on him or considering him weak, or even worthy of pity. This in particular has lead to the death of George Joestar, who Dio believed saw him as nothing but a charity case.
** Dogs really piss him off.
** He hates the very mention of his father.
* BaddieFlattery: Prone to doing this from time to time. He gradually grew to respect (and even admire) Jonathan and applauded Polnareff for surviving the entire journey (although he was simply trying to get him back on his side).
* BadPowersBadPeople: Alongside the standard set of vampiric abilities, Dio has several other nasty powers such as hypnotism, flesh parasites that enslave a victim to his will and will kill anyone who tries to remove them, prehensile veins, fusing creatures together to create mutant chimeras, etc.
* BigBad: Of Part 1 and Part 3.
* BigManOnCampus: Both he and Jonathan were the top students of their university, excelling in sports and law. [[TranshumanTreachery Unfortunately, Dio had to become an immortal vampire instead]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler:He is a jerk himself, Giorno's mom was a bitch, and among his other three sons in ''Stone Ocean'', Rykiel is the only one who isn't a jerk. Along with all that, due to having Joestar blood in him, Dio is this towards [[DidntThinkThisThrough his new family.]]]]
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Three spots on his left earlobe. According to Wang Chan, this marks him as [[BornLucky extremely lucky]]. Also [[spoiler:the Joestar Birthmark after succeeding in stealing Jonathan's body.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: In Part 1, before he became ridiculously charismatic and hardcore.
* BiTheWay: WordOfGod is that he doesn't care about whether someone's male or female as long as they interest him.
* BoldInflation: From Part 3 onwards he addressed himself as DIO and everybody else refer him as such, even in the original Japanese.
* BornLucky: See above.
* BreakoutVillain: By far the most popular villain of the series and one of the most popular characters.
* BrokenAce: Of the evil variety in Part 1.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Zeppeli asked him how many people he killed in order to heal his injuries from a previous fight with Johnathan. Dio's answer was to ask Zeppeli if he remembered every time he ate bread. Zeppeli was [[ItsPersonal not pleased with that answer]].
* ByronicHero: Mostly alluded to while [[spoiler:he's still alive]], but starts to come out piece by piece in his flashbacks with Pucci in part 6. Most explicit in the semi-canon novel Over Heaven, which may or may not represent him lying out of his ass for 309 pages.
* CainAndAbel: Although adopted, he plays the Cain dangerously straight to Jonathan's Abel [[spoiler:to the point that he kills him and later takes over his body]].
* CallForward: If one regards the Pillar Men and the Modes they have, Dio becomes a Ice Mode.
* CameBackStrong: After his revival in Part 3 as DIO, he was stronger, faster, and smarter than before due to assimilating Jonathan and Zeppeli's powers into himself.
* CapsLock: Starting in Part 3, his name is spelled in all caps.
* CarFu: Forced Senator Phillips to run over several people to catch Joseph and Kakyoin. And of course, [[DeathFromAbove the Road Roller]].
* CardCarryingVillain: After being exposed by Speedwagon and becoming a vampire, he embraces it fully, declaring himself to be the "evil elite".
---> Most humans are bound by the laws of good. They fear the power of evil. However, a rare few are born unfettered by good...the evil elite!
* TheCasanova: Four of his sons from numerous liaisons appear in the series, and it's implied that there may be many more.
* CharacterDevelopment: Undergoes it throughout both Phantom Blood and Stardust Crusaders.
** Before becoming a vampire, Dio was self-justifying, preferring to tell himself that his problems stem from his background and being Dario´s son and that anyone would do the same things he did, never thinking of himself as a bad person and not yet intending to use the mask. After Speedwagon shows up and strips him of his self-justifications and beliefs about himself, and exposes him in front of Jonathan, George and the police, Dio, cornered and with little choice, rejects his humanity and becomes a vampire. From that point forward Dio starts to do as he pleases, playing with his power like a child with a new toy and never even attempting to pretend to be a normal human.
** After [[spoiler:his defeat and century-long imprisonment under the Atlantic, Dio appears far more thoughtful, introspective, self-aware and seems to have abandoned his views of obtaining merely power through money and physical abilities. He appears questioning his goals and the nature of metaphysical concepts such as happiness and fate, and has matured significantly. He also seems to have lost his views of detachment and superiority to humans thanks to Jonathan and has very few vampiric followers in Part 3, with most of his loyal servants being Stand-using humans.]]
* CharmPerson: Dio has an inhuman amount of charisma that makes both the forces of good and evil want to serve him. This increases in Part 3 because attaining Jonathan's body made people even more aware of how superior DIO is even before brainwashing comes in, further adding into his [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] character.
* TheChessmaster: Especially in Part 3, where he plays with everyone, so he can get more powerful, and to get rid of his enemies, namely the Joestars. He was also the one who [[spoiler:manipulated Enrico Pucci into carrying out his plans posthumously, and almost came ''dangerously'' close in succeeding.]]
* ClassicVillain: Dio is classic in many ways. He represents Ambition, Pride, Envy, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed -- the only thing Dio ''isn't'' is Slothful, unless you count OrcusOnHisThrone.
* ComboPlatterPowers: SuperStrength, HealingFactor, FightingSpirit projection, MindManipulation, PrehensileHair, prehensile ''veins'', [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill time-stopping ]]]], [[AnIcePerson blood-freezing powers]], high-pressure blood EyeBeams and the ability to turn people into zombies. [[spoiler: in the non-canonical game Eyes of Heaven, his Stand has evolved into [[RealityWarper The World Over Heaven]], which can overwrite the reality of an object by punching it.]]
* TheCorrupter: Enrico Pucci was a well-meaning priest before meeting Dio, who molded him into a homicidal KnightTemplar.
* CurbStompBattle: A lot of his fights end up being this way. He tossed Jonathan and Zeppeli around and killed Dire with ease in Phantom Blood, and in Stardust Crusaders he [[spoiler: killed Joseph though he got better, and Kakyoin. Then he defeated Polneraff without trouble, and had Jotaro at his mercy until Jotaro began using his own TimeStop against him]]. To put it bluntly, the only time he was ever on the receiving end was once when he set off Jonathan's BerserkButton, when they were both kids.
* DarkIsEvil: In Part 1, he wears very black or darkened colors associated with night, not to mention his creations of zombies are sometimes extremely demonic.
* DarkMessiah: A few of the part 3 hirelings, such as Enya and N'Doul, see him as at least akin to this [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk despite not caring for them in the slightest if they fail and treat them favorably if they succeed if only to have further use for them]]. [[OnlyFriend Pucci is possibly the only exception]]. As N'Doul put it, "even the bad guys...need a savior."
* DeathByIrony:
** [[spoiler:His fight with Jotaro ends with the one part of his body [[LosingYourHead that survived the events of Part 1]] [[YourHeadAsplode exploding violently]]]].
** Also after going on about how his Stand has allowed him to surpass all of his old weaknesses, [[spoiler:What finally kills him for good was being exposed to sunlight, the most basic vampire weakness.]]
* DeathFromAbove: '''''RODA ROLLA DA!!'''''
* TheDeterminator: Dio manages to cheat death a total of three times during Phantom Blood. The second time was because he ripped off his own head as his body was burning away due to a ripple, and then he maintained to maintain his (highly questionable) sanity while being stuck under the ocean for a century.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Of Part 1.
* DiabolicalMastermind: In Part 3 as DIO, he controls a giant villain network made of Stand Users and vampires fanatically loyal to him, has a ridiculous amount of money to throw around, his influence reaches out across [[IncrediblyLamePun the world]], and he has a ridiculously swanky mansion in Cairo with a fabulous looking bed.
* DirtyCoward: Above all else, Dio is determined. This does not mean that he is particularly brave and for all his pride, he isn't above fleeing or begging for his life when things turn sour.
* DiscardAndDraw: He trades in his old vampire powers after obtaining Jonathan's body for the far more badass ability [[spoiler:to stop time.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: For the whole series after ''Phantom Blood,'' but averted within the Part itself, [[spoiler:though Jonathan's final battle with him is after he loses his body in their earlier struggle.]]
* DittoFighter: What the power of ''The World'' may actually be, rather than TimeStandsStill; the tarot card ''The World'' represents Integration and Wholeness, amongst others, which Dio's Stand mirrors by integrating Joseph's and Jotaro's stands's abilities of precognition, superhuman physical capabilities, [[spoiler:and TimeStandsStill]].
** [[FridgeBrilliance Not too surprising, if true;]] most of what Dio possesses was gained at the expense of others.
* DueToTheDead: Zigzagged. While Dio does desecrate Jonathan's corpse to use as his new body, certain materials state that he feels guilt about demeaning his old foe's remains, but he also feels that Jonathan's body is the only thing in existence worthy of containing his will. Yeah, Dio's weird like that.
* EightiesHair: Sports one hell of a mullet in Part 3, [[JustifiedTrope though he has the excuse of it actually being]] [[TheEighties the 1980s.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He literally [[KickTheDog kicks Jonathan's dog Danny]] because he was running towards him.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: His only soft spot, who died before the story even ''began'', thereby letting his personality run loose.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: In his own twisted way, Dio did care about Jonathan. Before becoming a vampire, Dio came to form a certain bond of brotherly friendship with Jonathan that he later came to admit as a weakness, and even after that he saw Jonathan as the only man worth his admiration. Certain materials imply or state that he felt guilt for using his body to move around as DIO.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Dear lord, do they ever.
* EvilBrit: Even if only in the literal sense, since the entirety of Phantom Blood takes place in Britain.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Underestimated Jonathan's nobility until the very end. His last words to him were an attempt to bribe his rival with vampiric immortality so he could survive his wounds, not understanding that someone willing to sacrifice himself in such a way would never take up that offer.
* EvilCounterpart: To Speedwagon, who grew up in similar dire circumstances on the streets of London, but managed to rise above his misfortune to be a true man of greatness. Ultimately, by choosing to fight the darkness he was born into instead of spreading it, Speedwagon [[spoiler:gets everything Dio wanted, striking it rich, living his life out with peace of mind, and ultimately gaining a form of immortality through the Speedwagon Foundation]].
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: His ice powers in Part 1.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Spends a good deal of time in the dark, being a vampire and all.
* EvilOverlord: Tried to be one in ''Phantom Blood'' as Dio Brando... it didn't really pan out. He had much more success as DIO in ''Stardust Crusaders'' as a DiabolicalMastermind.
* EvilSoundsDeep
* EvilVirtues: Ambition, Determination, Valor.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: His hair spikes up to Super Saiyan levels when he [[spoiler:takes Joseph's blood]], showing how much power he gained and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope sanity he lost]].
* EyeBeams: Sort of. He can shoot [[EyeScream eye goop from his eyes at the speed of a bullet]] in Part 1, though in the 2012 anime it's treated as a laser, slicing a few zombies in half along with the top of the building he's in.
** [[ForgotAboutHisPowers But for some reason, he did not use this ability in Part 3]] [[spoiler:despite being able to do so as even a head]].
* FaceFramedInShadow: In ''Stardust Crusaders'', DIO's face is always obscured in the darkness... despite looking exactly the same he did in ''Phantom Blood''.
* FangsAreEvil: He [[OurVampiresAreDifferent doesn't use them to drink blood though.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: A case which swaps between this and actual AffablyEvil, since while he's a smooth and suave talker who's deep down a megalomaniacal sociopath, he's not completely faux. Dio usually does not attack unless he is provoked or deems his foe dangerous, though this is usually due to a smug sense of superiority rather than kindness. He will first try persuading people to work for him, then fight them if they oppose. He's also not incapable of forming friendships with those who are nice to him, and trusted Pucci enough to give him control of his plan to [[spoiler:recreate of the universe]] if he ever "veered off track".
* FightingSpirit: The World.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Averted, and also a literal example, as he's shown no discomfort in the 1980s.
* FlechetteStorm: One each on Joseph and Jotaro by throwing as many knives as he hands could hold.
* ForTheEvulz: While Dio did all those atrocities to Jonathan when they were 12 because he hated Jonathan and wanted to be the only one worthy of the Joestar fortune, some of the things he does after becoming a vampire fall straight into this category. Creating fusions between animals and humans, tricking a woman into eating her own baby and turning several of the people in Windknights Lot into monstrous zombies falls straight into this trope.
* FreudianExcuse: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and immediately [[DefiedTrope defied]]. Dio tries to blame his villainy on his upbringing, but Speedwagon says he can ''smell'' that Dio's been evil since birth, and brutally exposes him for the monster he is (which ends up changing Dio´s view of himself as well).
* FromNobodyToNightmare: On a literally cosmic scale. Dio was originally the son of a drunken bum with no super special secret origins or evil ChosenOne status, but through cunning and charisma, he became a very dangerous vampire. Even then, he would have just been a {{Mook}} compared to the Pillar Men. Then he still set into motion a plan [[spoiler:that led to the destruction and recreation of the freaking universe!]]
* GeniusBruiser: He has a passion for reading and dropping steamrollers on people.
* AGodAmI: His motive after reappearing in the 1980s, as revealead in Stone Ocean. [[spoiler: Dio seeks to use Made In Heaven to finally achieve the world he desires and control his destiny]].
* GodOfEvil: [[spoiler:Heaven Ascension DIO]].
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: The reveal of what Heaven Ascended DIO would have looked like in Eyes of Heaven shows that he has alabaster white skin with golden accoutrements and facial tattoos, and his ascended Stand The World Over Heaven has a predominantly white color scheme compared to its original gold.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:After killing Jonathan, Dio attaches his own head to the body's neck.]]
* GratuitousEnglish:
** '''''ZA WARUDO!!'''''
** Good-bye [=JoJo=]!
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the series overall, climaxing in Part 6. The only time he's outdone is in Part 2, where Kars is the GreaterScopeVillain for part 1; even in this case, Kars is only the greater GreaterScopeVillain by fact of his plans stretching across multiple millennia as opposed to Dio's century-and-a-half.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Just after becoming a vampire, he throws a constable's body with enough force to kill two others and break Speedwagon's arm.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Jonathan nearly slices him in half in final fight. It barely slowed him down.
* HandicappedBadass: His greatest feat as a HeroKiller was done [[spoiler:when he was just a head]]. Not to mention he was handicapped for the majority of Part 3 despite having a stand [[spoiler:due to Jonathan's body rejecting him and weakening The World.]]
* HateSink: [[KickTheDog Obv]][[ForTheEvulz iou]][[{{Jerkass}} sly]]. It... [[DracoInLeatherPants doesn't]] [[EvilIsCool really]] [[FountainOFMemes work]].
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Meta example; in the 2015 anime opening, if you look carefully during the scene where Star Platinum breaks the glass/screen you can make out the outline of The World, and DIO is standing behind Jotaro's shoulder when it zooms into his face. [[spoiler: This was not a stylistic choice or an EasterEgg; "Dio's World Part 3" reveals that DIO was actually there the whole time on ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou our]]'' side of the glass/screen, which The World actually broke during a time stop rather than Star Platinum. This is then followed by the camera panning around to Jotaro's back and showing DIO casually strolling past him during the time stop with a [[SmugSmiler smirk]] before assuming his position behind him (now fully illuminated) before restarting time and engaging The World in a RapidFireFisticuffs duel with Jotaro and Star Platinum.]]
* TheHeavy: Aside from his own appearances in Part 1 and 3, the plots of most other Parts are propelled by pursuing leftover plot points related to Dio or his followers (the Stone Mask, the Bow and Arrow, his children, the Bone, and Green Baby). [[{{Irony}} He's also the reason why the Joestars became so badass in the first place]].
* HellIsThatNoise: In the 2015 anime, much like with Vanilla Ice and Cream's PortalCut, The World's time stop is signaled by a loud buzzing noise as well as the sound of a clock's hands slowing down and stopping.
** The timestop in the OVA is less intimidating and a heck of a lot more creepier, sounding like a low-tuned siren going off before fading away as the timestop expands outwards.
* HeroKiller: Oh yes. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he is ''the'' original shonen HeroKiller. His direct kills include [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLamb George Joestar]], [[MauveShirt Dire]], [[TheHero Jonathan Joestar]], [[TheLancer Kakyoin]], and [[CoolOldGuy Joseph Joestar]]... though the last one got better.]]
* HumiliationConga: His TakeThatKiss against Jonathan led to him being publicly humiliated by Erina and getting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Jonathan that caused him to burst into tears. He also suffers a second one after returning from Ogre Street when he discovers Jonathan is still alive, Speedwagon exposing his plan to deceive Jonathan and ''and'' having his plot to poison George Joestar exposed. When he used the Stone Mask, it was because vampirism was the ''only'' option he had left other than prison.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Throughout his appearences in the series, Dio displays several different methods of control
** Loyalty: Most of Dio´s minions are fanatically loyal to him, many of which would much rather kill themselves than fail him. In Part 1, Dio´s minion army consisted of the worst criminals he could find turned into zombies. In Part 3, Dio took advantage of Stand users and how they have a hard time fitting in society to convince them to serve him.
** Fear: His vampire minions are said to have surrendered themselves to him by fear, and he threatens Hol Horse with his power to scare him back to his side.
** Mind Control: In Part 1, Dio uses his hypnotic abilities and vampire abilities to turn people into subservient zombies. And in Part 3, he utilized flesh buds to surrender Kakyoin and Polnareff to his will, and used them to keep Enya under control.
** Money: A lot of Dio´s minions in Part 3 are hired mercenaries.
** A Piece Of The Action: In Part 4, it´s revealed that Dio used the arrows owned by Enya to create powerful subordinates by granting them Stands.
** Power
** Love: Most of his minions but particularly Vanilla Ice and Pucci.
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe: He can tell when Hermit Purple is being used on him.
* AnIcePerson: One of the vampiric abilities he demonstrated in Part 1 was to snap-freeze parts of his body (really exaggerated version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler#Physical_principles evaporative cooling]]), which, in turn, would drain heat from, and freeze, the bodies of any who came into physical contact with him. This proves to be effective against not only to close-range attacks, but Hamon as well: frozen blood can't carry oxygen throughout the body as effectively, and thus, considerably weakens his victim's Hamon. After returning in the eighties, he replaces it with [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill the power to stop time]]]].
* IconicOutfit:
** His Part 1 outfit consists an ornate shirt and breeches, a large pair of boots, vambraces, and two suspenders attached to a band around his waist. The anime version of this outfit made it look like his legs were ''much'' bigger than they actually were.
** Part 3 had him wear a suit colored yellow. He wears a jacket with a backless tank-top underneath. He now also wears a heart-shaped circlet, and rings for his cuffs. His pants are held up... somehow, and also wears... elfboots. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really]]. And he's still the most terrifying villain of the [=JoJo=] franchise.
* {{Irony}}:
** If Dio hadn't become a vampire, the [=JoJos=] wouldn't have gained the strength to fight future enemies like the Pillar Men and Stand Users, as Jonathan would've remained a normal man having normal descendants.
** Not only that, but Dio's attempt to kill Jotaro is almost darkly amusing. He attempts to defeat an opponent, by separating the head and the body, and seemingly expects it to be fatal.
** Dio is quite the {{Badass}}, but for all of his power he is almost always relying on the Joestar family for really, everything. To elaborate; he needed George's money and wealth for his own greed, [[spoiler: needed George's stone mask in order to become a vampire]], [[spoiler: needed Jonathan's body after he was reduced to a head]], [[spoiler: needed Joseph's blood to work better with Jonathan's body]], and [[spoiler: he relies on Jonathan's Hermit Purple #2]].
* ItAmusedMe: As highlighted by the community, a lot of Dio's Part 3 moments can be chalked up to this:
** Him trolling Polnareff by [[spoiler: taunting him on the stairs to get him to start climbing up followed by using The World on and off to relocate Polnareff down several steps, then rinsing and repeating]], which eventually leads to him [[spoiler: spawning a chair after a few rounds and speechifying to him.]]
** Randomly killing a cat and then dumping it in someone's drink during [[spoiler:his time stop to kill Joseph]].
** And of course, the usage of the steamroller.
** In Part 1, there's no good reason other than this for him to fuse the heads and bodies of various animals together to serve as pet zombies. This gets lampshaded in the [[WebVideo/JoJosBizarreAdventureAbridged Abridged Version.]]
--> '''Dio:''' "DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT MY MAN-CATS!"
* ItsAllAboutMe: ''Hoo'' boy, is it ever. His goal of controlling his own destiny and obtaining happiness is entirely based on what Dio believes he deserves, and he couldn't care less about the people he ruins in his way.
* {{Jerkass}}: Doesn't even ''begin'' to describe him.
* TheJuggernaut: His vampiric healing abilities are played to horrifying effects in ''Phantom Blood''. Not even Hamon, which is ''designed'' to fight vampires puts him down for long.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Dio wasn't exactly stable to begin with, but all that power slowly yet surely chips at whatever sanity is left in him. Especially after [[spoiler:absorbing Joseph's blood.]]
* {{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]][[note]] ''Muda'' means "useless".[[/note]] and '''''WRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!!'''''[[note]] A vampiric screech, pronounced "REEEEEEEEE".[[/note]]
* KickTheDog: Just for starters, he literally kicks Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for Jonathan's dog Danny to be stuck in the estate's incinerator]]. And it gets worse from there.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Poisoning his father is a little understandable considering the abusive behavior he's suffered. He probably just didn't expect him to [[PetTheDog do something nice on his deathbed like sending him to live with the Joestars]].
* KillingIntent: During Dio´s encounter with Will Zeppeli, after their exchange of words, Zeppeli remarks on Dio´s evil atmosphere and majestic presence as it ''physically pushes him back''.
* KnifeNut: In Part 3 he carries an array of knives with him to make up for The World's short range and likes to combine this with The World's [[spoiler: TimeStandsStill power]]. Especially against Jotaro. It suits his {{Yandere}} persona.
* KnightOfCerebus: Everything went to hell for Jonathan once he showed up to mess with his life for no reason other than to drive him down the DespairEventHorizon, and it gets worse with the GenreShift when he becomes a vampire by killing his adopted father, leading him to be an effective HeroKiller, culminating [[spoiler:in the death of Jonathan to have his body used for Dio's now decapitated head.]]
** In Part 3, when he finally steps up to fight, it results in the DarkestHour of the saga, with the majority of the cast killed and Polneraff nowhere to be seen; meaning Jotaro is forced to fight Dio and his godlike powers alone. Not to mention how BloodierAndGorier the fight was.
* LackOfEmpathy: He pretends otherwise in Part 1 through BitchInSheepsClothing, after becoming a vampire and by the events of Part 3, he's more of a DarkMessiah at least to his followers who think he shares the same compassion to them as their loyalty to him. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk It's not the case at all]], [[OnlyFriend except possibly Pucci]].
* LargeHam: "I REJECT MY HUMANITY, JOJO!"
* LaserGuidedKarma: For Dio, being killed by Jotaro only gets him [[spoiler:killed in part six]]. Towards Dio, being a threat to mankind killing some of the heroes gets [[spoiler:himself killed by Jotaro]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQZgOMfn_nI Hidden Feelings]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK1ZXVLbRCk From The Dark Abyss]], both of which play a sinister violin revealing his true vile nature.
** In Part 3, it switches to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxNZH3zrK8 Dark Rebirth]]
* LightIsNotGood: In Part 3, as if to contrast his depiction in Part 1, he wears golden yellow clothes with hearts and has a Stand that looks more like a masked demigod than a force of evil that he truly is.
* MakeSureHesDead: Dio isn't quite satisfied with sticking Jotaro through with knives and dropping him from over a dozen stories high, so he grabs a policeman's gun and shoots him. Afterward, he puts his ear to the ground to listen for Jotaro's heartbeat from a safe distance. Despite hearing nothing, he then decides to behead him with a street sign just to be sure. [[spoiler:He fails, as Jotaro used his Stand both to catch the bullet just after it pierced his skin and to temporarily stop his heartbeat.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulation is pretty much a superpower of his, considering most of the enemies in Parts 3 and 6 are composed of those who have been charmed to his side, whereas another one of his followers plays a major role in the plot of Part 6.
* MeaningfulName: "Dio" means "God" in Italian. To say he has a god complex would be an understatement.
* MeaningfulRename: His Part 3 self is called ''[[CapsLock DIO]]'' to distinguish him from his Part 1 self. It's even written that way in the Japanese version.
* MenacingStroll: Dio does that in the streets of Cairo.
* AMillionIsAStatistic[=/=]ShutUpKirk: His response to Zeppeli on how many people he killed post vampirism.
-->'''Zeppelli''': "Bastard...How many lives have you devoured to heal those wounds?"
-->'''Dio''': "Do you remember every piece of bread you've ever eaten?"
* MobileMenace: In Part 1, Dio Brando was always one step ahead of Jonathan. However, after becoming DIO in Part 3, OrcusOnHisThrone set in.
* {{Narcissist}}: Yeah...does this even need to be explained?
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: In Phantom Blood, after his debut fight he displayed the power heal by sucking blood, freeze the blood in his enemies, can't die unless his head is destroyed, and EyeBeams.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He's as responsible for the [=JoJos=] getting so strong as they did with him.
** Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]
* NotBloodSiblings[=/=]SiblingRivalry: With Jonathan. And it becomes [[CainAndAbel worse later]].
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:See OffWithHisHead below.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: In Part 1, nobody notices he's evil despite his literal KickTheDog, beating Jonathan for no reason, driving his thumb into Jonathan's eye in boxing match he already won, and nobody but Jonathan notices that he's evil until he forced kiss on Erina.
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Dio does this to himself in order to not be affected by Jonathan's Ripple, and later pulls a GrandTheftMe on the latter's body]].
* OnlyOneName: From Part 3 onward, he's known only as DIO. (Yes, in all capital letters.)
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Justified; as he is WeakenedByTheLight, he can't go far before the sunlight destroys him, so he has his human minions go and kill the Joestars.
** In Part 3, he is this because for the majority of the Part he is getting accustomed [[spoiler: to Johnathan Joestar's body]] and it's only when the heroes are literally at his doorstep does he decide to come out and deal with them.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: He sucks blood with fingers, freezes his own limbs and fires beams from his eyes... yeah. Then there's the fact that awakening human potential via Stone Mask results in vampirism.
* PetTheDog:
** Dio may be a sociopath who literally treats most of the women who encounter him as food, but felt compelled to spare the women who mothered his sons for unknown reasons. He also seemed to genuinely care for Pucci as a friend, which is unusual for someone so manipulative and self-centered.
** Although they aren't canon, Dio expresses admiration for his son, Giorno, in ''All-Star Battle'' and ''Eyes Of Heaven''.
* PoorCommunicationKills: If he bothered to tell Vanilla Ice [[spoiler:about his newfound vampirism, along with the strength and weaknesses, the battle against Polnareff might have ended differently.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Continues to influence the later parts from beyond the grave. Both times.]]
* PsychoticSmirk / SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:After absorbing Joseph's blood]].
* RealityEnsues:
** Towards the end of his fight with Jotaro, Dio [[spoiler: gets punched in the side of the head so hard that it almost completely fractures that side of his skull,]] giving him severe blunt-force trauma and a concussion, as well as leaving him in immense pain. Even with his inherent vampiric abilities, Dio is left so incredibly weak that the only reason Jotaro doesn't immediately kill him is due to The World stepping in, [[spoiler: and his recovery through Josephs blood.]]
** Likewise [[spoiler: attacking Jotaro before he was fully healed after Jotaro broke his leg. Since Jotaro was at full power at that point, his attack proved stronger and destroyed Dio's Stand, which in turn killed Dio.]]
* RealityWarper: [[spoiler: In the Eye's of Heaven game, this is the power of The World Over Heaven, the final evolution of his Stand has this power. The extent he is able to overwrite reality is unlimited but The World Over Heaven does have a major limitation; It can only be initiated through The World Over Heaven's fists, meaning that the stand would have to punch something in order to rewrite it.]]
* RealMenWearPink: In typical [=JoJo=] fashion. Who else could get away with wearing heart headbands and elf boots?
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Begins with blue (orange in he anime) eyes that become red upon his transformation into a vampire.
* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: One of the only two ways of killing him, but only the latter. Decapitation only results in an angry vampire head [[GrandTheftMe eager to find a new body to attach itself to.]] Complete brain obliteration is the only option.
** Straizo was blown into tiny chunks by grenades in Battle Tendency; and recovered so it's unlikely complete brain destruction short of destruction on the atomic level even works. It does heavily cripple him until he recovers however.
* SacredFirstKiss: Does this in an infamous scene with Erina in order to throw a wrench in her relationship with Jonathan. [[ForTheEvulz Why? Because he likes Jonathan to suffer for kicks!]]
** ForcedKiss: Dio's kiss was forced onto Ernia. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown It doesn't end well for Dio]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes as Jonathan showed him]].
* SarcasticClapping: His taunt in the Part 3 fighting game, while wearing his jacket. It's played with in that his teleportation move in that form [[ConfusionFu also has him clapping]], instead of turning his back to the opponent.
* SealedEvilInACan: Trapped under the sea in a coffin for almost a hundred years.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Poisons his own father and tries to do the same to his adoptive father George, but is foiled. [[spoiler:Later, he does manage to stab him to death with a knife.]]
* SelfMutilationDemonstration: Starts using it as an intimidation tactic after [[spoiler:draining Joseph's blood]], tearing off parts of his face and casually ramming his finger through his skull just to show Jotaro how little it affects him.
* SexyBacklessOutfit: Has apparently developed a thing for backless halter tops in Part 3.
* SmugSnake: For all his smarts, it still doesn't stop him from letting his arrogance get the better of him.
** After he defeats Jonathan and Zeppeli, he avoids killing them because he decides he method for countering the Ripple means they aren't a threat. When Jonathan came to face him again, he avoids killing because he wanted to turn him a zombie. Once he reveals his EyeBeams, it became clear he could have killed him without so much as throwing a punch if he didn't let his ego get in the way, further emphasized when he managed to kill him when reduced to a head.
** In Part 3, despite wanting to make sure Jotaro was dead at first, after he tried to crush him with a steamroller he was so caught up in the idea that he won his feud with the Jostars that he didn't check to make sure Jotaro was dead.
* SmugSuper: Even moreso in Part 3, merely breaking Jotaro's bones rather than doing one swift MegatonPunch to the gut like he did to Kakyoin. Leads to his death when he tries to attack him with a kick one last time before his legs were fully healed.
* TheSociopath: Speedwagon states he's been this way since birth. It's arguable how true this actually is, but no doubt having an abusive drunk of a father who drove his mother to her death made it worse.
* SoLastSeason: He uses none of his vampiric BodyHorror attacks in ''Stardust Crusaders'', favoring his Stand instead. [[spoiler:This may be because his body from the neck down is Jonathan's and not his own]].
** Still no excuse for not using the EyeBeam [[spoiler:-- something he possessed even without a body]].
** Cheerfully Lampshaded in his battle with Joseph Joestar:
---> Ah yes, ''Ripple''-Energy I believe! It was quite '''literally''' the death of me 100 years ago; but now that I wield The Power of The Stand, that which once slew me is now ''less than insignificant'' before The Might of '''[[TimeStandsStill The World!!!!!]]'''
** In other words, arrogance was pretty much the reason he didn't bother falling back on his vampire powers. He was confident he didn't need them.
* StartOfDarkness: One could argue that the death of his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes mother]] didn't help his mental state in the slightest. Dio's mother possibly could have curbed Dio's own sociopathic tendencies if she had lived.
* StockholmSyndrome: Dario Brando's twelve-years of constantly abusing Dio has quite literally beaten and mangled his perception of "love" into "I will love you if you can dominate and control me." Tragically, this is why he came to ''genuinely'' love Jonathan for [[spoiler:managing to utterly destroy his invincible vampiric body, leaving only his head intact.]] It was not until [[spoiler:Jonathan embraced him like a brother with his dying breath]] and meeting Father Pucci that Dio would know what it felt like to be ''unconditionally'' loved for who he is, flaws included.
* StoryBreakerPower
** [[spoiler:While Jotaro can use TimeStandsStill as well]], he's nowhere as proficient as Dio was. While [[spoiler: Jotaro can only use it as a desperate gamble for only one or two attacks or more if he's desperate]], Dio can spam it as long as he wants to, has an overall longer use for it, as he has the super speed and strength in order to use it more effectively (an infamous example would be his KnifeNut attack), and had an overall advantage over everyone [[spoiler:until Jotaro cleverly stopped time on him in order to get a shot at him. Had Jotaro not stopped him, Dio's time stop would eventually have reached infinite duration as demonstrated by Dio's time stop gradually increasing in duration after using Joseph's blood to finally sync Johnathan's body with his head.]]
** Hell even Dio's [[KillItWithIce Flash Freezing Powers]] were a clear breaker. Since the only thing that could kill him was the Sun and the Ripple, he could simply freeze any attack thrown at him. Objects would freeze then the user, even a full sword filled with Hamon froze easily. For him to actually be deated, Jonathan had to ''literally'' light his hand on fire and use the Ripple. If he has used that ''and'' The World...
* ThisCannotBe: His FamousLastWords pretty much drip with this after [[spoiler: Jotaro wins their final duel as his attack was more powerful that it shattered his Stand's body right to his head, imploding Dio from the inside out. All the while he's screaming "I AM DIO!!!" in disbelief that his recently gained newfound power has failed him.]]
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World.
* TookALevelInBadass: First the major jump from human to vampire, and then he took a million more when he got his Stand.
* TranshumanTreachery: What Dio says [[OurVampiresAreDifferent before becoming a vampire with the Stone Mask]] while attempting to kill Jonathan, [[spoiler:but getting George Joestar instead]].
-->'''Dio''': "'''I REJECT MY HUMANITY, JOJO'''"!!! ''[Cue LaughingMad.]''
* TsurimeEyes
* VampireBitesSuck: Rather than biting, he uses ''his fingers'' to suck blood via the fingers' blood veins.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Has fathered at least four sons with four different women in the span of less than four years. Not to mention many of his minions are pretty open about their lust for him.
* VillainousBreakdown: Experiences several during his feud with the Joestars.
* VillainousLegacy: Even after his death, his shadow looms over the Joestars/Kujos, causing them and the world much trouble. Even he, however, is a result of a much more ancient evil from Mesoamerica.
* VillainousValour: His first reaction to being confronted by a genuine vampire was to grab a knife and take up a battle stance.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: While the Stand Arrow and Bow would've still existed even without him around, if Dio hadn't given in to his ambitions, the Joestars would not have had the drive to learn the Ripple as it wasn't necessary to do so until Dio presented a threat to the world.
* VocalDissonance: At parts in the 2012 anime, due to GratuitousEnglish, Dio sounds less like a cultured villian and more like a southern hick, most notably including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsxXvKnuZ7s this famous moment]].
* WasOnceAMan: Started out as a man until he used the Stone Mask to become a vampire.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Which comes with being a vampire, and justifies his OrcusOnHisThrone act in Part 3, since he can't move in sunlight
* WeirdnessMagnet: [[spoiler:All Stand users attract other Stand users, so it's not uncommon to encounter another one.]]
* WickedCultured: When not making the Joestars' lives suck, he's enjoys the finer things in life, like drinking blood champagne and reading books in his private library in his hidden base. Or watching Michael Jackson concerts.
* WickedHeartSymbol: He has the HeartSymbol on his headband and knee pad, but he's the BigBad of 3 parts of the story.
* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:After losing his head]], he considers Jonathan this, but it's to {{Yandere}} extremes and he needed [[spoiler: his body to move again]].
** Likewise, he seems to regard Jotaro as a worthy adversary, even enjoying the fight with him. And while Jonathan may have been the only foe Dio actually respected, Jotaro seems to be the only enemy he ''feared''.
* {{Yandere}}: To Jonathan and the Joestars in general.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]
! Bruford
[[quoteleft:246:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bruford.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/KenjiroTsuda (TV anime), Creator/NobutoshiCanna (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Toru Nara (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/TonyOliver (English)
A knight who served under Mary of Scots, raised from the dead as Dio's minion. He is named after Bill Bruford of Music/{{Yes}}.
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* DyingAsYourself
* TheEvilGenius
* FaceDeathWithDignity: The second time he dies.
* FallenHero: Along with Tarukus, he used to be a brave self-sacrifcing knight before Dio raised him.
* GenreSavvy: Despite his [[HonorBeforeReason chivalry]], he creates a fighting style designed to stop the Ripple from working.
* GracefulLoser
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tarukus.
* HonorBeforeReason: Averted. While he is an honorable and noble knight as well as a fair fighter and good sport, he is pragmatic enough to not fight the Ripple head on and uses strategies that hinder it.
* LightningBruiser
* NobleDemon: Kills a zombie going after Jonathan because he considers the latter a WorthyOpponent after destroying his hair.
* PrehensileHair: Apparently he had this ability before he became a zombie.
* SenselessSacrifice: He originally died when he sacrificed his life hoping to save his queen, only to discover it was a trap and she was already dead.
* TakeUpMySword: Gives his sword to Jonathan [[spoiler:as he dies.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Tarukus.
* UndyingLoyalty: Originally to his queen, Mary, then to Dio after his resurrection.
* WorthyOpponent: Views Jonathan as one after he destroys his hair with Ripple.
! Tarukus
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tarkus.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/TetsuInada (TV anime), Creator/DaisukeGori (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Yoshinori Sonobe (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/JamiesonPrice (English)
Another knight who served with Bruford. He is named after Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer album ''Tarkus''.
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* {{BFS}}: His WeaponOfChoice.
* TheBrute: Relies on SuperStrength and his surprising agility, and is undoubtedly crueler than Bruford.
* CurbStompBattle: Is initially dishing one out against Jonathan, nearly killing him before Zeppeli intervenes [[spoiler: only to get killed himself, but his intervention allows Jonathan to turn the fight into a stomp in his favor.]]
* EvilRedHead
* EvilSoundsDeep
* FallenHero: Same as Bruford, but more so as he gets a little too DrunkWithPower and [[TookALevelInJerkass treated his partner like trash when he died]].
* GeniusBruiser: Very smart despite being TheBrute.
* GenreSavvy: Like Bruford, he creates a situation where the Ripple is useless.
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: Kills Zeppeli as he tries to rescue Jonathan]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Bruford.
* ImplacableMan: Despite not having a HealingFactor and being a rotting corpse, he can take a lot of damage.
* KickTheDog: Did he really need to kick his fallen ally's remains like that?
* LightningBruiser: Hits fast and hits ''very'' hard.
* MadeOfDiamond: Back when he was alive, his executioner broke a hundred axes trying to behead him.
* SenselessSacrifice: Same as Bruford.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Tarkus or Tarukus?
* SuperStrength: Enough to demolish a cliff side.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Bruford.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Goes from being Bruford's friend in life to becoming DrunkWithPower and treating his remains like garbage.
* UndyingLoyalty: Basically Bruford with the JerkAss elements taken to an extreme level.
! Jack the Ripper
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_0.png]]
-> Voiced by: Naomi Kusumi (TV anime), Creator/HisaoEgawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PaulStPeter (English)
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* AxCrazy: More like knife crazy, but you get the point.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: VAMPIRE JACK THE RIPPER! Though, unusually for this trope, he only became a supernatural being AFTER doing what made him famous.
* TheDarkChick: His insanity firmly puts him in this position.
* ExoticWeaponSupremacy: What the ''hell'' is that big metal-sword-jaws-on-a-hinge thing he fights Jonathan with?
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Dio turns him into a ''vampire'' after sensing a kindred spirit in him. At least it helps explain [[FridgeBrilliance why he was never caught and identified]] -- Jonathan's Ripple disintegrated him before that could happen.
* KnifeNut: To the point that, after becoming a vampire and thus no longer running on biological processes, but on pure will and power, he ''implants a mess of knives in his body''.
* SelfMutilationDemonstration: Casually slices off his pinky and shoves a scalpel all the way through his cheek to the other side of his head.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent
* WarmupBoss: While fought a ways into ''Phantom Blood'', he is quite literally used as a final test for Jonathan by Zeppeli.
! Wang Chan
[[quoteleft:259:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wang_chan.png]]
-> Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Kazumi Tanaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Jun Itoda (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Doug Stone (English)
A Chinese apothecary who sells Dio poison to use on George. Upon Dio becoming a vampire, Wang Chan becomes his zombie minion. He is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Chung_(band) Wang Chung]].
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* TheDragon: In a way, since he is Dio's first and also final minion.
* DragonTheirFeet: Disappears for awhile before [[spoiler:bringing Dio's head onto the boat]] in the finale.
* DumbMuscle: Dio has to walk this moron through ''everything''.
* GenreBlind: To contrast Dio. If he had half a brain, Dio would have taken Jonathan's [[spoiler:body]] without any trouble at all.
* InformedAttribute: Speedwagon says he dangerous and shouldn't be messed with. We never got to see what he does or why [[spoiler:during his human phase.]]
* PrimalStance: Walks and jumps around like a monkey.
* TooDumbToLive: Seriously! Dio kept on telling him not to underestimate Jonathan and just kill him, but does he listen? No...
* TookALevelInDumbass: He was much more cunning as a human than as a zombie.
* WolverineClaws: Uses a pair in a manga-only fight with Jonathan.
* YellowPeril: He looks the part, but he's really only concerned with running a business. Until Dio turned him into a minion.
! Doobie
[[quoteleft:222:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doobie.png]]
-> Voiced by: Yuichi Ishigami (TV anime) (Japanese), Creator/KirkThornton (English)
-----
* EatenAlive: In a rather dark course of action, Jonathan has his own snakes [[HoistByHisOwnPetard devour him]].
* NightmareFace
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Has venomous snakes coming out of his face which he uses to poison victims.
! Adams
[[quoteleft:190:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adams.png]]
-> Voiced by: Hidenori Takahashi (TV anime) (Japanese), Anthony Hansen (English)
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* CurbStompBattle: Defeated with a single kick from a freshly powered-up Jonathan.
* GameFace: How it's revealed that he's one of Dio's zombies.
* OverlyLongTongue
! Jones, Bornnam, Page, Plant
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jones_bornnam_page_plant.png]]
[[caption-width:350:(From Right to Left) Jones, Bornnam, Page, Plant.]]
Four of Dio's zombie minions. They are named after the members of Music/LedZeppelin.
-----
* CurbStompBattle: As soon as they introduce themselves, Straizo traps them all in a chandelier and sends a Ripple through it, instantly vaporizing them all at once.
* NightmareFace: All of them, especially Jones and Page.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: While most of the other zombies can look human for the most part, these four guys look like aliens, monsters, or even demons.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Bornnam or Bonham?
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Neutral]]
! Dario Brando
[[quoteleft:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dario_brando_4.jpg]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/TadashiMiyazawa (TV anime), Koji Yada (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Kazuhiro Ozawa (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/SteveKramer (English)
Dio's father, an abusive drunk and petty thief.
-----
* AbusiveParents: No wonder Dio turned out the way he did.
* TheAlcoholic: A lot of his abuse to Dio happened when he was drunk.
* AssholeVictim: Dio's first victim, that we at least, and unlike the rest, everything we see of him seems to justify Dio's hate for him.
* BaldOfEvil: While he does have some hair in the manga, the 2012 adaptation gives him extreme male pattern baldness in comparison.
* BeardOfEvil: Complete with BaldOfEvil, he looks very old for a father of the {{Bishonen}} Dio.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[DownplayedTrope Er, kind of]]. Not on the same levels as the Pillar Men, but his abusive behavior played a part in Dio becoming who he is. If his son ''was'' evil since birth, then his treatment certainly didn't help.
* {{Jerkass}}: Treated his wife like crap, and even wanted to sell her dress after she died to get money, having no compassion for her at all. [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Dio didn't take kindly to this]].
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At least to his son, as he gave an opportunity to Dio that he knew he himself could never provide.
** JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: To George Joestar; he "'''saved'''" him, but really wanted his body to sell to the highest bidder.
* PetTheDog: Ironically, his ''one'' act of kindness and fatherly love, wanting the best for Dio and giving him a bright future, is what (indirectly) caused countless tragic deaths, atrocities, and eventually [[spoiler:the destruction and recreation of the entire Universe]].
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Make a cup of coffee, sit back and imagine for a second; if a petty pick-pocket, a ''nobody'' in the grand scheme of the universe, had instead been a DotingParent who worked hard and treated his family with kindness ''all'' his life, ''Dio Brando'', The Tyrant [[spoiler:who remade The World]], would have grown up to be just another honest yet equally faceless laborman in Victorian London...
** And more importantly; the Joestar/Kujo family's legacy as Warriors and Heroes would ''never'' have been awakened without him finding George, accidentally saving his life, which in turn led to Dio's vicious bullying of Jonathan in childhood. Like-father Like-Son, after all. Though linking with the above, even if the Joestar/Kujo's legacy would never awaken, [[VillainsActHeroesReact no threats would come to the world because Dio would grew as a honest man.]]
** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: See PetTheDog above.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: He's in his 50s, but looks to be much older, especially in the 2012 adaptation.
[[/folder]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart3 Stardust Crusaders]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart4 Diamond Is Unbreakable]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart5 Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart6 Stone Ocean]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart7 Steel Ball Run]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart8 JoJolion]]|
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Heroes]]
! Jonathan Joestar (Stand: Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[note]]Identical to and possibly named Hermit Purple[[/note]] + The World [[note]]In combination with Dio[[/note]])
[[quoteleft:288:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar.jpg]]
[[caption-width:270:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar_all_star_battle.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in ''All Star Battle'']]
[[caption-width:270:Click [[labelnote:here]] http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in ''Eyes of Heaven'']]
[[caption-width:288:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_joestar_anime.png[[/labelnote]] to see Jonathan as he appears in the anime]]
->Young Jonathan voiced by: Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu (TV anime), Creator/KazuyaNakai (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/JohnnyYongBosch (English)\\
Adult Jonathan voiced by: Creator/KazuyukiOkitsu (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', ''J-Stars Victory Vs'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/JurotaKosugi (OVA), Creator/HideyukiTanaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/JohnnyYongBosch (English)
Jonathan Joestar. Nicknamed [=JoJo=]. Just a 12 year old boy minding his own business in 1880s Victorian England. One day, his father announces that Dio Brando is moving in with them, and Dio proceeds to push him out of his father's favor and ruin his life in every way possible. Jonathan, however, puts up with Dio, managing to get beyond it all and become an archaeologist. He researches a Mesoamerican stone mask that was in his father's collection, that, at first, appears to be a trap that kills the wearer. [=JoJo=] then finds out that Dio plans to kill his father and races to get an antidote from the evil Wang Chan with his newfound friend Robert E. O. Speedwagon. After getting the cure, the two men save [=JoJo=]'s father and fight Dio, who, during the fight, shows that he has used the mask on himself and not died but become a vampire, and burns down Jonathan's house and escapes. [=JoJo=] and Speedwagon meet the Italian William Antonio Zeppeli, who teaches [=JoJo=] the vampire-killing fighting style Hamon (Ripple) to beat Dio. [=JoJo=], Speedwagon, and Zeppeli go to a European village and face off with Dio.
[[spoiler: After defeating Dio, he and the love of his life, Erina, prepare to go to America for their honeymoon. However, Dio, still alive from the fight (albeit a head at this point), ambushes them and turns almost everyone on the boat into a zombie. Intending to use his body as his host, Dio lands a fatal blow on him, but with his last breath, Jonathan sacrifices himself to [[TakingYouWithMe take him with him]], providing Erina and an infant with a means of escape. After 100 years under the sea, Dio reemerges with his head now attached to Jonathan's body]].
-----
* TheAce: Achieved mastery of the Ripple, a skill that usually takes a lifetime, within the span of a month.
* AdaptationDyeJob: In the 2012 anime Jonathan is given [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair blue hair]] as oppose to the brown hair he and the rest of his family has in the manga. Most likely this was in order to physically differentiate Johnathan from his IdenticalGrandson Joseph.
* {{Adorkable}}: Was quite the DorkKnight as a youth. He still has his moments as an adult, such as towards the end of Part 1 when he invites Erina (who he just married) to dinner, only to hit his head on the door because he's so tall.
* AdventurerArchaeologist
* AlliterativeName: '''Jo'''nathan '''Jo'''estar.
* AllLovingHero: He likes everybody -- even ''Dio'', the man who ruined his life, home, and happiness.
* AnimalMotifs: In Tonpetty's prediction, he is compared to a lion.
* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:He dies]] after finally defeating Dio.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: Joestar.
* BadassAdorable: A well-mannered, sincere, sweet-tempered, and kind-hearted BoyNextDoor.
* BadassBaritone: In the Phantom Blood movie where he is voiced by Creator/KatsuyukiKonishi
* BadassBookworm: Studied and published articles on archaeology in college.
* BadassFamily: UpToEleven. He was the only badass Joestar of his era, but his family basically TookALevelInBadass with each successive generation.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Spends the majority of Phantom Blood dressed in Victorian gentlemen's clothes. The only time he doesn't is for his climactic battle with Dio in the castle.
* BadassNormal: Before getting his ripple abilities, he already was a strong fighter. He's the only main [=JoJo=] to never get a Stand either, making him the most "normal" fighter of them all. He's without a doubt the biggest physical fighter of all the main series [=JoJo's=] though.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Even Jonathan can be terrifying when pushed too far. Dio learned this firsthand when he messed with Erina.
* BigManOnCampus: Best student of his school alongside with Dio, athletic, and popular. He more than qualifies.
* BigOlEyebrows: Being a Kenshiro expy he ought to have these.
* BirthmarkOfDestiny
* {{Bishonen}}: [[http://jjba.wikia.com/wiki/File:126517.jpg Later illustrations make]] [[http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120714072314/jjba/images/8/8b/3876_-_giorno_giovanna_higashikata_josuke_jojo%27s_bizarre_adventure_jonathan_joestar_joseph_joestar_kujo_jotaro.jpg him look much more slender and pretty.]]
* BoyNextDoor: To Erina.
* BraveScot: Owing to his family heritage as well as his chivalry.
* ButtMonkey: Dio turned his younger days into a living hell just because "he was in the way."
* CainAndAbel: The Abel to Dio's Cain.
* CallingYourAttacks: Has the most out of all the [=JoJos=].
--> SUNLIGHT YELLOW '''OVERDRIVE!'''
* CoolSword: He gets Bruford's Luck and Pluck. [[spoiler:And uses it quite well to defeat Dio.]]
* CosmicPlaything: To the point where you think that Araki personally hates him.
* CulturedBadass: He is '''THE''' gentleman of the Joestar family.
* DecoyProtagonist[=/=]FirstEpisodeSpoiler: Counts as this for the entire rest of the series, having the shortest and easiest-to-explain Part, while it's next to impossible to discuss the rest of the series without bringing up [[spoiler:his untimely fate and the subsequent jump ahead a few decades.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: His defeat of Speedwagon, his first enemy, earned him a loyal friendship that lasted over not just one but multiple generations of the Joestar family.
** Hell, his ability to hold his own against Vampire Dio gains Dio's respect, and his victory and courage earned Dio's outright adoration. Too bad Dio's a {{Yandere}}.
* {{Determinator}}: Zeppeli stated that one of the reasons he could master the Ripple in so little time was due to this characteristic. Dio realizes this is why he is so dangerous; no matter how much is thrown at him, Jonathan simply comes back stronger.
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: Even without a Stand, he still counts after being trained in the usage of Hamon.
* {{Expy}}: Over six feet tall? Check. Body composition mainly tightly-packed muscle? Check. Nice as a boy scout to children and people he meets? Check. Makes people explode? In this case, it's vampires by his fists of sunlight, but CHECK! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a serious Kenshiro expy. And in the anime, he dresses and poses similarly too.
* ExtraOreDinary: Life Magnetism Overdrive.
* GeniusBruiser: His large size might give you the impression that he's a meathead, but he is quite intelligent, having majored in archaeology and become one of the top students at his university.
* GentleGiant: 195 Centimeters (6'4") tall and heavily muscled, but polite as a boy scout crossed with a choir-boy. He's so well mannered he uses the polite masculine personal pronoun "boku" to refer to himself, rather than the coarse, rude "ore" that Shounen-Manga leads are expected by genre to use.
** What's more, he ''consistently'' uses the absolute-polite prefix of ''"Kimi" (My Dear/Good Man/Good Lady)'' when referring to ''everyone'', even his '''enemies.''' Quite a jarring genre-shock when shounen heroes his build '''normally''' use ''Omae" (Hey You), "Kisama" (Bastard/Bitch)'', and ''"Teme" (A rude way of saying You)'' in the same situation.
** Contrast with...well, most of his descendants but especially Jotaro.
* GoodIsNotSoft: He may be a gentleman, but he doesn't let off evil [[EasilyForgiven easily]]; notably, he has Doobie's own snakes attack him and that's not even getting into how he beat Dio for humiliating his possible lover.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler: As he dies from the wounds Dio inflicted on him, he smiles, both at Erina, and Dio himself.]]
* HappilyMarried: [[spoiler:If only for two days, the poor boy...]]
* TheHero: His resolve to protect his family kicks off the whole story.
* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler: Probably one of the most [[ItWasHisSled famous examples in manga history.]]]]
* HeroicBuild: The original art style Araki used made him look incredibly ripped. His physique had been downplayed or even removed in later illustrations due to ArtEvolution.
** Sometimes, taken to an illogical extreme. There are some full-body images of him that make it look like his head's too small for his body.
* HonorBeforeReason: The only [=JoJo=] protagonist to be completely honorable. All of the others are {{Anti Hero}}es, {{Combat Pragmatist}}s, who were willing to hit girls. Given that his honor eventually got Jonathan killed, you can see his descendants' point.
* HotBlooded: Not as much so as Joseph, but he does like shouting.
* IdealHero: Jonathan is very much a gentleman, and firmly believes there is good in people, as well as believing in HonorBeforeReason. Unfortunately this makes him GenreBlind as he fails to see the GenreShift until it's literally in his face.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: If the page image of him wasn't any tipoff, in the volume covers, he's seen wearing unbelievably amazing clothing. However, the clothes he wore, like many, many others in Hirohiko-brand fashion, gave up practicality for fabulousness. Doesn't make them any less awesome in the long run.
** The clothes he wore in the actual story were much less showy and more practical than what he wore in the volume covers and chapter art. But they still look pretty nice.
* IconicOutfit: His most well known outfit is a close-fitted tank top with capped sleeves, along with a pair of ''very'' skin tight pants. The anime version replaces them with leather pauldrons.
* InSeriesNickName: [=JoJo=].
* InstantExpert: Masters the Ripple in half a freaking day when it takes a ''lifetime'' for pretty much anyone else in Part 1.
* LightEmUp: '''SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!'''
* LonelyRichKid: Jonathan was one, being ostracized because of his wealth and only having his dog for a friend.[[FromBadToWorse Then Dio came along...]]
* NextTierPowerUp: Gets all of Zeppeli's Ripple energy [[spoiler:as Zeppeli dies.]]
* NiceGuy: He's polite, earnest, and openly kind, though most of his descendants don't have these traits.
* NiceHat: In the story, he wore a pretty nice deerstalker a few times.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: [[spoiler: His intended sacrifice leads to Dio possessing his body and becoming more dangerous than before]]
* OfficialCouple: With Erina. [[spoiler:It doesn't last long, since he died on their honeymoon.]]
* OnlyFriend: Rather sadly, Dio acknowledges in his diary (the novel "Dio: Made In Heaven") that recalling how Jonathan [[spoiler:held him with genuine love and friendship as he died]], he has come to return the sentiment in full [[spoiler:100 years later.]] Nobody else, after all, has shown him that, except maybe Pucci.
* PlayingWithFire: Scarlet Overdrive.
* ThePowerOfTheSun: The Ripple [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin is powered by the sun]].
* RapidFireFisticuffs: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH9cNAOe34M Beat, My Furious Heart!! Burn, Flames Of Passion!! Awaken, The Courage Of My Blood!! SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!!]]
* SenselessSacrifice: [[spoiler: [[ItWasHisSled One of the most infamous examples in shonen history]], especially if you've read Part 3.]]
** To be fair, [[spoiler:said sacrifice]] did save his son, beginning the [=JoJo=] legacy that proved to be the only thing capable of defeating Dio and his vision. After a fashion.
* ShaggyDogStory: BIG TIME. [[spoiler:His actions to sacrifice himself with Dio end up turning for the worst, as Dio manages to become more cunning and powerful with attaching his head to his now dead body, making his sacrifice harshly pointless in the long run]].
** Though as mentioned above, this allows his son to continue the Joestar bloodline, making him responsible for every good deed the protagonists in the series accomplish.
* SignatureMove: '''SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!'''
* StaticCharacter: Though he grows more determined and confident as the story goes on, Jonathan doesn't really undergo any major character development. He ends the story as selfless and loving as he started. [[TropesAreNotBad Fans don't mind too much]] since his earnestness and gentlemanly behavior help him stand out even decades later after a long line of delinquent descendants, and the fanbase adores him for it.
* StrongFamilyResemblance: Jotaro and especially Joseph resemble him.
* SuperStrength: As first with his ripple training, most of Jonathan's ability came from pumping his foes and obstacles full of hamon... Then came Zeppeli's Ultimate Deep Pass Overdrive, and Jonathan became so strong that he could absolutely ''manhandle'' Tarkus, a ''literal'' giant, as well as effortlessly crush the steel collar binding his neck that aforementioned giant outright said ''he'' had problems breaking.
* SympathyForTheDevil: The only character in the entire franchise that could actually bring himself to genuinely like Dio, save perhaps Dio's mother.
* TakingYouWithMe: Tries to pull this on Dio. [[spoiler:He only succeeds in delaying him for around 100 years.]]
* TaremeEyes: To contrast Dio's TsurimeEyes.
* TenderTears: Has a heart ''so'' sensitive and kind he sheds these for everyone, even his enemies.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Jonathan was such a sweet and kind-hearted boy that his [[spoiler:final moment on Earth was not filled with hate, but rather brotherly love for Dio as he tenderly hugged his disembodied head in spite of having being murdered by him, much like his own father was.]]
** [[spoiler:Plus he told Erina to take care of a baby of a woman he has no connections with and have them escape going down with Dio because he felt pity for the infant who lost her mother, and this tops it off.]]
** [[spoiler:"[[FamousLastWords Be happy, Erina"]]]].
** [[spoiler:(Dying Thoughts) "It's just as you said Dio, we are bound by a bizarre friendship, you and I."]]
* TookALevelInBadass: After a brief TimeSkip, post Dio's KickTheDog, he grew into a BadassBookworm of sorts...
** ...And then he took another level during his training to master the Ripple.
*** [[spoiler:After Zeppeli's death, he takes [[SerialEscalation '''another''' level of badass]] enough to curb stomp any vampire with the ease of killing a tick, aside from Dio himself.]]
* TragicHero
* TraumaCongaLine: Dio puts him through the wringer, beating him at everything, stealing his girl's [[SacredFirstKiss first kiss]], burning his dog, and that's when he was twelve.
* WifeBasherBasher: Bonus points for the girl he defended ''actually'' becoming his wife 8 years later!
* WorldsStrongestMan: ''The'' strongest [=JoJo=], or even human ''period'' in the series, even as far as Part 8. In fact, feats of strength like his wouldn't even be replicated again until Jotaro and Star Platinum came around.
* YankTheDogsChain: Anytime it looks like Jonathan will get a happy ending, Dio and Araki will be there to ruin it all.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: All characters get this due to ArtEvolution but while Araki's new artstyle [[OnlySixFaces makes them look similar]], they retain their {{Iconic Outfit}}s/[[IconicItem Items]]. This is not the case with Jonathan, who is recently depicted with a scarf and ''[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Caesar's]]'' headband while Joseph (the one who is actually associated with both of those items) switched to pilot gear instead.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Supposed to be brown in the manga, but the anime follows Araki's coloring scheme (read: can be absolutely anything), so sometimes it looks green, or purple. But most of the time it's blue.
! Robert E. O. Speedwagon
[[quoteleft:338:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/speedwagon.jpg]]
->Voiced by: Creator/YojiUeda (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/MasayaOnosaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/KeithSilverstein (English)
An Ogre Street thug who becomes Jonathan's best friend [[DefeatMeansFriendship after taking a beating from him]]. After the events of Phantom Blood, he moves to the United States and strikes it rich as an oil tycoon.
He is named after Music/REOSpeedwagon.
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* AscendedExtra: While only a narrator in ''All-Star Battle'', he was PromotedToPlayable in ''Eyes of Heaven''.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: The surname "Speedwagon".
* BadassNormal: The only major character to fight alongside the Joestars and not have '''any''' super powers or powerful technology at all.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Highly hinted to be the reason for his HeelFaceTurn. Jonathan was the first person to show him any form of kindness.
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: The anime left out the manga's explanation for [[spoiler:the Germans putting him in a straightjacket in Part 2: that Speedwagon had broken a glass bottle and attempted suicide with it.]]
* BigGood: Throughout parts 1 through 6, the Speedwagon Foundation's resources are what allow the Joestars to fight evil so effectively.
* ButtMonkey: Is the butt of the majority of the humor in Part 1.
* CaptainObvious: Made more apparent in the TV anime.
* CelibateHero: The ending of part 2 states that [[spoiler:before the events of part 3, he died of a heart attack at the age of 89, still single and unmarried.]]
* TheChick: Rare male example. His sheer emotional support and sensitivity towards Jonathan qualifies him for this as well as TheHeart, being far more sensitive than even Erina
* CoolOldGuy: In part 2.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: And by friendship, we mean HoYay levels of obsessions with Jonathan after a single fight.
* DetectEvil: Claims to be able to smell Dio's evil.
* DropTheHammer: Begins using a sledgehammer in Windnights Lot to replace his old razor blade hat.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Speedwagon may be the leader of a group of thugs when he is first introduced, but he only steals for survival. He immediately hates Dio because Dio is [[ForTheEvulz pure evil and enjoys it]].
--> "Dio is somewhere in this town! I can't forgive that bastard! I steal ''things'', but he steals ''life''!"
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: By Part 2, he's lost his mullet and his hair is much shorter.
* FictionFiveHundred: Speedwagon became filthy, stinky rich in between Parts 1 and 2.
* {{Foil}}: To Dio; both were urchins whose lives changed after they met Jonathan, but whereas Dio remained bad, Speedwagon became a better person, and eventually went on to gain all the wealth and status that Dio wanted, but used it for good reasons.
* HeelFaceTurn: But only a heel because he ''had'' to be one to look after his destitute family on the uncaring streets of 19th-Century London, mind you.
* HeroWorshipper: Jonathan's #1 fanboy.
* HonoraryUncle: To Joseph. (And, offscreen, to Joseph's father George.)
* HotBlooded: So much so, he can cure frostbite by literally using his chest... no, seriously.
* IJustWantToBeBadass: Part 1. He tried to learn the Ripple to be useful to Jonathan and Zeppeli. He failed.
* TheLancer: To Jonathan.
* LargeHam: Even moreso than Dio himself in Part 1, who spends each moment hamming his loyalty, passion etc. He gets a little better with age.
* TheLoad: Subverted. Even if he had absolutely no powers, he helped Jonathan and Zeppeli a lot during their battles against Dio's vampires. He even grabs a weapon and fights during Jonathan's final battle with Dio.
* LoveRedeems: A non romance example. Jonathan and Jonathan alone acknowledged the hardship Robert endured to protect his destitute family, and thereby became the ''first'' person to acknowledge his humanity.
* MrExposition: His primary role is to provide exposition as well as commentary during fights.
* NiceGuy: Fifty years after Jonathan awoke his decency, the bloodthirsty thug and murderer Robert E.O. Speedwagon became a sweet-tempered and kindhearted old-gentleman who contributes tirelessly and endlessly to medical research and improving the lives of the destitute.
* NiceHat: Aside from his razor blade bowler, he [[spoiler:inherits Zeppeli's hat when Zeppeli dies.]]
* RagsToRiches: Starts off as a thug in the slums of London, but strikes it rich in the oilfields of Texas. The Speedwagon Foundation he creates remains an important player in the later parts of the series.
* ScarsAreForever
* SharpDressedMan
* ShoutOut[=/=]StevenUlyssesPerhero[=/=]PunnyName: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REO_Speedwagon REO Speedwagon]].
* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler:Dies only two chapters into Part 2. Subverted a few chapters later when he turns out to be NotQuiteDead.]]
* TheTeamBenefactor: From Part 2 onwards.
* UnclePennybags: He dotes a lot on Erina and Joseph in Part 2. Joseph even calls him "Uncle Speedwagon".
* UndyingLoyalty: To the point that the organization he's founded will always aid the Joestars in their crusades because of Jonathan's charisma.
* WeaponizedHeadgear: Much like ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'''s Oddjob, he uses a hat with a blade hidden within it.
! William Antonio Zeppeli
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/william_anthonio_zeppeli.png]]
->Voiced by: Creator/YokuShioya (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/RikiyaKoyama (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film) (Japanese), Joe Ochman (English)
An eccentric Italian man who trained in the martial art of Ripple, a technique that allows control over force (for example, breaking a boulder by punching a frog sitting upon it -- without harming the frog) and simulation of other energies (like sunlight) through controlled breathing. He accompanies Jonathan on his quest to kill Dio and teaches him the technique.
He is named after Music/LedZeppelin.
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* BadassBaritone: In the Phantom Blood movie and video game where he is voiced by Creator/RikiyaKoyama. Not so much in the other media, where he has a high-pitched, almost whistling tone.
* BadassMustache
* BadassInANiceSuit
* CampStraight: Very apparent in the anime.
* CoolOldGuy
* CulturedBadass
* {{Expy}}: In a later interview, Araki notes that some of his physical features (namely his mustache) were based off of Iyami of ''Manga/OsomatsuKun''.
* GratuitousItalian: In the English Dub.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: [[spoiler:Bisected at the waist by a chain. Doesn't stop him from having a nice long conversation while he dies.]]
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Wine. He kills zombies with wine.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:His death begins the sad legacy of the Zeppeli family, none of whom ever survive the story.]]
* TheMentor: Taught Jonathan the Ripple.
** MentorOccupationalHazard: [[spoiler:And was ''told'' that this trope would happen and he still went through with it. This man's got [[CallForward Steel Balls!]]]]
* NiceHat: A black and white checkerboard patterned top hat.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: If William Zeppeli hadn't [[spoiler:let [=JoJo=] inherit his entire-lifetime's complement of power]], Dio would not have been as monstrously powerful as he was 100 years later [[spoiler:when he in turn inherits Jonathan's body, and hence the might of the old master as well. However, if he hadn't, Dio would have killed Jonathan in their fight, making this a subversion.]]
* ObiWanMoment: [[spoiler: Even when he realizes he is about to face a sudden and horrific death, he does not seem to be too fazed by this and acts very casually with regards to life.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:During his last moments, the effects of his Ripple training wear off, revealing his true age.]]
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:More apparent in the manga because of the current anime's fast pace.]]
* SatiatingSandwich: Zeppeli is introduced to the series casually eating a sandwich with some extra pepper.
* SinkOrSwimMentor: After wounding a zombie, he orders [=JoJo=] to kill it without spilling a single drop from a class of wine. If he spilled any, even if he had won, Zeppeli would have abandoned [=JoJo=] on the spot.
* SinsOfOurFathers: He is trying to stop Dio because his father was the one who originally found the Stone Mask and used its powers for evil.
* SurprisinglyGoodEnglish
* WalkOnWater: One of the talents gifted by Hamon. Though Zeppeli sort of tiptoes across the surface rather than walk.
! Tonpetty
[[quoteleft:245:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tonpetty_6.png]]
-> Voiced by: Tamio Oki (TV anime), Osamu Saka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Yoshisada Sakaguchi (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/MichaelMcConnohie (Engish)
A Tibetan monk and Zeppeli's Ripple master.
He is named after Music/TomPetty.
-----
* BadassGrandpa
* BaldOfAwesome
* BusCrash: Straizo has his position by Part 2, so Tonpetty implicitly died in the between time. Given no one discussed it, it was probably of [[LifeWillKillYou natural causes]].
* CoolOldGuy
* TheMentor: To Zeppeli.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The ''Jorge Joestar'' novel gives him the full name Ngapoi Ngawang Tonpetty, after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngapoi_Ngawang_Jigme Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme]].
* OldMaster: To Zeppeli.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Pretty much any combination of To[m/n]pet[t][i/y] has been seen.
! Dire
[[quoteleft:225:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dire_2.png]]
-> Voiced by: Taketora (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Creator/YukitoshiHori (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PaulStPeter (English)
One of Zeppeli's friends who trained under Tonpetty.
He and Straizo are named after Music/DireStraits.
-----
* LethalJokeCharacter: His ripple ability seems to be an extremely slow kick, but it actually turns out to be an effective trap if an enemy takes the bait and gets too close.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: How he meets the heroes.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: [[spoiler:How he dies.]]
* MauveShirt: [[spoiler:He dies immediately after Dio uses his power, but does manage to inflict a blow before he passed on.]]
* TheWorfEffect: [[spoiler:Despite being competent enough to match Jonathan (if briefly), he is easily defeated and killed by Dio. Bad luck for him that Dio's Freezing Touch was the perfect counter to his Cross Thunder Technique.]]
** [[spoiler:However, his final blow to Dio gives Jonathan a hint on how to defeat the former.]]
* WeHardlyKnewYe: Just as he was being built up as a powerful ally against Dio, [[spoiler:the latter kills him before he do anything other than scratching his eye.]] Aside from this, all we know of him is that he was a fellow disciple of Tompeti with Zeppeli.
! Straizo
[[quoteleft:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/straizo.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/NobuoTobita (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Hiroaki Miura (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Dave Mallow (English)
Another student of Ripple alongside Zeppeli. In part 2, he [[spoiler:uses a newly discovered second stone mask to become a vampire and antagonizes Joseph]].
He and Dire are named after Music/DireStraits.
-----
* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: [[spoiler:He commits suicide by channeling the Ripple into his body as a vampire after being defeated by Joseph.]]
* {{Biseinen}}
* CallingYourAttacks: [[spoiler:"SPACE RIPPER STINGY EYES!"]]
* CatchPhrase: "I, Straizo, will show no mercy!"
* DrunkWithPower: [[spoiler: After he becomes a vampire.]]
* EyeBeams: [[spoiler:Uses Dio's old eye beam attack on Joseph after becoming a vampire. He gives it a ''really'' stupid name (Space Ripper Stingy Eyes), too.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:He turns into a vampire during Part 2, inspired by Dio's eternal beauty and youth.]]
* FangsAreEvil: [[spoiler:After becoming a vampire.]]
* FullFrontalAssault: [[spoiler:After [[CrazyAwesome Joseph]] blows Vampire Straizo up with a bundle of grenades, he regenerates and continues to fight Joseph naked.]]
* GoOutWithASmile
* GratuitousEnglish: The aforementioned Space Ripper Stingy Eyes.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Why he claims he's trying to kill the Joestars after becoming a vampire.]]
* IRegretNothing: Even as he's dying, he doesn't regret [[spoiler:becoming a vampire, because he'd rather violently die as a young man than whither away.]]
* ImmortalitySeeker: [[spoiler:Even though the Ripple slows aging down, it can't stop it completely, which is why he becomes a vampire.]]
* ImplacableMan: [[spoiler:After becoming a vampire.]]
* LastNameBasis: Possibly, since the novel Jorge Joestar gives his adoptive daughter's name as Elizabeth Straizo.
* LongHairedPrettyBoy
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Alerts Joseph to the existence of the Pillar Men, bringing them to the attention of the one man clever and brutal enough to defeat all four.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[WizardsLiveLonger His knowledge of the Ripple]] has let him age very gracefully, going from his twenties to seventies with just whitened hair to show for it. [[spoiler:He isn't satisfied with this, and becomes a vampire to truly regain his youth.]]
* ParentalSubstitute: [[spoiler: He's given the baby Erina saves to raise as his own. He raises the child into the ripple master Lisa Lisa]].
* PullingHimselfTogether: [[spoiler:After Joseph blows him up.]]
* ScarfOfAsskicking: His scarf doesn't just look cool, it's made from beetle intestines that let disperse the Ripple.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most of the fanbase calls him Straits or Straights.
* StealthMentor: [[spoiler:While he did have some bad intentions with it, he got Joseph fully aware of his Ripple powers to fight the Pillar Men.]]
* SuddenSequelHeelSyndrome: [[spoiler:Turns on Speedwagon and becomes a vampire right at the start of ''Battle Tendency''.]]
* StarterVillain: [[spoiler:Takes this position in Part 2, kicking off Joseph's involvement in the plot in the process.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: And for such a minor character!
* WarriorMonk: He's a Tibetan monk.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Straizo assumes [[CombatPragmatist Joseph]] is basically the same as [[HonorBeforeReason Johnathan]]. [[LikeFatherUnlikeSon He's mostly wrong]], though he was ultimately right that Joseph would [[spoiler:agree to fight him [[ChronicHeroSyndrome if an innocent bystander was in danger]]]].
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Allies]]
! George Joestar I
[[quoteleft:270:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/george_joestar_9.png]]
-> Voiced by: Masashi Sugawara (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Tsutomu Isobe (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film) (Japanese), Creator/MarcDiraison (English)
Jonathan's father.
-----
* BadassMustache
* HeroicSacrifice
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Tends to assume the best of everyone, including complete bastards like Dario or Dio Brando.
* NiceGuy: Could never make himself hate Dio even after being poisoned and murdered by him, and with his last breath asked for him to be buried next to his real father with sincere love and compassion.
* ThePollyanna: Quite possibly the most kind-hearted and generous Joestar in the series; considering the others include [[NinetiesAntiHero Jotaro]], [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Joseph]], [[TheGamblingAddict Josuke]], and [[LovableSexManiac Jolyne]], it's quite the contrast.
* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Pretty much existed just to show that unlike other shonen villains in TheEighties, [[HeroKiller Dio]] didn't fuck around.]]
* UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}: He's a quintessential English lord, but the Joestar line seems to have Scottish roots. As shown [[http://www.mangarush.com/manga/jojo39s-bizarre-adventure/12/p-8 here]], he visits Scotland yard wearing a pretty glorious highland dress.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: Speedwagon himself said as much when he wept for the death of this most decent and kind man.
! Erina Pendolton
[[quoteleft:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erina_young.png]]
[[caption-width:280:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erina_old.png[[/labelnote]] to see Erina as she appears in ''Battle Tendency'']]
->Voiced by: Creator/AyakoKawasumi (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Creator/AyaHisakawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Creator/NanaMizuki (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/MichelleRuff (English)
-----
* ComfortingTheWidow - RomancingTheWidow: Joseph asks her if this happened [[spoiler:with Speedwagon and her after Jonathan's death]]. She hits him with her umbrella for being inappropriate.
* CoolOldLady: In ''Battle Tendency''.
* GoOutWithASmile: [[spoiler:The ending of part 2 describes that she died a peaceful death surrounded by a lovely family.]]
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Not only blonde, but saves a child of a woman that she didn't even know at the behest of Jonathan. And not to mention her treatment of Smokey (an African American) as an equal, which made especially clear since it was during the 30s, when racism was still abundant.
* HerHeartWillGoOn: [[spoiler:Never remarried after Jonathan's death.]]
* IWasQuiteALooker: While she still looks pretty good for someone in her 70's, it's clear that age ''and'' personal tragedies have taken a toll on her.
* NiceGirl
* OfficialCouple: With Jonathan.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring: [[spoiler: The poor woman not only loses her newlywed husband, but also her son George, and for a while her grandson.]]
* RacistGrandma: [[DefiedTrope Thankfully and completely defied]]. Erina Joestar is truly A Woman Ahead Of Her Times, as even though she was raised in Victorian England, an era famous for the advent of Scientific Racism, she not only treats Smokey (an African American) with as much love and respect as she would ''any'' of her white friends, but takes him in and treats him like family. Mind you, this progressive attitude is NOT shared by '''most''' other 1930's Americans even in the ''[=JoJoverse=], as made painfully clear by the racist restaurant patron in Episode 10.
* SacredFirstKiss: Dio [[ForcefulKiss forcibly takes this from her]] as a child, throwing a wrench into her relationship with Jonathan.
* SilkHidingSteel: Erina's attitude is a bit tougher than one would expect from a Victorian lady, as seen from her indirectly insulting Dio by washing her mouth with dirty water after she kisses her. Fans like to joke that the succeeding [=JoJos=] got their impolite attitudes from her. [[spoiler:The fact that she manages to survive at sea after a shipwreck [[PregnantBadass while pregnant]] and [[ParentalSubstitute looking after a baby that isn't even hers]] probably accounts for her toughness as well.]]
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Most fans spell her name as the more realistic "Elena Pendleton", but the official art books ''et cetera'' spell it Erina Pendolton.
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Averted; she's willing to die with Jonathan at the end of ''Phantom Blood'', but he convinces her to escape the shipwreck and live on.]]
! Poco
[[quoteleft:215:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/poco.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/YumikoKobayashi (TV anime), Creator/DaisukeSakaguchi (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/AmandaCelineMiller (English)
-----
* AdaptationDyeJob: Goes from being blond in the manga, to brunette in the anime.
* CowardlyLion: Too scared to fight for himself, but ultimately lends a hand in defeating Tarkus by being the only one small enough to fit inside the passage to pull the lever to get Zeppeli and Speedwagon in.
* {{Mooning}}: When he first steals from the heroes (under Dio's hypnosis), he taunts them this way. [[spoiler:Also does this to taunt Tarkus when Jonathan, Zeppeli, Speedwagon and him escape on an improvised leaf glider]].
* TagalongKid
!!Poco's sister
[[quoteleft:283:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pocos_sister_whos_name_isnt_peggy_as_far_as_we_know.png]]
->Voiced by: Creator/AyaEndo (TV anime), Junko Hagimori (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/DorothyEliasFahn (English)
-----
* ArmorPiercingSlap: To Poco for being a coward and to Dio when he considers making her LegalJailbait via vampirism.
* NoNameGiven
* PluckyGirl
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Villains]]
! Dio Brando (Stand: The World + Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[note]]Identical to and possibly named Hermit Purple; Originating from Jonathan Joestar[[/note]] )
[[quoteleft:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_1.png]]
[[caption-width:293:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_3.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in ''Stardust Crusaders'' manga.]]
[[caption-width:293:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_2.png[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in the ''Phantom Blood'' anime.]]
[[caption-width:265:Click [[labelnote:here]]http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio.png[[/labelnote]] to see Dio as he appears in the ''Stardust Crusaders'' anime.]]
--> "'''''You were a fool to attack me. I have disowned my weakness in favor of life everlasting! '''''"
->Young Dio voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (TV anime), Creator/KenjiNojima (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PatrickSeitz (English)
->Adult Dio voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (CD drama), NobuoTanaka (OVA), Creator/HikaruMidorikawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game and film), Creator/IsshinChiba (''Heritage for the Future'' video game), Creator/KanetoShiozawa (commercial for the SNES game) (Japanese), Andrew Chaikin (OVA), Creator/PatrickSeitz (TV series) (English)
The scornful child of a petty thief in 1800s England. After poisoning his own father, he is adopted by George Joestar and makes it his goal to utterly ruin Jonathan's life in order to become the estate's sole inheritor. When that plan fails, Dio ends up using the stone mask to become a vampire and try to take over ''the world'' for himself.
He resurfaces in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', [[spoiler:having attached his severed head to Jonathan's body]], to resume his goal of obtaining his ideal world, but meets resistance from Jonathan's descendant Jotaro Kujo. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
He is named after Music/RonnieJamesDio and MarlonBrando.
-----
* AdaptationalBadass: Randomly gains the ability to teleport in the Phantom Blood anime.
%%* AintTooProudToBeg
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Jonathan and Jotaro prove to be superior combatants in terms of intelligence and technique with him only managing to put the pressure on them with his vampirism and The World respectively.
* AmbitionIsEvil: Dio´s staunch ambition is the core force driving his actions throughout the series. Dio´s overall goal is to always stand on top of everyone else through any means available to him. At first, he desired to take the Joestar fortune for himself. Then, after becoming a vampire, he sought to rule over . After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
* AndIMustScream: Trapped for almost a century under the sea with only Jonathan's corpse for company. Nevermind enduring the agonizing process of fusing with a body who actively rejects his presence, to the point he still isn't fully healed when he comes back in Stardust Crusaders.
* TheAntichrist:
** Very much so; he was evil from birth, [[TeensAreMonsters was a sociopathic teen]], and even gets vampiric LegionsOfHell once he vampirizes.
** Defied in following arcs, where his followers see him as a DarkMessiah. It's an act and he's very much the antichrist underneath this facade.
* ArchNemesis: Dio is this to the entire Joestar family. Every single one of them can trace at least one of their misfortunes back to him.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: In Part 1 for the zombies, and he has an even bigger cult that ranges for several sagas involving Stand Users.
* AxCrazy: While he was never mentally sound, especially after becoming a vampire, he loses what little sanity he had [[spoiler:when absorbing Joseph's blood]] and goes completely psychotic.
* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:He [[HeroKiller kills Jonathan]] at the end of ''Phantom Blood'', and his plan to reset the universe comes to fruition, though it backfires on him]].
** MeaninglessVillainVictory: [[spoiler:Pucci makes a grievous error that gets him killed, resulting in a universe where the Joestar line apparently never suffered at Dio's hands. For all his work, all he ends up with was a world where his greatest enemies escape him.]]
* BadassBaritone: His voice actors include Creator/TakehitoKoyasu, Creator/IsshinChiba, and ''Creator/NorioWakamoto'' in Japanese, and Creator/PatrickSeitz in English.
* BadassBookworm: He keeps a library in his hidden base that he actually reads. He also [[AmoralAttorney studied law]] in university.
* BadassFamily: Technically, he ''is'' a Joestar. [[spoiler: His 3 sons in part 6 are badasses too. And his first son, the protagonist of Part 5, gets what is possibly the most broken Stand in the series]].
* BerserkButton: Dio has many, particularly those related to his childhood and weaknesses.
** Dio absolutely does not stand anyone looking down on him or considering him weak, or even worthy of pity. This in particular has lead to the death of George Joestar, who Dio believed saw him as nothing but a charity case.
** Dogs really piss him off.
** He hates the very mention of his father.
* BaddieFlattery: Prone to doing this from time to time. He gradually grew to respect (and even admire) Jonathan and applauded Polnareff for surviving the entire journey (although he was simply trying to get him back on his side).
* BadPowersBadPeople: Alongside the standard set of vampiric abilities, Dio has several other nasty powers such as hypnotism, flesh parasites that enslave a victim to his will and will kill anyone who tries to remove them, prehensile veins, fusing creatures together to create mutant chimeras, etc.
* BigBad: Of Part 1 and Part 3.
* BigManOnCampus: Both he and Jonathan were the top students of their university, excelling in sports and law. [[TranshumanTreachery Unfortunately, Dio had to become an immortal vampire instead]].
* BigScrewedUpFamily: [[spoiler:He is a jerk himself, Giorno's mom was a bitch, and among his other three sons in ''Stone Ocean'', Rykiel is the only one who isn't a jerk. Along with all that, due to having Joestar blood in him, Dio is this towards [[DidntThinkThisThrough his new family.]]]]
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: Three spots on his left earlobe. According to Wang Chan, this marks him as [[BornLucky extremely lucky]]. Also [[spoiler:the Joestar Birthmark after succeeding in stealing Jonathan's body.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing: In Part 1, before he became ridiculously charismatic and hardcore.
* BiTheWay: WordOfGod is that he doesn't care about whether someone's male or female as long as they interest him.
* BoldInflation: From Part 3 onwards he addressed himself as DIO and everybody else refer him as such, even in the original Japanese.
* BornLucky: See above.
* BreakoutVillain: By far the most popular villain of the series and one of the most popular characters.
* BrokenAce: Of the evil variety in Part 1.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: When Zeppeli asked him how many people he killed in order to heal his injuries from a previous fight with Johnathan. Dio's answer was to ask Zeppeli if he remembered every time he ate bread. Zeppeli was [[ItsPersonal not pleased with that answer]].
* ByronicHero: Mostly alluded to while [[spoiler:he's still alive]], but starts to come out piece by piece in his flashbacks with Pucci in part 6. Most explicit in the semi-canon novel Over Heaven, which may or may not represent him lying out of his ass for 309 pages.
* CainAndAbel: Although adopted, he plays the Cain dangerously straight to Jonathan's Abel [[spoiler:to the point that he kills him and later takes over his body]].
* CallForward: If one regards the Pillar Men and the Modes they have, Dio becomes a Ice Mode.
* CameBackStrong: After his revival in Part 3 as DIO, he was stronger, faster, and smarter than before due to assimilating Jonathan and Zeppeli's powers into himself.
* CapsLock: Starting in Part 3, his name is spelled in all caps.
* CarFu: Forced Senator Phillips to run over several people to catch Joseph and Kakyoin. And of course, [[DeathFromAbove the Road Roller]].
* CardCarryingVillain: After being exposed by Speedwagon and becoming a vampire, he embraces it fully, declaring himself to be the "evil elite".
---> Most humans are bound by the laws of good. They fear the power of evil. However, a rare few are born unfettered by good...the evil elite!
* TheCasanova: Four of his sons from numerous liaisons appear in the series, and it's implied that there may be many more.
* CharacterDevelopment: Undergoes it throughout both Phantom Blood and Stardust Crusaders.
** Before becoming a vampire, Dio was self-justifying, preferring to tell himself that his problems stem from his background and being Dario´s son and that anyone would do the same things he did, never thinking of himself as a bad person and not yet intending to use the mask. After Speedwagon shows up and strips him of his self-justifications and beliefs about himself, and exposes him in front of Jonathan, George and the police, Dio, cornered and with little choice, rejects his humanity and becomes a vampire. From that point forward Dio starts to do as he pleases, playing with his power like a child with a new toy and never even attempting to pretend to be a normal human.
** After [[spoiler:his defeat and century-long imprisonment under the Atlantic, Dio appears far more thoughtful, introspective, self-aware and seems to have abandoned his views of obtaining merely power through money and physical abilities. He appears questioning his goals and the nature of metaphysical concepts such as happiness and fate, and has matured significantly. He also seems to have lost his views of detachment and superiority to humans thanks to Jonathan and has very few vampiric followers in Part 3, with most of his loyal servants being Stand-using humans.]]
* CharmPerson: Dio has an inhuman amount of charisma that makes both the forces of good and evil want to serve him. This increases in Part 3 because attaining Jonathan's body made people even more aware of how superior DIO is even before brainwashing comes in, further adding into his [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] character.
* TheChessmaster: Especially in Part 3, where he plays with everyone, so he can get more powerful, and to get rid of his enemies, namely the Joestars. He was also the one who [[spoiler:manipulated Enrico Pucci into carrying out his plans posthumously, and almost came ''dangerously'' close in succeeding.]]
* ClassicVillain: Dio is classic in many ways. He represents Ambition, Pride, Envy, Lust, Wrath, Gluttony, and Greed -- the only thing Dio ''isn't'' is Slothful, unless you count OrcusOnHisThrone.
* ComboPlatterPowers: SuperStrength, HealingFactor, FightingSpirit projection, MindManipulation, PrehensileHair, prehensile ''veins'', [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill time-stopping ]]]], [[AnIcePerson blood-freezing powers]], high-pressure blood EyeBeams and the ability to turn people into zombies. [[spoiler: in the non-canonical game Eyes of Heaven, his Stand has evolved into [[RealityWarper The World Over Heaven]], which can overwrite the reality of an object by punching it.]]
* TheCorrupter: Enrico Pucci was a well-meaning priest before meeting Dio, who molded him into a homicidal KnightTemplar.
* CurbStompBattle: A lot of his fights end up being this way. He tossed Jonathan and Zeppeli around and killed Dire with ease in Phantom Blood, and in Stardust Crusaders he [[spoiler: killed Joseph though he got better, and Kakyoin. Then he defeated Polneraff without trouble, and had Jotaro at his mercy until Jotaro began using his own TimeStop against him]]. To put it bluntly, the only time he was ever on the receiving end was once when he set off Jonathan's BerserkButton, when they were both kids.
* DarkIsEvil: In Part 1, he wears very black or darkened colors associated with night, not to mention his creations of zombies are sometimes extremely demonic.
* DarkMessiah: A few of the part 3 hirelings, such as Enya and N'Doul, see him as at least akin to this [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk despite not caring for them in the slightest if they fail and treat them favorably if they succeed if only to have further use for them]]. [[OnlyFriend Pucci is possibly the only exception]]. As N'Doul put it, "even the bad guys...need a savior."
* DeathByIrony:
** [[spoiler:His fight with Jotaro ends with the one part of his body [[LosingYourHead that survived the events of Part 1]] [[YourHeadAsplode exploding violently]]]].
** Also after going on about how his Stand has allowed him to surpass all of his old weaknesses, [[spoiler:What finally kills him for good was being exposed to sunlight, the most basic vampire weakness.]]
* DeathFromAbove: '''''RODA ROLLA DA!!'''''
* TheDeterminator: Dio manages to cheat death a total of three times during Phantom Blood. The second time was because he ripped off his own head as his body was burning away due to a ripple, and then he maintained to maintain his (highly questionable) sanity while being stuck under the ocean for a century.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Of Part 1.
* DiabolicalMastermind: In Part 3 as DIO, he controls a giant villain network made of Stand Users and vampires fanatically loyal to him, has a ridiculous amount of money to throw around, his influence reaches out across [[IncrediblyLamePun the world]], and he has a ridiculously swanky mansion in Cairo with a fabulous looking bed.
* DirtyCoward: Above all else, Dio is determined. This does not mean that he is particularly brave and for all his pride, he isn't above fleeing or begging for his life when things turn sour.
* DiscardAndDraw: He trades in his old vampire powers after obtaining Jonathan's body for the far more badass ability [[spoiler:to stop time.]]
* DiscOneFinalBoss: For the whole series after ''Phantom Blood,'' but averted within the Part itself, [[spoiler:though Jonathan's final battle with him is after he loses his body in their earlier struggle.]]
* DittoFighter: What the power of ''The World'' may actually be, rather than TimeStandsStill; the tarot card ''The World'' represents Integration and Wholeness, amongst others, which Dio's Stand mirrors by integrating Joseph's and Jotaro's stands's abilities of precognition, superhuman physical capabilities, [[spoiler:and TimeStandsStill]].
** [[FridgeBrilliance Not too surprising, if true;]] most of what Dio possesses was gained at the expense of others.
* DueToTheDead: Zigzagged. While Dio does desecrate Jonathan's corpse to use as his new body, certain materials state that he feels guilt about demeaning his old foe's remains, but he also feels that Jonathan's body is the only thing in existence worthy of containing his will. Yeah, Dio's weird like that.
* EightiesHair: Sports one hell of a mullet in Part 3, [[JustifiedTrope though he has the excuse of it actually being]] [[TheEighties the 1980s.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He literally [[KickTheDog kicks Jonathan's dog Danny]] because he was running towards him.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: His only soft spot, who died before the story even ''began'', thereby letting his personality run loose.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: In his own twisted way, Dio did care about Jonathan. Before becoming a vampire, Dio came to form a certain bond of brotherly friendship with Jonathan that he later came to admit as a weakness, and even after that he saw Jonathan as the only man worth his admiration. Certain materials imply or state that he felt guilt for using his body to move around as DIO.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: Dear lord, do they ever.
* EvilBrit: Even if only in the literal sense, since the entirety of Phantom Blood takes place in Britain.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Underestimated Jonathan's nobility until the very end. His last words to him were an attempt to bribe his rival with vampiric immortality so he could survive his wounds, not understanding that someone willing to sacrifice himself in such a way would never take up that offer.
* EvilCounterpart: To Speedwagon, who grew up in similar dire circumstances on the streets of London, but managed to rise above his misfortune to be a true man of greatness. Ultimately, by choosing to fight the darkness he was born into instead of spreading it, Speedwagon [[spoiler:gets everything Dio wanted, striking it rich, living his life out with peace of mind, and ultimately gaining a form of immortality through the Speedwagon Foundation]].
* EvilIsDeathlyCold: His ice powers in Part 1.
* EvilIsNotWellLit: Spends a good deal of time in the dark, being a vampire and all.
* EvilOverlord: Tried to be one in ''Phantom Blood'' as Dio Brando... it didn't really pan out. He had much more success as DIO in ''Stardust Crusaders'' as a DiabolicalMastermind.
* EvilSoundsDeep
* EvilVirtues: Ambition, Determination, Valor.
* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: His hair spikes up to Super Saiyan levels when he [[spoiler:takes Joseph's blood]], showing how much power he gained and [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope sanity he lost]].
* EyeBeams: Sort of. He can shoot [[EyeScream eye goop from his eyes at the speed of a bullet]] in Part 1, though in the 2012 anime it's treated as a laser, slicing a few zombies in half along with the top of the building he's in.
** [[ForgotAboutHisPowers But for some reason, he did not use this ability in Part 3]] [[spoiler:despite being able to do so as even a head]].
* FaceFramedInShadow: In ''Stardust Crusaders'', DIO's face is always obscured in the darkness... despite looking exactly the same he did in ''Phantom Blood''.
* FangsAreEvil: He [[OurVampiresAreDifferent doesn't use them to drink blood though.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: A case which swaps between this and actual AffablyEvil, since while he's a smooth and suave talker who's deep down a megalomaniacal sociopath, he's not completely faux. Dio usually does not attack unless he is provoked or deems his foe dangerous, though this is usually due to a smug sense of superiority rather than kindness. He will first try persuading people to work for him, then fight them if they oppose. He's also not incapable of forming friendships with those who are nice to him, and trusted Pucci enough to give him control of his plan to [[spoiler:recreate of the universe]] if he ever "veered off track".
* FightingSpirit: The World.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Averted, and also a literal example, as he's shown no discomfort in the 1980s.
* FlechetteStorm: One each on Joseph and Jotaro by throwing as many knives as he hands could hold.
* ForTheEvulz: While Dio did all those atrocities to Jonathan when they were 12 because he hated Jonathan and wanted to be the only one worthy of the Joestar fortune, some of the things he does after becoming a vampire fall straight into this category. Creating fusions between animals and humans, tricking a woman into eating her own baby and turning several of the people in Windknights Lot into monstrous zombies falls straight into this trope.
* FreudianExcuse: [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] and immediately [[DefiedTrope defied]]. Dio tries to blame his villainy on his upbringing, but Speedwagon says he can ''smell'' that Dio's been evil since birth, and brutally exposes him for the monster he is (which ends up changing Dio´s view of himself as well).
* FromNobodyToNightmare: On a literally cosmic scale. Dio was originally the son of a drunken bum with no super special secret origins or evil ChosenOne status, but through cunning and charisma, he became a very dangerous vampire. Even then, he would have just been a {{Mook}} compared to the Pillar Men. Then he still set into motion a plan [[spoiler:that led to the destruction and recreation of the freaking universe!]]
* GeniusBruiser: He has a passion for reading and dropping steamrollers on people.
* AGodAmI: His motive after reappearing in the 1980s, as revealead in Stone Ocean. [[spoiler: Dio seeks to use Made In Heaven to finally achieve the world he desires and control his destiny]].
* GodOfEvil: [[spoiler:Heaven Ascension DIO]].
* GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: The reveal of what Heaven Ascended DIO would have looked like in Eyes of Heaven shows that he has alabaster white skin with golden accoutrements and facial tattoos, and his ascended Stand The World Over Heaven has a predominantly white color scheme compared to its original gold.
* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:After killing Jonathan, Dio attaches his own head to the body's neck.]]
* GratuitousEnglish:
** '''''ZA WARUDO!!'''''
** Good-bye [=JoJo=]!
* GreaterScopeVillain: Of the series overall, climaxing in Part 6. The only time he's outdone is in Part 2, where Kars is the GreaterScopeVillain for part 1; even in this case, Kars is only the greater GreaterScopeVillain by fact of his plans stretching across multiple millennia as opposed to Dio's century-and-a-half.
* GrievousHarmWithABody: Just after becoming a vampire, he throws a constable's body with enough force to kill two others and break Speedwagon's arm.
* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Jonathan nearly slices him in half in final fight. It barely slowed him down.
* HandicappedBadass: His greatest feat as a HeroKiller was done [[spoiler:when he was just a head]]. Not to mention he was handicapped for the majority of Part 3 despite having a stand [[spoiler:due to Jonathan's body rejecting him and weakening The World.]]
* HateSink: [[KickTheDog Obv]][[ForTheEvulz iou]][[{{Jerkass}} sly]]. It... [[DracoInLeatherPants doesn't]] [[EvilIsCool really]] [[FountainOFMemes work]].
* HeWasRightThereAllAlong: Meta example; in the 2015 anime opening, if you look carefully during the scene where Star Platinum breaks the glass/screen you can make out the outline of The World, and DIO is standing behind Jotaro's shoulder when it zooms into his face. [[spoiler: This was not a stylistic choice or an EasterEgg; "Dio's World Part 3" reveals that DIO was actually there the whole time on ''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou our]]'' side of the glass/screen, which The World actually broke during a time stop rather than Star Platinum. This is then followed by the camera panning around to Jotaro's back and showing DIO casually strolling past him during the time stop with a [[SmugSmiler smirk]] before assuming his position behind him (now fully illuminated) before restarting time and engaging The World in a RapidFireFisticuffs duel with Jotaro and Star Platinum.]]
* TheHeavy: Aside from his own appearances in Part 1 and 3, the plots of most other Parts are propelled by pursuing leftover plot points related to Dio or his followers (the Stone Mask, the Bow and Arrow, his children, the Bone, and Green Baby). [[{{Irony}} He's also the reason why the Joestars became so badass in the first place]].
* HellIsThatNoise: In the 2015 anime, much like with Vanilla Ice and Cream's PortalCut, The World's time stop is signaled by a loud buzzing noise as well as the sound of a clock's hands slowing down and stopping.
** The timestop in the OVA is less intimidating and a heck of a lot more creepier, sounding like a low-tuned siren going off before fading away as the timestop expands outwards.
* HeroKiller: Oh yes. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he is ''the'' original shonen HeroKiller. His direct kills include [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLamb George Joestar]], [[MauveShirt Dire]], [[TheHero Jonathan Joestar]], [[TheLancer Kakyoin]], and [[CoolOldGuy Joseph Joestar]]... though the last one got better.]]
* HumiliationConga: His TakeThatKiss against Jonathan led to him being publicly humiliated by Erina and getting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Jonathan that caused him to burst into tears. He also suffers a second one after returning from Ogre Street when he discovers Jonathan is still alive, Speedwagon exposing his plan to deceive Jonathan and ''and'' having his plot to poison George Joestar exposed. When he used the Stone Mask, it was because vampirism was the ''only'' option he had left other than prison.
* IControlMyMinionsThrough: Throughout his appearences in the series, Dio displays several different methods of control
** Loyalty: Most of Dio´s minions are fanatically loyal to him, many of which would much rather kill themselves than fail him. In Part 1, Dio´s minion army consisted of the worst criminals he could find turned into zombies. In Part 3, Dio took advantage of Stand users and how they have a hard time fitting in society to convince them to serve him.
** Fear: His vampire minions are said to have surrendered themselves to him by fear, and he threatens Hol Horse with his power to scare him back to his side.
** Mind Control: In Part 1, Dio uses his hypnotic abilities and vampire abilities to turn people into subservient zombies. And in Part 3, he utilized flesh buds to surrender Kakyoin and Polnareff to his will, and used them to keep Enya under control.
** Money: A lot of Dio´s minions in Part 3 are hired mercenaries.
** A Piece Of The Action: In Part 4, it´s revealed that Dio used the arrows owned by Enya to create powerful subordinates by granting them Stands.
** Power
** Love: Most of his minions but particularly Vanilla Ice and Pucci.
* IKnowYoureWatchingMe: He can tell when Hermit Purple is being used on him.
* AnIcePerson: One of the vampiric abilities he demonstrated in Part 1 was to snap-freeze parts of his body (really exaggerated version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler#Physical_principles evaporative cooling]]), which, in turn, would drain heat from, and freeze, the bodies of any who came into physical contact with him. This proves to be effective against not only to close-range attacks, but Hamon as well: frozen blood can't carry oxygen throughout the body as effectively, and thus, considerably weakens his victim's Hamon. After returning in the eighties, he replaces it with [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill the power to stop time]]]].
* IconicOutfit:
** His Part 1 outfit consists an ornate shirt and breeches, a large pair of boots, vambraces, and two suspenders attached to a band around his waist. The anime version of this outfit made it look like his legs were ''much'' bigger than they actually were.
** Part 3 had him wear a suit colored yellow. He wears a jacket with a backless tank-top underneath. He now also wears a heart-shaped circlet, and rings for his cuffs. His pants are held up... somehow, and also wears... elfboots. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No, really]]. And he's still the most terrifying villain of the [=JoJo=] franchise.
* {{Irony}}:
** If Dio hadn't become a vampire, the [=JoJos=] wouldn't have gained the strength to fight future enemies like the Pillar Men and Stand Users, as Jonathan would've remained a normal man having normal descendants.
** Not only that, but Dio's attempt to kill Jotaro is almost darkly amusing. He attempts to defeat an opponent, by separating the head and the body, and seemingly expects it to be fatal.
** Dio is quite the {{Badass}}, but for all of his power he is almost always relying on the Joestar family for really, everything. To elaborate; he needed George's money and wealth for his own greed, [[spoiler: needed George's stone mask in order to become a vampire]], [[spoiler: needed Jonathan's body after he was reduced to a head]], [[spoiler: needed Joseph's blood to work better with Jonathan's body]], and [[spoiler: he relies on Jonathan's Hermit Purple #2]].
* ItAmusedMe: As highlighted by the community, a lot of Dio's Part 3 moments can be chalked up to this:
** Him trolling Polnareff by [[spoiler: taunting him on the stairs to get him to start climbing up followed by using The World on and off to relocate Polnareff down several steps, then rinsing and repeating]], which eventually leads to him [[spoiler: spawning a chair after a few rounds and speechifying to him.]]
** Randomly killing a cat and then dumping it in someone's drink during [[spoiler:his time stop to kill Joseph]].
** And of course, the usage of the steamroller.
** In Part 1, there's no good reason other than this for him to fuse the heads and bodies of various animals together to serve as pet zombies. This gets lampshaded in the [[WebVideo/JoJosBizarreAdventureAbridged Abridged Version.]]
--> '''Dio:''' "DON'T TALK SHIT ABOUT MY MAN-CATS!"
* ItsAllAboutMe: ''Hoo'' boy, is it ever. His goal of controlling his own destiny and obtaining happiness is entirely based on what Dio believes he deserves, and he couldn't care less about the people he ruins in his way.
* {{Jerkass}}: Doesn't even ''begin'' to describe him.
* TheJuggernaut: His vampiric healing abilities are played to horrifying effects in ''Phantom Blood''. Not even Hamon, which is ''designed'' to fight vampires puts him down for long.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: Dio wasn't exactly stable to begin with, but all that power slowly yet surely chips at whatever sanity is left in him. Especially after [[spoiler:absorbing Joseph's blood.]]
* {{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]][[note]] ''Muda'' means "useless".[[/note]] and '''''WRRRYYYYYYYYY!!!!!'''''[[note]] A vampiric screech, pronounced "REEEEEEEEE".[[/note]]
* KickTheDog: Just for starters, he literally kicks Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for Jonathan's dog Danny to be stuck in the estate's incinerator]]. And it gets worse from there.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Poisoning his father is a little understandable considering the abusive behavior he's suffered. He probably just didn't expect him to [[PetTheDog do something nice on his deathbed like sending him to live with the Joestars]].
* KillingIntent: During Dio´s encounter with Will Zeppeli, after their exchange of words, Zeppeli remarks on Dio´s evil atmosphere and majestic presence as it ''physically pushes him back''.
* KnifeNut: In Part 3 he carries an array of knives with him to make up for The World's short range and likes to combine this with The World's [[spoiler: TimeStandsStill power]]. Especially against Jotaro. It suits his {{Yandere}} persona.
* KnightOfCerebus: Everything went to hell for Jonathan once he showed up to mess with his life for no reason other than to drive him down the DespairEventHorizon, and it gets worse with the GenreShift when he becomes a vampire by killing his adopted father, leading him to be an effective HeroKiller, culminating [[spoiler:in the death of Jonathan to have his body used for Dio's now decapitated head.]]
** In Part 3, when he finally steps up to fight, it results in the DarkestHour of the saga, with the majority of the cast killed and Polneraff nowhere to be seen; meaning Jotaro is forced to fight Dio and his godlike powers alone. Not to mention how BloodierAndGorier the fight was.
* LackOfEmpathy: He pretends otherwise in Part 1 through BitchInSheepsClothing, after becoming a vampire and by the events of Part 3, he's more of a DarkMessiah at least to his followers who think he shares the same compassion to them as their loyalty to him. [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk It's not the case at all]], [[OnlyFriend except possibly Pucci]].
* LargeHam: "I REJECT MY HUMANITY, JOJO!"
* LaserGuidedKarma: For Dio, being killed by Jotaro only gets him [[spoiler:killed in part six]]. Towards Dio, being a threat to mankind killing some of the heroes gets [[spoiler:himself killed by Jotaro]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQZgOMfn_nI Hidden Feelings]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK1ZXVLbRCk From The Dark Abyss]], both of which play a sinister violin revealing his true vile nature.
** In Part 3, it switches to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmxNZH3zrK8 Dark Rebirth]]
* LightIsNotGood: In Part 3, as if to contrast his depiction in Part 1, he wears golden yellow clothes with hearts and has a Stand that looks more like a masked demigod than a force of evil that he truly is.
* MakeSureHesDead: Dio isn't quite satisfied with sticking Jotaro through with knives and dropping him from over a dozen stories high, so he grabs a policeman's gun and shoots him. Afterward, he puts his ear to the ground to listen for Jotaro's heartbeat from a safe distance. Despite hearing nothing, he then decides to behead him with a street sign just to be sure. [[spoiler:He fails, as Jotaro used his Stand both to catch the bullet just after it pierced his skin and to temporarily stop his heartbeat.]]
* ManipulativeBastard: Manipulation is pretty much a superpower of his, considering most of the enemies in Parts 3 and 6 are composed of those who have been charmed to his side, whereas another one of his followers plays a major role in the plot of Part 6.
* MeaningfulName: "Dio" means "God" in Italian. To say he has a god complex would be an understatement.
* MeaningfulRename: His Part 3 self is called ''[[CapsLock DIO]]'' to distinguish him from his Part 1 self. It's even written that way in the Japanese version.
* MenacingStroll: Dio does that in the streets of Cairo.
* AMillionIsAStatistic[=/=]ShutUpKirk: His response to Zeppeli on how many people he killed post vampirism.
-->'''Zeppelli''': "Bastard...How many lives have you devoured to heal those wounds?"
-->'''Dio''': "Do you remember every piece of bread you've ever eaten?"
* MobileMenace: In Part 1, Dio Brando was always one step ahead of Jonathan. However, after becoming DIO in Part 3, OrcusOnHisThrone set in.
* {{Narcissist}}: Yeah...does this even need to be explained?
* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: In Phantom Blood, after his debut fight he displayed the power heal by sucking blood, freeze the blood in his enemies, can't die unless his head is destroyed, and EyeBeams.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: He's as responsible for the [=JoJos=] getting so strong as they did with him.
** Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
** Making Vanilla Ice a vampire, which he did as a reward for his loyalty, proved his downfall since [[spoiler: it allowed Polnareff to kill him by exposing him sunlight, and because he survived Polnareff was able to come to Jotaro's rescue as Dio was about to kill him.]]
*** Debatable. [[spoiler:Had Vanilla Ice not been a vampire, Polnareff would have killed him ''much sooner,'' due to a stab straight through the mouth and severing the brain stem halfway through the fight, which Ice survived due to his vampire powers - were he not a vampire, he would have died then and there, and Iggy might have survived long enough to help fight Dio. In fact, Polnareff figured out Vanilla Ice was a vampire because ''he just wouldn't die'' like a human being would.]]
* NotBloodSiblings[=/=]SiblingRivalry: With Jonathan. And it becomes [[CainAndAbel worse later]].
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:See OffWithHisHead below.]]
* ObviouslyEvil: In Part 1, nobody notices he's evil despite his literal KickTheDog, beating Jonathan for no reason, driving his thumb into Jonathan's eye in boxing match he already won, and nobody but Jonathan notices that he's evil until he forced kiss on Erina.
* OffWithHisHead: [[spoiler:Dio does this to himself in order to not be affected by Jonathan's Ripple, and later pulls a GrandTheftMe on the latter's body]].
* OnlyOneName: From Part 3 onward, he's known only as DIO. (Yes, in all capital letters.)
* OrcusOnHisThrone: Justified; as he is WeakenedByTheLight, he can't go far before the sunlight destroys him, so he has his human minions go and kill the Joestars.
** In Part 3, he is this because for the majority of the Part he is getting accustomed [[spoiler: to Johnathan Joestar's body]] and it's only when the heroes are literally at his doorstep does he decide to come out and deal with them.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: He sucks blood with fingers, freezes his own limbs and fires beams from his eyes... yeah. Then there's the fact that awakening human potential via Stone Mask results in vampirism.
* PetTheDog:
** Dio may be a sociopath who literally treats most of the women who encounter him as food, but felt compelled to spare the women who mothered his sons for unknown reasons. He also seemed to genuinely care for Pucci as a friend, which is unusual for someone so manipulative and self-centered.
** Although they aren't canon, Dio expresses admiration for his son, Giorno, in ''All-Star Battle'' and ''Eyes Of Heaven''.
* PoorCommunicationKills: If he bothered to tell Vanilla Ice [[spoiler:about his newfound vampirism, along with the strength and weaknesses, the battle against Polnareff might have ended differently.]]
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Continues to influence the later parts from beyond the grave. Both times.]]
* PsychoticSmirk / SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:After absorbing Joseph's blood]].
* RealityEnsues:
** Towards the end of his fight with Jotaro, Dio [[spoiler: gets punched in the side of the head so hard that it almost completely fractures that side of his skull,]] giving him severe blunt-force trauma and a concussion, as well as leaving him in immense pain. Even with his inherent vampiric abilities, Dio is left so incredibly weak that the only reason Jotaro doesn't immediately kill him is due to The World stepping in, [[spoiler: and his recovery through Josephs blood.]]
** Likewise [[spoiler: attacking Jotaro before he was fully healed after Jotaro broke his leg. Since Jotaro was at full power at that point, his attack proved stronger and destroyed Dio's Stand, which in turn killed Dio.]]
* RealityWarper: [[spoiler: In the Eye's of Heaven game, this is the power of The World Over Heaven, the final evolution of his Stand has this power. The extent he is able to overwrite reality is unlimited but The World Over Heaven does have a major limitation; It can only be initiated through The World Over Heaven's fists, meaning that the stand would have to punch something in order to rewrite it.]]
* RealMenWearPink: In typical [=JoJo=] fashion. Who else could get away with wearing heart headbands and elf boots?
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Begins with blue (orange in he anime) eyes that become red upon his transformation into a vampire.
* RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain: One of the only two ways of killing him, but only the latter. Decapitation only results in an angry vampire head [[GrandTheftMe eager to find a new body to attach itself to.]] Complete brain obliteration is the only option.
** Straizo was blown into tiny chunks by grenades in Battle Tendency; and recovered so it's unlikely complete brain destruction short of destruction on the atomic level even works. It does heavily cripple him until he recovers however.
* SacredFirstKiss: Does this in an infamous scene with Erina in order to throw a wrench in her relationship with Jonathan. [[ForTheEvulz Why? Because he likes Jonathan to suffer for kicks!]]
** ForcedKiss: Dio's kiss was forced onto Ernia. [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown It doesn't end well for Dio]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes as Jonathan showed him]].
* SarcasticClapping: His taunt in the Part 3 fighting game, while wearing his jacket. It's played with in that his teleportation move in that form [[ConfusionFu also has him clapping]], instead of turning his back to the opponent.
* SealedEvilInACan: Trapped under the sea in a coffin for almost a hundred years.
* SelfMadeOrphan: Poisons his own father and tries to do the same to his adoptive father George, but is foiled. [[spoiler:Later, he does manage to stab him to death with a knife.]]
* SelfMutilationDemonstration: Starts using it as an intimidation tactic after [[spoiler:draining Joseph's blood]], tearing off parts of his face and casually ramming his finger through his skull just to show Jotaro how little it affects him.
* SexyBacklessOutfit: Has apparently developed a thing for backless halter tops in Part 3.
* SmugSnake: For all his smarts, it still doesn't stop him from letting his arrogance get the better of him.
** After he defeats Jonathan and Zeppeli, he avoids killing them because he decides he method for countering the Ripple means they aren't a threat. When Jonathan came to face him again, he avoids killing because he wanted to turn him a zombie. Once he reveals his EyeBeams, it became clear he could have killed him without so much as throwing a punch if he didn't let his ego get in the way, further emphasized when he managed to kill him when reduced to a head.
** In Part 3, despite wanting to make sure Jotaro was dead at first, after he tried to crush him with a steamroller he was so caught up in the idea that he won his feud with the Jostars that he didn't check to make sure Jotaro was dead.
* SmugSuper: Even moreso in Part 3, merely breaking Jotaro's bones rather than doing one swift MegatonPunch to the gut like he did to Kakyoin. Leads to his death when he tries to attack him with a kick one last time before his legs were fully healed.
* TheSociopath: Speedwagon states he's been this way since birth. It's arguable how true this actually is, but no doubt having an abusive drunk of a father who drove his mother to her death made it worse.
* SoLastSeason: He uses none of his vampiric BodyHorror attacks in ''Stardust Crusaders'', favoring his Stand instead. [[spoiler:This may be because his body from the neck down is Jonathan's and not his own]].
** Still no excuse for not using the EyeBeam [[spoiler:-- something he possessed even without a body]].
** Cheerfully Lampshaded in his battle with Joseph Joestar:
---> Ah yes, ''Ripple''-Energy I believe! It was quite '''literally''' the death of me 100 years ago; but now that I wield The Power of The Stand, that which once slew me is now ''less than insignificant'' before The Might of '''[[TimeStandsStill The World!!!!!]]'''
** In other words, arrogance was pretty much the reason he didn't bother falling back on his vampire powers. He was confident he didn't need them.
* StartOfDarkness: One could argue that the death of his [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes mother]] didn't help his mental state in the slightest. Dio's mother possibly could have curbed Dio's own sociopathic tendencies if she had lived.
* StockholmSyndrome: Dario Brando's twelve-years of constantly abusing Dio has quite literally beaten and mangled his perception of "love" into "I will love you if you can dominate and control me." Tragically, this is why he came to ''genuinely'' love Jonathan for [[spoiler:managing to utterly destroy his invincible vampiric body, leaving only his head intact.]] It was not until [[spoiler:Jonathan embraced him like a brother with his dying breath]] and meeting Father Pucci that Dio would know what it felt like to be ''unconditionally'' loved for who he is, flaws included.
* StoryBreakerPower
** [[spoiler:While Jotaro can use TimeStandsStill as well]], he's nowhere as proficient as Dio was. While [[spoiler: Jotaro can only use it as a desperate gamble for only one or two attacks or more if he's desperate]], Dio can spam it as long as he wants to, has an overall longer use for it, as he has the super speed and strength in order to use it more effectively (an infamous example would be his KnifeNut attack), and had an overall advantage over everyone [[spoiler:until Jotaro cleverly stopped time on him in order to get a shot at him. Had Jotaro not stopped him, Dio's time stop would eventually have reached infinite duration as demonstrated by Dio's time stop gradually increasing in duration after using Joseph's blood to finally sync Johnathan's body with his head.]]
** Hell even Dio's [[KillItWithIce Flash Freezing Powers]] were a clear breaker. Since the only thing that could kill him was the Sun and the Ripple, he could simply freeze any attack thrown at him. Objects would freeze then the user, even a full sword filled with Hamon froze easily. For him to actually be deated, Jonathan had to ''literally'' light his hand on fire and use the Ripple. If he has used that ''and'' The World...
* ThisCannotBe: His FamousLastWords pretty much drip with this after [[spoiler: Jotaro wins their final duel as his attack was more powerful that it shattered his Stand's body right to his head, imploding Dio from the inside out. All the while he's screaming "I AM DIO!!!" in disbelief that his recently gained newfound power has failed him.]]
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World.
* TookALevelInBadass: First the major jump from human to vampire, and then he took a million more when he got his Stand.
* TranshumanTreachery: What Dio says [[OurVampiresAreDifferent before becoming a vampire with the Stone Mask]] while attempting to kill Jonathan, [[spoiler:but getting George Joestar instead]].
-->'''Dio''': "'''I REJECT MY HUMANITY, JOJO'''"!!! ''[Cue LaughingMad.]''
* TsurimeEyes
* VampireBitesSuck: Rather than biting, he uses ''his fingers'' to suck blood via the fingers' blood veins.
* VampiresAreSexGods: Has fathered at least four sons with four different women in the span of less than four years. Not to mention many of his minions are pretty open about their lust for him.
* VillainousBreakdown: Experiences several during his feud with the Joestars.
* VillainousLegacy: Even after his death, his shadow looms over the Joestars/Kujos, causing them and the world much trouble. Even he, however, is a result of a much more ancient evil from Mesoamerica.
* VillainousValour: His first reaction to being confronted by a genuine vampire was to grab a knife and take up a battle stance.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: While the Stand Arrow and Bow would've still existed even without him around, if Dio hadn't given in to his ambitions, the Joestars would not have had the drive to learn the Ripple as it wasn't necessary to do so until Dio presented a threat to the world.
* VocalDissonance: At parts in the 2012 anime, due to GratuitousEnglish, Dio sounds less like a cultured villian and more like a southern hick, most notably including [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsxXvKnuZ7s this famous moment]].
* WasOnceAMan: Started out as a man until he used the Stone Mask to become a vampire.
* WeakenedByTheLight: Which comes with being a vampire, and justifies his OrcusOnHisThrone act in Part 3, since he can't move in sunlight
* WeirdnessMagnet: [[spoiler:All Stand users attract other Stand users, so it's not uncommon to encounter another one.]]
* WickedCultured: When not making the Joestars' lives suck, he's enjoys the finer things in life, like drinking blood champagne and reading books in his private library in his hidden base. Or watching Michael Jackson concerts.
* WickedHeartSymbol: He has the HeartSymbol on his headband and knee pad, but he's the BigBad of 3 parts of the story.
* WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:After losing his head]], he considers Jonathan this, but it's to {{Yandere}} extremes and he needed [[spoiler: his body to move again]].
** Likewise, he seems to regard Jotaro as a worthy adversary, even enjoying the fight with him. And while Jonathan may have been the only foe Dio actually respected, Jotaro seems to be the only enemy he ''feared''.
* {{Yandere}}: To Jonathan and the Joestars in general.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]
! Bruford
[[quoteleft:246:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bruford.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/KenjiroTsuda (TV anime), Creator/NobutoshiCanna (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Toru Nara (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/TonyOliver (English)
A knight who served under Mary of Scots, raised from the dead as Dio's minion. He is named after Bill Bruford of Music/{{Yes}}.
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* DyingAsYourself
* TheEvilGenius
* FaceDeathWithDignity: The second time he dies.
* FallenHero: Along with Tarukus, he used to be a brave self-sacrifcing knight before Dio raised him.
* GenreSavvy: Despite his [[HonorBeforeReason chivalry]], he creates a fighting style designed to stop the Ripple from working.
* GracefulLoser
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Tarukus.
* HonorBeforeReason: Averted. While he is an honorable and noble knight as well as a fair fighter and good sport, he is pragmatic enough to not fight the Ripple head on and uses strategies that hinder it.
* LightningBruiser
* NobleDemon: Kills a zombie going after Jonathan because he considers the latter a WorthyOpponent after destroying his hair.
* PrehensileHair: Apparently he had this ability before he became a zombie.
* SenselessSacrifice: He originally died when he sacrificed his life hoping to save his queen, only to discover it was a trap and she was already dead.
* TakeUpMySword: Gives his sword to Jonathan [[spoiler:as he dies.]]
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Tarukus.
* UndyingLoyalty: Originally to his queen, Mary, then to Dio after his resurrection.
* WorthyOpponent: Views Jonathan as one after he destroys his hair with Ripple.
! Tarukus
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tarkus.png]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/TetsuInada (TV anime), Creator/DaisukeGori (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Yoshinori Sonobe (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/JamiesonPrice (English)
Another knight who served with Bruford. He is named after Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer album ''Tarkus''.
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* {{BFS}}: His WeaponOfChoice.
* TheBrute: Relies on SuperStrength and his surprising agility, and is undoubtedly crueler than Bruford.
* CurbStompBattle: Is initially dishing one out against Jonathan, nearly killing him before Zeppeli intervenes [[spoiler: only to get killed himself, but his intervention allows Jonathan to turn the fight into a stomp in his favor.]]
* EvilRedHead
* EvilSoundsDeep
* FallenHero: Same as Bruford, but more so as he gets a little too DrunkWithPower and [[TookALevelInJerkass treated his partner like trash when he died]].
* GeniusBruiser: Very smart despite being TheBrute.
* GenreSavvy: Like Bruford, he creates a situation where the Ripple is useless.
* HeroKiller: [[spoiler: Kills Zeppeli as he tries to rescue Jonathan]].
* HeterosexualLifePartners: With Bruford.
* ImplacableMan: Despite not having a HealingFactor and being a rotting corpse, he can take a lot of damage.
* KickTheDog: Did he really need to kick his fallen ally's remains like that?
* LightningBruiser: Hits fast and hits ''very'' hard.
* MadeOfDiamond: Back when he was alive, his executioner broke a hundred axes trying to behead him.
* SenselessSacrifice: Same as Bruford.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Tarkus or Tarukus?
* SuperStrength: Enough to demolish a cliff side.
* ThoseTwoBadGuys: With Bruford.
* TookALevelInJerkass: Goes from being Bruford's friend in life to becoming DrunkWithPower and treating his remains like garbage.
* UndyingLoyalty: Basically Bruford with the JerkAss elements taken to an extreme level.
! Jack the Ripper
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jack_0.png]]
-> Voiced by: Naomi Kusumi (TV anime), Creator/HisaoEgawa (''Phantom Blood'' video game) (Japanese), Creator/PaulStPeter (English)
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* AxCrazy: More like knife crazy, but you get the point.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: VAMPIRE JACK THE RIPPER! Though, unusually for this trope, he only became a supernatural being AFTER doing what made him famous.
* TheDarkChick: His insanity firmly puts him in this position.
* ExoticWeaponSupremacy: What the ''hell'' is that big metal-sword-jaws-on-a-hinge thing he fights Jonathan with?
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: Dio turns him into a ''vampire'' after sensing a kindred spirit in him. At least it helps explain [[FridgeBrilliance why he was never caught and identified]] -- Jonathan's Ripple disintegrated him before that could happen.
* KnifeNut: To the point that, after becoming a vampire and thus no longer running on biological processes, but on pure will and power, he ''implants a mess of knives in his body''.
* SelfMutilationDemonstration: Casually slices off his pinky and shoves a scalpel all the way through his cheek to the other side of his head.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent
* WarmupBoss: While fought a ways into ''Phantom Blood'', he is quite literally used as a final test for Jonathan by Zeppeli.
! Wang Chan
[[quoteleft:259:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wang_chan.png]]
-> Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (TV anime and ''All-Star Battle''), Kazumi Tanaka (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Jun Itoda (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Doug Stone (English)
A Chinese apothecary who sells Dio poison to use on George. Upon Dio becoming a vampire, Wang Chan becomes his zombie minion. He is named after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Chung_(band) Wang Chung]].
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* TheDragon: In a way, since he is Dio's first and also final minion.
* DragonTheirFeet: Disappears for awhile before [[spoiler:bringing Dio's head onto the boat]] in the finale.
* DumbMuscle: Dio has to walk this moron through ''everything''.
* GenreBlind: To contrast Dio. If he had half a brain, Dio would have taken Jonathan's [[spoiler:body]] without any trouble at all.
* InformedAttribute: Speedwagon says he dangerous and shouldn't be messed with. We never got to see what he does or why [[spoiler:during his human phase.]]
* PrimalStance: Walks and jumps around like a monkey.
* TooDumbToLive: Seriously! Dio kept on telling him not to underestimate Jonathan and just kill him, but does he listen? No...
* TookALevelInDumbass: He was much more cunning as a human than as a zombie.
* WolverineClaws: Uses a pair in a manga-only fight with Jonathan.
* YellowPeril: He looks the part, but he's really only concerned with running a business. Until Dio turned him into a minion.
! Doobie
[[quoteleft:222:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doobie.png]]
-> Voiced by: Yuichi Ishigami (TV anime) (Japanese), Creator/KirkThornton (English)
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* EatenAlive: In a rather dark course of action, Jonathan has his own snakes [[HoistByHisOwnPetard devour him]].
* NightmareFace
* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: Has venomous snakes coming out of his face which he uses to poison victims.
! Adams
[[quoteleft:190:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adams.png]]
-> Voiced by: Hidenori Takahashi (TV anime) (Japanese), Anthony Hansen (English)
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* CurbStompBattle: Defeated with a single kick from a freshly powered-up Jonathan.
* GameFace: How it's revealed that he's one of Dio's zombies.
* OverlyLongTongue
! Jones, Bornnam, Page, Plant
[[quoteleft:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jones_bornnam_page_plant.png]]
[[caption-width:350:(From Right to Left) Jones, Bornnam, Page, Plant.]]
Four of Dio's zombie minions. They are named after the members of Music/LedZeppelin.
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* CurbStompBattle: As soon as they introduce themselves, Straizo traps them all in a chandelier and sends a Ripple through it, instantly vaporizing them all at once.
* NightmareFace: All of them, especially Jones and Page.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: While most of the other zombies can look human for the most part, these four guys look like aliens, monsters, or even demons.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Bornnam or Bonham?
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Neutral]]
! Dario Brando
[[quoteleft:280:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dario_brando_4.jpg]]
-> Voiced by: Creator/TadashiMiyazawa (TV anime), Koji Yada (''Phantom Blood'' video game), Kazuhiro Ozawa (''Phantom Blood'' film) (Japanese), Creator/SteveKramer (English)
Dio's father, an abusive drunk and petty thief.
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* AbusiveParents: No wonder Dio turned out the way he did.
* TheAlcoholic: A lot of his abuse to Dio happened when he was drunk.
* AssholeVictim: Dio's first victim, that we at least, and unlike the rest, everything we see of him seems to justify Dio's hate for him.
* BaldOfEvil: While he does have some hair in the manga, the 2012 adaptation gives him extreme male pattern baldness in comparison.
* BeardOfEvil: Complete with BaldOfEvil, he looks very old for a father of the {{Bishonen}} Dio.
* GreaterScopeVillain: [[DownplayedTrope Er, kind of]]. Not on the same levels as the Pillar Men, but his abusive behavior played a part in Dio becoming who he is. If his son ''was'' evil since birth, then his treatment certainly didn't help.
* {{Jerkass}}: Treated his wife like crap, and even wanted to sell her dress after she died to get money, having no compassion for her at all. [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Dio didn't take kindly to this]].
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: At least to his son, as he gave an opportunity to Dio that he knew he himself could never provide.
** JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: To George Joestar; he "'''saved'''" him, but really wanted his body to sell to the highest bidder.
* PetTheDog: Ironically, his ''one'' act of kindness and fatherly love, wanting the best for Dio and giving him a bright future, is what (indirectly) caused countless tragic deaths, atrocities, and eventually [[spoiler:the destruction and recreation of the entire Universe]].
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Make a cup of coffee, sit back and imagine for a second; if a petty pick-pocket, a ''nobody'' in the grand scheme of the universe, had instead been a DotingParent who worked hard and treated his family with kindness ''all'' his life, ''Dio Brando'', The Tyrant [[spoiler:who remade The World]], would have grown up to be just another honest yet equally faceless laborman in Victorian London...
** And more importantly; the Joestar/Kujo family's legacy as Warriors and Heroes would ''never'' have been awakened without him finding George, accidentally saving his life, which in turn led to Dio's vicious bullying of Jonathan in childhood. Like-father Like-Son, after all. Though linking with the above, even if the Joestar/Kujo's legacy would never awaken, [[VillainsActHeroesReact no threats would come to the world because Dio would grew as a honest man.]]
** And outside the Brando/Joestar feud, if Jonathan hadn't been on Ogre Street looking for the source of Dio's poison, he wouldn't have met and befriended Robert Speedwagon, who would've perhaps stayed a petty street gangster instead of the CEO of The Speedwagon Foundation, which would not have been around to research the stone masks nor their connection to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePart2 Pillar Men]], who might've awaked with nothing and no-one to stop them.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: See PetTheDog above.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: He's in his 50s, but looks to be much older, especially in the 2012 adaptation.
[[/folder]]
