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* BornLucky: See above.
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* KickTheDog: Just for starters, he literally kicks Jonathan's dog Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for Danny to be stuck in the estate's incinerator]]. And it gets worse from there.
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* KickTheDog: He does this a lot.
** Just for starters, he [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals literally kicks Jonathan'sdog dog]] Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for Danny to be stuck in the estate's incinerator]]. And
** In Part 3, while DIO has The World's time stop powers in effect, he takes his time to dismember a cat and put itgets worse from there.in people's drinks.
** Just for starters, he [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals literally kicks Jonathan's
** In Part 3, while DIO has The World's time stop powers in effect, he takes his time to dismember a cat and put it
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* CrocodileTears: Dio is a very convincing actor. Naturally, Dio begins crying to try to manipulate Johnathan's sympathy in Phantom Blood when Johnathan finally had Dio cornered and about to be arrested for poisoning his father. It would have worked had Speedwagon not shown up and seen through the ruse. Dio is quick to drop the act once caught.
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* SatanicArchetype: Dio is the clear devil figure, as he seeks to become god and tempts people to evil to further his deeds.
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* ChewingTheScenery: Seriously, no matter who provides Dio's voice, they probably have an absolute ball doing it.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] ('''DIO''') | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] ([[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJotaro Jotaro Kujo]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePolnareff Jean-Pierre Polnareff]]) | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] ('''DIO''') | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] ([[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJosephJoestar Joseph Joestar]]) | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] ([[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJotaro Jotaro Kujo]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePolnareff Jean-Pierre Polnareff]]) | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
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* AllYourPowersCombined: The World was originally intended to have the power of all the Tarot stands (an allusion to the real tarot card, which often symbolizes this), hence why [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness it uses Hermit Purple's ability early on.]] Araki dropped the idea, likely because it would be impossible to write a fight scene around.
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Wild Mass Guessing has no place on a character page. Furthermore his Hermit Purple-like stand was confirmed by Araki to be Jonathans body's stand.
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* 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.
** [[FridgeBrilliance Not too surprising, if true;]] most of what Dio possesses was gained at the expense of others.
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** In hindsight Dio also serves as a ShadowArchetype to Jotaro. Both possess Stands that are gifted with SuperStrength, RapidFireFisticuffs, and [[spoiler:[[TimeStandsStill the ability to stop time]]]]. Both are also raised by loving mothers [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas whom they would cherish in spite of their otherwise rough demeanor]] while having... less than stellar relationships with their father (Dio's father being an [[AbusiveParents abusive drunk]] while Jotaro's father being always absent in the midst of his numerous worldwide concerts). What sets them apart is that Dio's mother died too soon and so is unable to remain a positive influence in the same way Holly was to Jotaro.
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* SuperStrength: His vampire physique gives him enough strength to punch through pillars and lift a road roller and seemingly fly through the air while carrying it.
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* MegatonPunch: A punch from The World is strong enough to send a person flying, as seen with [[spoiler:Kakyoin]].
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Named after Music/RonnieJamesDio. His last name comes from Creator/MarlonBrando. It was also confirmed that his likeness was originally based on [[Film/BladeRunner Roy Batty]]
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Named after Music/RonnieJamesDio. His last name comes from Creator/MarlonBrando. It was also confirmed that his likeness was originally based on [[Film/BladeRunner Roy Batty]]Batty]].
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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 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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* AmbitionIsEvil: Dio´s Dio's staunch ambition is the core force driving his actions throughout the series. Dio´s 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 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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* 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.
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* ArchNemesis: ArchEnemy: Dio is this to the entire Joestar family. Every single one of them can trace at least one of their misfortunes back to him.
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[[center: [- [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] ('''DIO''') | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
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[[center: [- [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] ('''DIO''') | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] ([[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJotaro Jotaro Kujo]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePolnareff Jean-Pierre Polnareff]]) | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
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[-[[center: [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | '''DIO''' | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
Back to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]]]-]
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Back to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
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->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)
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->Adult Dio voiced by: Creator/TakehitoKoyasu (TV anime, ''All-Star Battle'', and ''Eyes of Heaven''), Creator/NorioWakamoto (CD drama), NobuoTanaka Nobuo Tanaka (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)
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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'', 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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
He resurfaces in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', 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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
to:
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 plans to take over ''the world'' for himself.
He resurfaceshimself, however, a daring battle with Jonathan ends with him left as disembodied head. Sometime later, Dio makes his return on a ship when he turns most of the passengers into monsters and announces he would take Jonathan's body for his own and manages to deliver a fatal blow to his foe, though Jonathan uses the last of his strength to ensure Dio would not be able to escape as the ship explodes and sinks to the bottom of the sea.
Dio would eventually resurface in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', 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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
He resurfaces
Dio would eventually resurface in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', 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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
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[[caption-width-right:350:''The World! Stop time!'']]
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
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[-[[center: [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | '''DIO''' | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
characters]]]]-]
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Character subpage for Dio Brando, an antagonist from ''Phantom Blood'' and ''Stardust Crusaders'', with his influence lingering in ''Diamond Is Unbreakable'', ''Vento Aureo'' and ''Stone Ocean''.
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Character subpage for Dio Brando, an the main antagonist from of ''Phantom Blood'' and ''Stardust Crusaders'', with his influence lingering in ''Diamond Is Unbreakable'', ''Vento Aureo'' and ''Stone Ocean''.
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]
characters]]
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | '''Stardust Crusaders''' | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
| [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
| [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | '''Stardust Crusaders''' [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shotcharacters]]
characters]] | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
characters]
Back to the [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot
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--> '' The World's true power, as its name suggests, is to reign supreme over the entire world!"
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!!DIO (Stand: The World + Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[labelnote:*]]Generally nicknamed Hermit Purple #2.[[/labelnote]])
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--> "'''''You were a fool to attack me. I have disowned my weakness in favor of life everlasting! '''''"
--> "'''''You were a fool to attack me. I have disowned my weakness in favor of life everlasting! '''''"
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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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
to:
He resurfaces in the 1980s in ''Stardust Crusaders'', [[spoiler:having having attached his severed head to Jonathan's body]], body, to resume his goal of obtaining his ideal world, but meets resistance from Jonathan's descendant Jotaro Kujo. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
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Character subpage for Dio Brando, an antagonist from Part 1 and 3, and directly related with part5 and 6.
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Character subpage for Dio Brando, an antagonist from Part 1 ''Phantom Blood'' and 3, and directly related ''Stardust Crusaders'', with part5 his influence lingering in ''Diamond Is Unbreakable'', ''Vento Aureo'' and 6.
''Stone Ocean''.
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!!DIO (Stand: The World + Unnamed Precognitive Stand [[labelnote:*]]Generally nicknamed Hermit Purple #2.[[/labelnote]])
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]] | '''Stardust Crusaders''' | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond Is Unbreakable]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Vento Aureo a.k.a. "Golden Wind"]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]] |
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
| [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
Character subpage for Dio Brando, an antagonist from Part 1 and 3, and directly related with part5 and 6.
'''Beware of spoilers'''
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[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureOneShots One-shot characters]]
| [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureSpinoffs Spinoff characters]]
[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventure Main characters index]]
Character subpage for Dio Brando, an antagonist from Part 1 and 3, and directly related with part5 and 6.
'''Beware of spoilers'''
-----
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* BreakoutCharacter: Alongside DIO, The World is possibly the most iconic stand in the series, and has received more variations than any other stands, with Diego's version in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' and The World Over Heaven in ''Videogame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''.
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* BreakoutCharacter: Alongside DIO, The World is possibly the most iconic stand in the series, and has received more variations than any other stands, with Diego's version in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' and The World Over Heaven in ''Videogame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''. Besides Killer Queen, no stand ever gained this privilege.
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* TimeStandsStill: The power of the World: to stop time for a few seconds. Thanks to its raw power, its effectively a OneHitKill machine, and alongside DIO's vampiric heritage, makes him among the most dangerous of Stands in the series.
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* TimeStandsStill: The power of the World: to stop time for a few seconds. Thanks to its raw power, its effectively a OneHitKill machine, and alongside DIO's vampiric heritage, makes him it among the most dangerous of Stands in the series.
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* {{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]][[note]] ''Muda'' means "useless".
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* {{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]][[note]] ''Muda'' means "useless".MUDA!!!!]]
* NephariousPharaoh: The design of The World is a Pharaoh inspired one, with some cylinders on its back. You may call it a ''Holy Diver''. Not surprising, considering where DIO resided when he first awakened it.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the inspiration for The World comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
* NephariousPharaoh: The design of The World is a Pharaoh inspired one, with some cylinders on its back. You may call it a ''Holy Diver''. Not surprising, considering where DIO resided when he first awakened it.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the inspiration for The World comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
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* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the inspiration for The World comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World: it can stop time for five seconds, allowing DIO to stop his opponent of hurting him. Thanks to DIO's vampiric powers, The World time-stop make him completely dangerous.
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World: it can stop time for five seconds, allowing DIO to stop his opponent of hurting him. Thanks to DIO's vampiric powers, The World time-stop make him completely dangerous.
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* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World.
[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_world_c252.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''The World! Stop time!'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:''The World! Stop time!'']]
* {{Foil}}: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
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* {{Foil}}: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
* TheStoic: Unlike his user who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the Stand inspiration comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
* TheStoic: Unlike his user who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the Stand inspiration comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
to:
* {{Foil}}: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
{{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]][[note]] ''Muda'' means "useless".
* TheStoic: Unlikehis its user who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely theStand inspiration for The World comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)purpose)
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World: it can stop time for five seconds, allowing DIO to stop his opponent of hurting him. Thanks to DIO's vampiric powers, The World time-stop make him completely dangerous.
* TheStoic: Unlike
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the
* TimeStandsStill: The effect of The World: it can stop time for five seconds, allowing DIO to stop his opponent of hurting him. Thanks to DIO's vampiric powers, The World time-stop make him completely dangerous.
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--> ''You fool shall known that The World, truly, is the power to control the world!"
to:
--> ''You fool shall known that '' The World, truly, World's true power, as its name suggests, is to reign supreme over the power to control the entire world!"
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* BreakoutCharacter: Alongside DIO, The World is possibly the most iconic stand in the series, and has received more variations than any other stands, with Diego's version in ''Steel Ball Run'' and The World Over Heaven in ''Videogame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''.
to:
* BreakoutCharacter: Alongside DIO, The World is possibly the most iconic stand in the series, and has received more variations than any other stands, with Diego's version in ''Steel Ball Run'' ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun'' and The World Over Heaven in ''Videogame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''.
Changed line(s) 295,296 (click to see context) from:
* Foil: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
* TheStoic: Unlike his owner who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
* TheStoic: Unlike his owner who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
to:
* Foil: {{Foil}}: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
* TheStoic: Unlike hisowner user who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.kiai.
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the Stand inspiration comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
* WickedHeartSymbol: The World has heart-shaped symbols on his chin and kneecaps, like its user.
* TheStoic: Unlike his
* ShoutOut: Is pretty likely the Stand inspiration comes from the song ''Holy Diver'' by Ronnie James Dio's, DIO's namesake. This is due to his royal looking appearance, alongside the diving cylinders on his back (that by all intents, serve no purpose)
* WickedHeartSymbol: The World has heart-shaped symbols on his chin and kneecaps, like its user.
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[[folder: The World]]
--> ''You fool shall known that The World, truly, is the power to control the world!"
Named after the tarot card, The World is a short-ranged stand with the power to stop time for a few seconds. It was awakened thanks to the Golden Arrow, but is not considered a sentient Stand. It is considered one of the most powerful stands in the series.
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* BreakoutCharacter: Alongside DIO, The World is possibly the most iconic stand in the series, and has received more variations than any other stands, with Diego's version in ''Steel Ball Run'' and The World Over Heaven in ''Videogame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven''.
* HeroicBuild: The World is a ripped looking stand, with the power to back it up.
* Foil: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
* TheStoic: Unlike his owner who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
[[/folder]]
----
* HeroicBuild: The World is a ripped looking stand, with the power to back it up.
* Foil: To Star Platinum. Both are the same kind of stand, but while Star Platinum is a barbaric looking spirit with a lot of emotions serving TheStoic Jotaro, The World is a royal looking stoic spirit serving the hamstatic DIO.
* TheStoic: Unlike his owner who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.
[[/folder]]
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder: A-D]]
[[folder: A-D]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: E-M]]
[[folder: E-M]]
[[/folder]]
[[folder: N-R]]
[[folder: N-R]]
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[[folder: S-Z]]
[[folder: S-Z]]
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* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]
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* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]]]
[[/folder]]
----
->''"Useless! Useless! Useless!"''
[[/folder]]
----
->''"Useless! Useless! Useless!"''
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Individual character subpage created for DIO, as I wanted to expand a bit on The World too.
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dio_1.png]]
[[caption-width-right: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-right: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-right: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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
Named after Music/RonnieJamesDio. His last name comes from Creator/MarlonBrando. It was also confirmed that his likeness was originally based on [[Film/BladeRunner Roy Batty]]
-----
* AdaptationalBadass: Randomly gains the ability to teleport in the Phantom Blood anime.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: ''All-Star Battle'' and ''Eyes of Heaven'' give him some PetTheDog moments with Giorno and Pucci (as in outright moments of camaraderie rather than the implication of manipulating him that was in the manga).
* AdvertisedExtra: DIO barely appears in ''Stardust Crusaders,'' other than a few cameos with his FaceFramedInShadow, and when he takes action at the very end of the story. He's easily one of the most famous characters of Part 3.
* AintTooProudToBeg: He has, on multiple occasions.
* AllYourPowersCombined: The World was originally intended to have the power of all the Tarot stands (an allusion to the real tarot card, which often symbolizes this), hence why [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness it uses Hermit Purple's ability early on.]] Araki dropped the idea, likely because it would be impossible to write a fight scene around.
* 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 the world. After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
* AmoralAttorney: Before he became a vampire, he was preparing to graduate from law school.
* 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.
** Anyone [[spoiler: invading his world of stopped time. His internal monologue after he discovers this is LIVID. The lady in the store he crash landed into and [[KnifeNut Jotaro found out about this button the hard way]].]]
* BaddieFlattery: Prone to doing this from time to time. He gradually grew to respect (and even admire) Jonathan, mentioned that [[spoiler:Kakyoin "did quite well" for Jotaro, when the former gave out his DyingClue]], and applauded Polnareff for surviving the entire journey (although he was simply trying to get him back on his side). He even admits Joseph is quite cunning once or twice. Completely averted towards Jotaro, who he despises.
* 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. He's not a DepravedBisexual because his sexuality is portrayed as being entirely incidental to his villainy.
* 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 Jonathan. 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'', [[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:His stand is what causes his death, since no one except Joseph could use Hamon. Jotaro couldn't kill a vampire just attacking DIO himself. Instead Jotaro obliterates DIO's stand, basically blowing up DIO's soul. Also, what finally destroys his body for good was being exposed to sunlight, the most basic vampire weakness.]]
* DeathFromAbove: '''''RODO ROLLA DA!!'''''
* DefeatMeansExplosion: [[spoiler: His upper body bursts into a bloody mess from getting ''punched in the leg.'']]
* DemotedToExtra: Goes from being TheHeavy of ''Phantom Blood'' to OrcusOnHisThrone in ''Stardust Crusaders''. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that he's still the BigBad.
* {{Determinator}}: 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 worthy of his admiration. In fact, he was '''enraged''' when his henchman Wang-Chan suggested that they should torture Jonathan in his dying breaths, '''ordering''' the zombie to show [=JoJo=] the respect he deserves by letting him die with dignity. Certain materials imply or state that he felt guilt for using his body to move around as DIO.
** And of course, there is [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas his undying love for his unnamed mother.]]
** In ''Eyes of Heaven'', he had a few PetTheDog moments with Giorno (his biological son).
* 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.
* EvilIsHammy: [[UpToEleven Absolutely.]]
* 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: Being voiced by [[Creator/PatrickSeitz Patrick Seitz]] tends to have this effect.
* 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.]]
* FatalFlaw: Pride. He's so overconfident in his ability that leaves Jonathan to his minions (elite minions, but still), allowing him to get both his sword ''and'' a massive power boost, both instrumental in Dio's eventual defeat. Then, even when he's actually facing Jonathan, he doesn't use his laser eyes until he's already defeated, and even when he has [=JoJo=] at his mercy (he literally has his carotid between his fingers) he gloats about him, and puts himself in a position that makes [=JoJo=]'s body warmth a necessity (Jonathan calls him out for this flaw), giving him the opportunity to strike back and almost killing him. [[spoiler: At the end of the series, reduced to just a head, he gets serious using the aforementioned laser eyes and [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps JoJo in ''seconds'']]. When he comes back in ''Stardust Crusaders'', he commits the same mistake by taking such a pride in The World's ability to use only that, without his vampiric powers (althought it's possible he ''couldn't'' use some of them, but there was at least one he could use, and to great effect), giving Jotaro the possibility to fight back, defeating him and killing him for good, this time.]]
* 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 the universe]] if he ever "veered off track".
** Played completely straight in his younger days, where he would have people brought to his castle. He would act like a NobleDemon only to play mind games with the kidnapped person before brutally killing them, turning them into vampires or using them for his BodyHorror hobby.
* FemmeFatalons: When a vampire his nails grew sharp and pointed and when he appeared in Part 3 they were black and the anime gave special focus to them. They serve to make him sinister but unlike the [[WolverineClaws weaponized variation]] its his strength along that grants him the ability to pierce his fingers into his victims' skin rather than the nails themselves.
* 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 his 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.
** The ambiguously canon (not created by Araki) novel "OVER HEAVEN" has Dio state that the biological experiments he performed at Windknights Lot taught him how to fuse a head with a different body, leading to his eventual possession of Jonathan.
* 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 revealed 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=]!"
* 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 their 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: He has numerous KickTheDog moments and loathsome, arrogant and cruel personality meant to make him a despicable person so the audience would root for the Joestars who kick his ass. Instead, inexplicably, the opposite happened. Interestingly, this is referenced in Part 3 by Abdul. When recounting his first encounter with DIO, he speaks of DIO's paralyzing beauty, charisma and sensuality and how these traits almost made him fall to DIO's brainwashing and control despite prior knowledge of how evil he is.
* 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 Noriaki 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.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Hates dogs for being "bootlickers", but goes out of his way to make his minions fanatically loyal to him, [[spoiler: not to mention the whole restart-the-universe-into-one-that-worships-me plot.]]
* 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: 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 "OO-REEEEEEEEE".[[/note]]
* KickTheDog: Just for starters, he literally kicks Jonathan's dog Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for 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,[[spoiler: 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 [[DarkIsEvil 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.
* 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.]]
* 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. Polnareff then intervenes and attacks Dio before he can attempt to decapitate Jotaro.]]
* 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 [[AGodAmI 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.
* 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 to 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 as strong as they did. Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
* 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 the 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 Jonathan 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.
** ''Over Heaven'' reveals that he pretended to be this, when in actuality he was secretly researching ways to upgrade his Stand so he could bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* 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.
* OverarchingVillain: He's the BigBad of Part 1 and 3, and while he's killed off at the end of Part 3, his actions while alive still indirectly influences the following parts in various ways. Especially in Part 6, where the BigBad is one of his followers who wanted to realize his goals.
* 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 strengths and weaknesses, the battle against Polnareff might have ended differently.]]
* PopCulturedBadass: In part 3, he develops an appreciation for contemporary music.
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Continues to influence the later parts from beyond the grave. Both times.]]
* PredecessorVillain: The OverarchingVillain of the series, even after his [[spoiler:final death at the end of Part 3]], climaxing as far forward as Part 6. The only segment he's outshone in is Part 2, where Kars is revealed to have been the GreaterScopeVillain to Part 1. Dio and his twisted plans remain a constant threat, even with [[spoiler:the man himself being deceased]].
* ProperlyParanoid: Despite having an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength, speed, and [[spoiler:his time stop,]] Dio is ''infinitely'' more careful fighting Jotaro than he is in dealing with any of the other protagonists, because he knows Jotaro is not to be underestimated. Up until [[spoiler:Dio takes Joseph's blood]], nearly all of their fighting together is just Dio gauging the full extent of Jotaro's abilities, and staying at a distance to safely force Jotaro to reveal his hand.
* PsychoticSmirk: [[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.]]
* ReallyGetsAround: He has at least four illegitimate sons with four different women. And it's implied that those women are just the tip of the iceberg.
* 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: Subverted. To kill a vampire Hamon or sunlight energy has to reach the target's brain. Grinding him to a bloody paste would still allow him to regenerate unless Hamon or sunlight are involved. Decapitation only results in an angry vampire head [[spoiler: [[GrandTheftMe eager to find a new body to attach itself to.]]]] As an example, 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. His regenerative powers are slow enough that it heavily cripples him until he recovers however. [[spoiler: The only other way to kill him is by completely destroying his stand, which is a method that works on every stand user.]]
* 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.
* SiblingRivalry: With Jonathan. And it becomes [[CainAndAbel worse later]].
* 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 his 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 [[spoiler: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. Expanded materials indicate however that those powers had actually atrophied due to lack of use and Dio preferring to focus on developing The World.
* 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 Jonathan'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...
** The worst, however, has to be his high-pressure blood from the eyes. [[LethalJokeWeapon Granted, it doesn't sound impressive at all like that]], but they are [[FrickinLaserBeams basically lasers]] (hell, the anime actually shows them that way) that he can shoot from his eyes. They are so powerful that, while the other two were spammed, he only used them ''twice'' in the whole series, and outside main fights, because there would have just been no way he'd have lost otherwise. Let's see: they have a ridiculous range, speed and power (he cut a ''freaking tower'' in half), making them an excellent ranged weapon, they have no charging time, and requires him merely to ''look'' at his target to be use, making them not only usable, but even ''worse'' at close range, and can work as long as he keeps his head [[spoiler: even if the body is destroyed, as Jonathan found out the ''hard'' way.]] On their own, they would have been strong enough to be a serious threat, if not lethal, even for the stand users. Combined with [[spoiler: [[TimeStandsStill The World?]] ]] It would have been a TotalPartyKill right there.
* 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.
* TarotMotifs: The World. In addition to being the highest-ranking card in the Major Arcana, representing that DIO is the biggest obstacle the Joestars face, it symbolizes fulfillment, completion, and achieving what we desire most. Dio is constantly striving for perfection and completion in everything he does. When the card is reversed, it can symbolize being incomplete (meaning that he has not yet reached the perfection he strives for), and isolation (symbolizing how Dio holes himself up in his mansion and lets his minions fight for him).
* ThirdPersonPerson: Often talks about himself like this. With an 'I, Dio' instead of just 'I' or 'Me'
* ThisCannotBe: His FamousLastWords pretty much drip with this after [[spoiler: Jotaro wins their final duel as his attack was more powerful, shattering 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.]''
* {{Troll}}: Dio absolutely loves getting under people's skin, and will take every opportunity to infuriate people around him. Until he loses the upper hand, almost everything out of his mouth and action he takes is done with the purpose of terrifying or pissing off someone for his own amusement.
%%* TsurimeEyes
* UngratefulBastard: George Joestar took him into his home when he had no reason to, loved him like a son and gave him everything he could ever need or want. Dio repaid this kindness with nothing but concealed hate and scorn and he spent his entire time in the Joestar household scheming to kill him and Jonathan in order to inherit their fortune. After discovering the power of the stone masks, he killed George for the blood to activate it and he and his actions plagued his descendants for over a century.
* 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.
* VillainRespect: Between all of the malice and abuse Dio handed out to him, he had a brotherly relationship with his stepbrother Jonathan, and respected him as a fighter after his defeat.
* 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]]. [[FridgeBrilliance It makes a little more sense when considering his origins in poverty as a delinquent in the bad part of town and his desire to actually be]] WickedCultured. [[BeneathTheMask The cultured personality is repeatedly shown by Dio's thoughts and actions as well as stated by the other characters to be a mask he uses]] cover up his AxCrazy tendencies.
* WalkingSpoiler: His presence in Part 3 means that he didn't die at Jonathan's hands.
* 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]].
** Dio considered Jotaro a worthy adversary as well, but to a lesser extent as he despised Jotaro and considered him far more dangerous than Jonathan. While Jonathan was the only foe Dio actually respected, Jotaro is the only foe Dio ''feared''.
* {{Yandere}}: To Jonathan and the Joestars in general.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: By the second episode of the anime, the stress over his schemes turn him into an alcoholic like his hated father.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]
[[caption-width-right: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-right: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-right: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. After meeting with Enya Geil, he gains a Stand called The World, which allows him to stop time. His actions during this arc influence all the arcs that come after, making him the overall BigBad of the entire series.
Named after Music/RonnieJamesDio. His last name comes from Creator/MarlonBrando. It was also confirmed that his likeness was originally based on [[Film/BladeRunner Roy Batty]]
-----
* AdaptationalBadass: Randomly gains the ability to teleport in the Phantom Blood anime.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: ''All-Star Battle'' and ''Eyes of Heaven'' give him some PetTheDog moments with Giorno and Pucci (as in outright moments of camaraderie rather than the implication of manipulating him that was in the manga).
* AdvertisedExtra: DIO barely appears in ''Stardust Crusaders,'' other than a few cameos with his FaceFramedInShadow, and when he takes action at the very end of the story. He's easily one of the most famous characters of Part 3.
* AintTooProudToBeg: He has, on multiple occasions.
* AllYourPowersCombined: The World was originally intended to have the power of all the Tarot stands (an allusion to the real tarot card, which often symbolizes this), hence why [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness it uses Hermit Purple's ability early on.]] Araki dropped the idea, likely because it would be impossible to write a fight scene around.
* 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 the world. After re-emerging from the Atlantic, he set in motion a plan to recreate the universe in his image.
* AmoralAttorney: Before he became a vampire, he was preparing to graduate from law school.
* 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.
** Anyone [[spoiler: invading his world of stopped time. His internal monologue after he discovers this is LIVID. The lady in the store he crash landed into and [[KnifeNut Jotaro found out about this button the hard way]].]]
* BaddieFlattery: Prone to doing this from time to time. He gradually grew to respect (and even admire) Jonathan, mentioned that [[spoiler:Kakyoin "did quite well" for Jotaro, when the former gave out his DyingClue]], and applauded Polnareff for surviving the entire journey (although he was simply trying to get him back on his side). He even admits Joseph is quite cunning once or twice. Completely averted towards Jotaro, who he despises.
* 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. He's not a DepravedBisexual because his sexuality is portrayed as being entirely incidental to his villainy.
* 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 Jonathan. 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'', [[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:His stand is what causes his death, since no one except Joseph could use Hamon. Jotaro couldn't kill a vampire just attacking DIO himself. Instead Jotaro obliterates DIO's stand, basically blowing up DIO's soul. Also, what finally destroys his body for good was being exposed to sunlight, the most basic vampire weakness.]]
* DeathFromAbove: '''''RODO ROLLA DA!!'''''
* DefeatMeansExplosion: [[spoiler: His upper body bursts into a bloody mess from getting ''punched in the leg.'']]
* DemotedToExtra: Goes from being TheHeavy of ''Phantom Blood'' to OrcusOnHisThrone in ''Stardust Crusaders''. [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in that he's still the BigBad.
* {{Determinator}}: 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 worthy of his admiration. In fact, he was '''enraged''' when his henchman Wang-Chan suggested that they should torture Jonathan in his dying breaths, '''ordering''' the zombie to show [=JoJo=] the respect he deserves by letting him die with dignity. Certain materials imply or state that he felt guilt for using his body to move around as DIO.
** And of course, there is [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas his undying love for his unnamed mother.]]
** In ''Eyes of Heaven'', he had a few PetTheDog moments with Giorno (his biological son).
* 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.
* EvilIsHammy: [[UpToEleven Absolutely.]]
* 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: Being voiced by [[Creator/PatrickSeitz Patrick Seitz]] tends to have this effect.
* 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.]]
* FatalFlaw: Pride. He's so overconfident in his ability that leaves Jonathan to his minions (elite minions, but still), allowing him to get both his sword ''and'' a massive power boost, both instrumental in Dio's eventual defeat. Then, even when he's actually facing Jonathan, he doesn't use his laser eyes until he's already defeated, and even when he has [=JoJo=] at his mercy (he literally has his carotid between his fingers) he gloats about him, and puts himself in a position that makes [=JoJo=]'s body warmth a necessity (Jonathan calls him out for this flaw), giving him the opportunity to strike back and almost killing him. [[spoiler: At the end of the series, reduced to just a head, he gets serious using the aforementioned laser eyes and [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps JoJo in ''seconds'']]. When he comes back in ''Stardust Crusaders'', he commits the same mistake by taking such a pride in The World's ability to use only that, without his vampiric powers (althought it's possible he ''couldn't'' use some of them, but there was at least one he could use, and to great effect), giving Jotaro the possibility to fight back, defeating him and killing him for good, this time.]]
* 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 the universe]] if he ever "veered off track".
** Played completely straight in his younger days, where he would have people brought to his castle. He would act like a NobleDemon only to play mind games with the kidnapped person before brutally killing them, turning them into vampires or using them for his BodyHorror hobby.
* FemmeFatalons: When a vampire his nails grew sharp and pointed and when he appeared in Part 3 they were black and the anime gave special focus to them. They serve to make him sinister but unlike the [[WolverineClaws weaponized variation]] its his strength along that grants him the ability to pierce his fingers into his victims' skin rather than the nails themselves.
* 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 his 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.
** The ambiguously canon (not created by Araki) novel "OVER HEAVEN" has Dio state that the biological experiments he performed at Windknights Lot taught him how to fuse a head with a different body, leading to his eventual possession of Jonathan.
* 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 revealed 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=]!"
* 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 their 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: He has numerous KickTheDog moments and loathsome, arrogant and cruel personality meant to make him a despicable person so the audience would root for the Joestars who kick his ass. Instead, inexplicably, the opposite happened. Interestingly, this is referenced in Part 3 by Abdul. When recounting his first encounter with DIO, he speaks of DIO's paralyzing beauty, charisma and sensuality and how these traits almost made him fall to DIO's brainwashing and control despite prior knowledge of how evil he is.
* 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 Noriaki 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.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Hates dogs for being "bootlickers", but goes out of his way to make his minions fanatically loyal to him, [[spoiler: not to mention the whole restart-the-universe-into-one-that-worships-me plot.]]
* 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: 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 "OO-REEEEEEEEE".[[/note]]
* KickTheDog: Just for starters, he literally kicks Jonathan's dog Danny the moment Jonathan introduces Danny to Dio. Later, he [[spoiler:arranged for 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,[[spoiler: 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 [[DarkIsEvil 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.
* 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.]]
* 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. Polnareff then intervenes and attacks Dio before he can attempt to decapitate Jotaro.]]
* 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 [[AGodAmI 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.
* 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 to 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 as strong as they did. Forcing Erina to kiss him is what finally drives Jonathan to beat him up and prove himself "worthy of respect" in Dio´s eyes.
* 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 the 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 Jonathan 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.
** ''Over Heaven'' reveals that he pretended to be this, when in actuality he was secretly researching ways to upgrade his Stand so he could bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* 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.
* OverarchingVillain: He's the BigBad of Part 1 and 3, and while he's killed off at the end of Part 3, his actions while alive still indirectly influences the following parts in various ways. Especially in Part 6, where the BigBad is one of his followers who wanted to realize his goals.
* 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 strengths and weaknesses, the battle against Polnareff might have ended differently.]]
* PopCulturedBadass: In part 3, he develops an appreciation for contemporary music.
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Continues to influence the later parts from beyond the grave. Both times.]]
* PredecessorVillain: The OverarchingVillain of the series, even after his [[spoiler:final death at the end of Part 3]], climaxing as far forward as Part 6. The only segment he's outshone in is Part 2, where Kars is revealed to have been the GreaterScopeVillain to Part 1. Dio and his twisted plans remain a constant threat, even with [[spoiler:the man himself being deceased]].
* ProperlyParanoid: Despite having an overwhelming advantage in terms of strength, speed, and [[spoiler:his time stop,]] Dio is ''infinitely'' more careful fighting Jotaro than he is in dealing with any of the other protagonists, because he knows Jotaro is not to be underestimated. Up until [[spoiler:Dio takes Joseph's blood]], nearly all of their fighting together is just Dio gauging the full extent of Jotaro's abilities, and staying at a distance to safely force Jotaro to reveal his hand.
* PsychoticSmirk: [[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.]]
* ReallyGetsAround: He has at least four illegitimate sons with four different women. And it's implied that those women are just the tip of the iceberg.
* 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: Subverted. To kill a vampire Hamon or sunlight energy has to reach the target's brain. Grinding him to a bloody paste would still allow him to regenerate unless Hamon or sunlight are involved. Decapitation only results in an angry vampire head [[spoiler: [[GrandTheftMe eager to find a new body to attach itself to.]]]] As an example, 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. His regenerative powers are slow enough that it heavily cripples him until he recovers however. [[spoiler: The only other way to kill him is by completely destroying his stand, which is a method that works on every stand user.]]
* 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.
* SiblingRivalry: With Jonathan. And it becomes [[CainAndAbel worse later]].
* 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 his 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 [[spoiler: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. Expanded materials indicate however that those powers had actually atrophied due to lack of use and Dio preferring to focus on developing The World.
* 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 Jonathan'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...
** The worst, however, has to be his high-pressure blood from the eyes. [[LethalJokeWeapon Granted, it doesn't sound impressive at all like that]], but they are [[FrickinLaserBeams basically lasers]] (hell, the anime actually shows them that way) that he can shoot from his eyes. They are so powerful that, while the other two were spammed, he only used them ''twice'' in the whole series, and outside main fights, because there would have just been no way he'd have lost otherwise. Let's see: they have a ridiculous range, speed and power (he cut a ''freaking tower'' in half), making them an excellent ranged weapon, they have no charging time, and requires him merely to ''look'' at his target to be use, making them not only usable, but even ''worse'' at close range, and can work as long as he keeps his head [[spoiler: even if the body is destroyed, as Jonathan found out the ''hard'' way.]] On their own, they would have been strong enough to be a serious threat, if not lethal, even for the stand users. Combined with [[spoiler: [[TimeStandsStill The World?]] ]] It would have been a TotalPartyKill right there.
* 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.
* TarotMotifs: The World. In addition to being the highest-ranking card in the Major Arcana, representing that DIO is the biggest obstacle the Joestars face, it symbolizes fulfillment, completion, and achieving what we desire most. Dio is constantly striving for perfection and completion in everything he does. When the card is reversed, it can symbolize being incomplete (meaning that he has not yet reached the perfection he strives for), and isolation (symbolizing how Dio holes himself up in his mansion and lets his minions fight for him).
* ThirdPersonPerson: Often talks about himself like this. With an 'I, Dio' instead of just 'I' or 'Me'
* ThisCannotBe: His FamousLastWords pretty much drip with this after [[spoiler: Jotaro wins their final duel as his attack was more powerful, shattering 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.]''
* {{Troll}}: Dio absolutely loves getting under people's skin, and will take every opportunity to infuriate people around him. Until he loses the upper hand, almost everything out of his mouth and action he takes is done with the purpose of terrifying or pissing off someone for his own amusement.
%%* TsurimeEyes
* UngratefulBastard: George Joestar took him into his home when he had no reason to, loved him like a son and gave him everything he could ever need or want. Dio repaid this kindness with nothing but concealed hate and scorn and he spent his entire time in the Joestar household scheming to kill him and Jonathan in order to inherit their fortune. After discovering the power of the stone masks, he killed George for the blood to activate it and he and his actions plagued his descendants for over a century.
* 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.
* VillainRespect: Between all of the malice and abuse Dio handed out to him, he had a brotherly relationship with his stepbrother Jonathan, and respected him as a fighter after his defeat.
* 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]]. [[FridgeBrilliance It makes a little more sense when considering his origins in poverty as a delinquent in the bad part of town and his desire to actually be]] WickedCultured. [[BeneathTheMask The cultured personality is repeatedly shown by Dio's thoughts and actions as well as stated by the other characters to be a mask he uses]] cover up his AxCrazy tendencies.
* WalkingSpoiler: His presence in Part 3 means that he didn't die at Jonathan's hands.
* 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]].
** Dio considered Jotaro a worthy adversary as well, but to a lesser extent as he despised Jotaro and considered him far more dangerous than Jonathan. While Jonathan was the only foe Dio actually respected, Jotaro is the only foe Dio ''feared''.
* {{Yandere}}: To Jonathan and the Joestars in general.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: By the second episode of the anime, the stress over his schemes turn him into an alcoholic like his hated father.
* YourHeadASplode: [[spoiler:How he finally bites it. Notable in that it happened after his stand was punched in the ''knee''.]]
