History Characters / JoJosBizarreAdventureDIO

'''''[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]:''''' [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureTeamBucciarati Team Bucciarati]] ([[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureGiornoGiovanna Giorno Giovanna]]) | [[Characters/JojosBizarreAdventureDiavolo The Boss]]\\

'''''[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]:''''' [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJosephJoestar Joseph Joestar]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureKars Kars]]\\

'''''[[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJojolion JoJolion]]:''''' [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolionTheHigashikataFamily The Higashikata Family]] | [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureToru The Mastermind]]\\

* BarbaricBully: Dio, as [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters a vampire]], and as DIO, is basically a violent, egotistical bully with supernatural powers, and that's to say the least of his evil deeds in ''Phantom Blood'' and ''Stardust Crusaders'' in both of those forms when he's being an active threat.

* BarbaricBully: Dio, as a human, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters a vampire]], and as DIO, is basically a violent, egotistical bully with supernatural powers, and that's to say the least of his evil deeds in ''Phantom Blood'' and ''Stardust Crusaders'' when he's being an active threat.

* BarbaricBully: Dio is basically a violent, egotistical bully with supernatural powers, and that's to say the least of his evil deeds in ''Phantom Blood'' and ''Stardust Crusaders'' when he's being an active threat.

* {{Kiai}}: [[SpamAttack MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!!]]

* TheStoic: Unlike its user, who loves to ham the situation, The World hardly emotes during combat besides his kiai.

* BadBoss: Zigzagged despite being such a sociopathic monster. DIO prefers to cultivate loyalty through charm and profit, even paying his minions upfront and fully accommodating them if they get a job done. On the other hand, DIO doesn't really tolerate failure. He sends Steely Dan to kill Enya Geil on the possibility she told the heroes what DIO's power is. Even though she said nothing, she was still killed despite her being both a huge asset and the reason he even manifested a stand in the first place. He implants flesh buds in some of his followers that'll kill the host when removed or drive their stand into overdrive and potentially cripple them for the rest of their lives. However, despite being aware of Hol Horse's ineptitude and multiple failures, he offers him another chance despite the [[TooDumbToLive man even attempting to kill DIO out of sheer spite.]] Though it's largely implied he does this because he's impressed that Hol Horse had the will to try and kill someone infinitely stronger than him while many would not even ''think'' of it.

* LargeHam: It's probably easier to list the moments where he ''isn't'' delivering some kind of bombastic, over-the-top speech. Primarily this is shown during his sections in Part 1 and 3 when not confronting that part's Joestar.

* SparingTheAces: Interestingly, DIO not only recruits all manner of people for his forces, but he's even willing to let them rejoin him should he deem them useful enough to keep around. It's why he doesn't even flinch as Hol Horse attempting to kill him, and later offers Polnareff and Kakyoin a chance to rejoin him.

** When the whole gang opens his casket, he uses the frozen time to swap places with Nukesaku instead of taking the opportunity to inflict an easy TotalPartyKill. Although, this might be justified, since his time limit was still very short at the time.

* WorthyOpponent: After losing his head, he considers Jonathan this, but it's to {{yandere}} extremes and he needed his body to move again.
** DIO begrudgingly 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''.

* GlassCannon: In comparison to Star Platinum. It's slightly stronger and faster, but at the same time more fragile with Star Platinum being able to punch clean through The World's torso. Even after DIO powers up by sucking Joseph's blood, another PummelDuel between the two Stands ends with Star Platinum breaking The World's hand, and this fragility contributes to DIO's ultimate defeat when a direct punch to The World's already weakened leg ''shatters' the whole thing.

* TheCassanova: Four of his sons from numerous liaisons appear in the series, and it's implied that there may be many more.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: For the whole series after ''Stardust Crusaders''. DIO is built up as the ultimate enemy to the Joestar Bloodline, and is finally destroyed in his fight against Jotaro. However, DIO still manages to have a looming shadow, with the remaining parts of the original continuity dealing with the aftermath of his actions, and the final part being the culmination of his greater plan via a very loyal subordinate.

* DiscardAndDraw: He trades in his old vampire powers after obtaining Jonathan's body for the far more badass ability [[spoiler:to stop time]].

* AmbiguousSituation: Initially, DIO is portrayed as a straight CardCarryingVillain with no nuance. However, Parts 5 and 6 give him very uncharacteristic traits that [[RiddleForTheAges even the usually omniscient narrator isn't exactly sure about and never elaborates]].

* BadBoss: Zigzagged despite being such a sociopathic monster. DIO prefers to cultivate loyalty through charm and profit, even paying his minions upfront and fully accommodating them if they get a job done. On the other hand, DIO doesn't really tolerate failure. He sends Steely Dan to kill Enya Geil on the possibility she told the heroes what DIO's power is. Even though she said nothing, she was still killed. However, despite being aware of Hol Horse's ineptitude and multiple failures, he offers him another chance despite the [[TooDumbToLive man even attempting to kill DIO out of sheer spite.]] Though it's largely implied he does this because he's impressed that Hol Horse had the will to try and kill someone infinitely stronger than him while many would not even ''think'' of it.

* TheCasanova: Four of his sons from numerous liaisons appear in the series, and it's implied that there may be many more.

* SanityHasAdvantages: DIO was never the most sane person around, but his cautious attitude allowed him to get pretty successful in a rather short amount of time he was released from his coffin. In fact, his cautious attitude almost guaranteed him the win against Jotaro who needed both Polnareff's interference and to stop his own heart to just get a shot at the vampire. However, once he drains Joseph's blood, he's on a self-admitted power high, being far more reckless in his approach to Jotaro, which ultimately does him in when he fails to realize the other stand user outmaneuvered him.

* EvilCounterpart: By virtue of being DIO's Stand, The World is this to Jotaro's Star Platinum. To boot, it generally has a more sinister appearance, its face adorned by a grim scowl and its other expressions generally concealed by its helmet. Needless to say, The World is far more violent.
* {{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 hamtastic DIO. And since the Stands reflect the person's soul, it reflects DIO's true nature as a soulless, narcissistic psychopath with a God complex.

* NotSoStoic: Its unflappable demeanour changes to an OhCrap face as it starts falling apart after Star Platinum punches its weakened leg.

** In the [=OVA=] it has white armor with dark green skin, in the 2014 anime, it is golden armored with onyx-colored skin, and the manga colorings have it completely heavily yellow with light yellow armor, radiating light.

* LightIsNotGood: In OVA, The World's golden parts are colored white, but it's still commanded by the BigBad and makes for a noted contrast with the [[DarkIsNotEvil dark-colored but noble-natured]] Star Platinum.

* UselessAccessory: In Part 3, DIO wears pants with suspenders, but he never uses or seems to need the suspenders the suspenders to hold up his pants. In the anime, the suspenders are attached to his bodysuit, making them even more [[{{Catchphrase}} “USELESS, USELESS, USELESS!”]]

* {{Ephebophile}}: He tried to seduce Poco's sister into joining him as a vampire and shares (what is presumably) a post-coitus scene with Enrico Pucci. Both of them were only 16 in those instances.

* SanityStrengthening: Severely downplayed, but in Part 3 and the Part 6 flashbacks, DIO has become more self-aware. He no longer has tantrums at the defiance of others (like with Erina, Dire, and Poco's sister), but he actually reacts to them with amusement; tr least with Hol Horse, whose betrayal he saw as a sign of strength of will. He seems introspective, asking about concepts such as fear and fate. His concept of strength in Stand power is even more nuanced than his simple Darwinistic swagger in Part 1. Compared to the Dio of ''Phantom Blood'' who acted in pretension by speaking French and saw Jonathan's studies as a waste of time who couldn't give him money, now DIO seems to see monetary gain and others' desires as something he is above. Being able to read books far more often (even if we did see him do that on rare occasions in Part 1). Being far more skillful in manipulating people and suave, he seems like he is outwardly more mature, despite his over-the-top theatrics. This all goes out the window the moment he obtains Joseph's blood, though, reveling in his newfound strength.

** Everything Jonathan was, Dio is the antithesis to him. And their legacies have opposed each other throughout series. Jonathan is a dorky NiceGuy AllLovingHero born in an [[SpoiledSweet aristocratic family]], while Dio is an [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious evil since birth]] CardCarryingVillain born to the lower class. Jonathan wants to be "the perfect gentleman" and is willing to risk himself for strangers; Dio seeks to exploit and manipulate everyone for his own goals, culminating in his plan to take over the Joestar household (who ''willingly adopted him'' when his father died). As Jonathan and Dio gain supernatural powers, Jonathan wields [[ThePowerOfTheSun Hamon]] to fight [[AnIcePerson vampire]] Dio. Their appearances are further contrasted: Jonathan has TaremeEyes and [[BlueIsHeroic a blue shirt]] and is built like a {{Juggernaut}}, while Dio has TsurimeEyes, [[RedOniBlueOni red clothing]] and, in the anime, is more slender than Jonathan.

** Everything Jonathan was, Dio is the antithesis to. And their legacies have opposed each other throughout series. Jonathan is a dorky NiceGuy AllLovingHero born in an [[SpoiledSweet aristocratic family]], while Dio is an [[AmbitionIsEvil ambitious evil since birth]] CardCarryingVillain born to the lower class. Jonathan wants to be "the perfect gentleman" and is willing to risk himself for strangers; Dio seeks to exploit and manipulate everyone for his own goals, culminating in his plan to take over the Joestar household (who ''willingly adopted him'' when his father died). As Jonathan and Dio gain supernatural powers, Jonathan wields [[ThePowerOfTheSun Hamon]] to fight [[AnIcePerson vampire]] Dio. Their appearances are further contrasted: Jonathan has TaremeEyes and [[BlueIsHeroic a blue shirt]] and is built like a {{Juggernaut}}, while Dio has TsurimeEyes, [[RedOniBlueOni red clothing]] and, in the anime, is more slender than Jonathan.

* SanityHasItsAdvantages: DIO was never the most sane person around, but his cautious attitude allowed him to get pretty successful in a rather short amount of time he was released from his coffin. In fact, his cautious attitude almost guaranteed him the win against Jotaro who needed both Polnareff's interference and to stop his own heart to just get a shot at the vampire. However, once he drains Joseph's blood, he's on a self-admitted power high, being far more reckless in his approach to Jotaro, which ultimately does him in when he fails to realize the other stand user outmaneuvered him.

** After his 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. However, after ingesting Joseph's blood in ''Stardust Crusaders'', becoming High DIO, he slips back into his insane, childish, and borderline feral characterization from Part 1. This suggests that DIO's level of maturity is tied to how strong he feels he is.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn:
** Strangely enough, flashbacks in Part 6 bring out the more introspective and mature side of DIO, a side we never get to see in the AxCrazy and EvilIsHammy sadist that he was in both Parts 1 and 3.
** This attitude was present in Part 3, but most of his focus is centered on the "DIO's World" arc that displays him enjoying himself. The Shadow DIO sections show him on a similar introspective and philosophical mindset as Part 6, so it didn't necessarily come from nowhere.

* ColdHam: In the 1993 OVA, this forms a key part of DIO's AdaptationalPersonalityChange. He's just as verbose and sadistic as in the anime and manga, but a lot more quiet and philosophical in general. Instead of being furious at Jotaro copying his [[TimeStandsStill Time-Stopping power]], for example; DIO commends him and the late Kakyoin on figuring it out without a trace of anger in his voice, and muses aloud about how long Jotaro is able to do it for as he silently warps around. Notably, [[OoCIsSeriousBusiness this visibly frightens even]] ''[[OoCIsSeriousBusiness Jotaro]]''.

* 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.

* DubPersonalityChange: Compared to Creator/TakehitoKoyasu, Creator/PatrickSeitz's DIO is quicker to recognize when he's outmatched, and his uses of ThisCannotBe suggest panic more than anger--compare the [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=tv2yfioMM_U&t=30s English]] and [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=kt2O_bAVuoA&t=31s Japanese]] dubs of one of their first fights.

* {{Ephebophile}}: He tried to force Poco's sister into becoming his sex slave and shares (what is presumably) a post-coitus scene with Enrico Pucci. Both of them were only 16 in those instances.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He literally [[KickTheDog kicks Jonathan's dog Danny]] because he was running towards him.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Never uses his vampire powers in Part 3 aside from bloodsucking, even though zombie servants and eye-beams probably would have come in handy. While he does state that the residual Hamon in Jonathan's body is weakening him, he still doesn't bother using his powers after Joseph's blood helped him purge it.

* InTheirOwnImage: ''Stone Ocean'' reveals that DIO's ultimate plan is [[spoiler:to remake the universe into his own twisted vision of "Heaven". A "Heaven" where all will worship him]].

* LargeHam: It's probably easier to list the moments where he ''isn't'' delivering some kind of bombastic, over-the-top speech.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: DIO is a Grade-A misogynist. The first interaction he's shown having with a girl his age (Erina) is flirting with her, [[ForcefulKiss forcefully kissing her]], and ''slapping her across the face'' when she washes her mouth off. As a vampire, he lures countless women into his lair to bed them and drain them of all their blood afterwards, seeing them as nothing but sex slaves and food sources. And during his fight with Jotaro, he spouts rude, sexist comments at the cashier of a jewelry store he crashed into [[EntitledBastard (while also demanding her help)]], before killing her as well.

* SanityStrengthening: Severely downplayed, but in Part 3 and the Part 6 flashbacks, DIO has become more self-aware. He no longer has tantrums at the defiance of others (like with Erina, Dire, and Poco's sister), but he actually reacts to them with amusement; ar least with Hol Horse, whose betrayal he saw as a sign of strength of will. He seems introspective, asking about concepts such as fear and fate. His concept of strength in Stand power is even more nuanced than his simple Darwinistic swagger in Part 1. Compared to the Dio of ''Phantom Blood'' who acted in pretension by speaking French and saw Jonathan's studies as a waste of time who couldn't give him money, now DIO seems to see monetary gain and others' desires as something he is above. Being able to read books far more often (even if we did see him do that on rare occasions in Part 1). Being far more skillful in manipulating people and suave, he seems like he is outwardly more mature, despite his over-the-top theatrics. This all goes out the window the moment he obtains Joseph's blood, though, reveling in his newfound strength.

** 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''.

* WouldHurtAChild: An indirect example, but he still makes a woman eat her own infant child alive after zombifying her, right after he had just promised that [[ExactWords HE]] wouldn't hurt it.

* PersonalityPowers: A Stand with the power to stop time and leave opponents sitting ducks wielded by a {{Narcissist}} with a god complex that enjoys toying with people that defey him.

* 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. When wounded by Dire's Hamon-Rose, he noticeably reveal his true colors after staying ([[LargeHam relatively]]) composed for several chapters, howling in fury and sending his zombie hordes at the heroes to massacre them all.

* 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 managing to utterly destroy his invincible vampiric body, leaving only his head intact. It was not until 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.

* SoreLoser: To put it lightly, he didn't take [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown getting humbled]] by Jonathan very well as a kid. ''[[MicrowaveTheDog Not]] [[RevengeByProxy at]] [[MurderByCremation all.]]''

* SoreLoser: To put it lightly, he didn't take losing a fistfight to Jonathan very well as a kid. ''[[KickTheDog Not]] [[RevengeByProxy at]] [[MurderByCremation all.]]''