The Joestar Family is a family with English roots with a majority of its members bearing a star-shaped birthmark above their left shoulder blade. In the original universe depicted in Parts 1-6, the Joestar bloodline was inherited by the Kujo Family and Josuke Higashikata. Dio, having stolen Jonathan's body at the end of Part 1, fathered a few sons bearing the Joestar bloodline while awakening use of Stands in Jonathan's descendants. In the universe depicted in Parts 7 and 8, Johnny Joestar married Rina Higashikata with the Higashikata Family becoming a distant branch of the Joestar family.
The principle antagonist of the series, mentioned to be pure evil. The son of Dario Brando, Dio becomes a member of the Joestar household with the intent of inheriting it for himself by poisoning George Joestar. When this ultimately fails after Jonathan catches him in the act, Dio uses the Stone Mask to transform himself into a vampire with aspirations of taking over England then the world. Though Jonathan stops his scheme by destroying his body, Dio's disembodied head claims Jonathan's body despite his rival's final attempt to destroy him by sinking the ship they were in. But Dio resurfaced a century later after being found by sailors, referring to himself as DIO while taking residence in Cairo with an army of Stand users as his command. He also awakened his own Stand "The World", causing those descended from Jonathan to acquire their own Stands with DIO destroyed by Jotaro Kujo. Despite his death, DIO remained a presence in the storyline until the events of ‘’Stone Ocean’’.
A former street thug from the London's Ogre Street who befriends Jonathan after being bested and spared by him, becoming an ally in his battle against Dio despite lacking the ability to use Hamon. Before the events of "Battle Tendency", Speedwagon became rich after finding oil in the United States and establishes the Speedwagon Foundation, which continues to help the Joestar family after his passing.
An Italian user of Hamon who trained in Tibet, becoming Jonathan's mentor so they can destroy the stone mask in Dio's possession. Zeppeli ultimately dies during the series of battles, passing his Hamon to Jonathan.
Jonathan's childhood friend who he eventually married, raising their son George Joestar II and then Joseph, even going so far as to provide shelter to Smokey Brown, friend of Joseph Joestar.
Jonathan's father and died protecting his son from Dio.
Dio's abusive father, an alcoholic thief who Dio poisoned on the notion that he deserved to die for working his mother to death. Prior to that, even after being exposed as a con-man, Dario won George's favor and enabled Dio to be welcomed into the Joestar estate.
An ordinary New York pickpocket whose friendship with Joseph places him at the spectator's seat of the battle against the Pillar Men. He later grows up to becomes a mayor in Georgia.
Joseph's best friend and a Hamon user, the grandson of William Anthonio Zeppeli. He helps fight the Pillar Men and died to give Joseph the antidote to Wamuu’s poison.
Joseph and Caesar's Hamon coach, revealed to be the former's mother Elizabeth Joestar who was saved by Erina on the day that Jonathan died. Elizabeth was raised by the Hamon master Straizo and eventually married George Joestar II. But she avenged her husband's death by one of Dio's surviving zombies who infiltrated the Royal Airforce, Elizabeth was forced to go into hiding in Italy under an alias while becoming the current guardian of the Red Stone of Aja.
A German commander from Nazi-occupied Germany who discovered Santana in Mexico, proving to be honorable in his right as he saved Speedwagon for intel and blew himself up to give Joseph a chance to defeat Santana. He returns later as a cyborg to assist in the fight against Kars and his army, later revealed to have died in battle during the second World War.
Lisa Lisa's maid who Joseph falls in love with, the two eventually married and raised their daughter Holly Joestar together.
The main antagonist of "Battle Tendency" and one of the surviving Pillar Men, a race of humanoids revered as deities and demons in the New World that petrify while in sunlight and digest other lifeforms through physical contact due to their cells containing acidic enzymes and euphoria-inducing enzymes that keep the prey from realizing they are being eaten alive. Kars created the Stone Masks to prevent his race's extinction while evolve them into the Ultimate Being, ultimately forced to slaughter his people when they deemed his actions against nature. When Kars learn he needs a Super Aja to complete, he, Wamuu, and Esidisi traveled to Eursia and eventually entered a deep slumber in Rome before awaking in the 1930s to resume their search. Having fought ancient Hamon users, Kars develops his Light Mode where he produces saw-bladed appendages from his body. Kars ultimately acquires the stone and become the Ultimate Being, immune to sunlight with ability to produce Hamon and manipulate his body at a cellular level to manifest the traits of various creatures. But Kars's obsession of killing Joseph proved his downfall, being blasted out of Earth's orbit through a volcanic eruption and drifting into space.
A Pillar Man and one of Kars's subordinates, possessing a warrior's code of honor as he considered Joseph a worthy opponent. The Wind Mode he developed to counter Hamon users allows him to control the air in his lungs from his Divine Sand Storm attack to rendering himself invisible.
A Pillar Man and Kars's right-hand, having aided him in the genocide of their people. The Inferno Mode he developed to counter Hamon users allows him to turn his blood into superheated acid to melt down his foes. Though his body was destroyed by Joseph, Esidisi's nervous system survived and takes control of Suzie Q's body to send the Super Aja to Kar while intending to use her as a sacrificial distraction before being safely removed and destroyed for good.
The first of the Pillar Men Joseph encounters, named by Rudol von Stroheim after being recovered and revived on human blood. But Santana goes on a rampage before being defeated by Joseph with his remains placed in custody of the Speedwagon Foundation under contact UV lighting.
An Egyptian fortune-teller who is friends with Joseph, possessing the fire-based Stand Magician's Red. He helps in the journey to defeat DIO, only to be ultimately killed by Vanilla Ice.
A high-schooler who became friends with Jotaro whose Stand is Hierophant Green. He was once under the control of DIO, but joins the fight against him and dies during the final battle.
A French man whose Stand is Silver Chariot, an armored knight wielding a rapier that can boost its blinding speed further by casting off its armor while producing a series of afterimages. Polnareff's desire to avenge his younger sister's rape and murder by J. Geil led to him ending up being under DIO's control before being freed by the Joestar Group, eventually joining the group officially after finally exacting his revenge. He suffered injuries during his fight with Vanilla Ice. Polnareff later acquired the Bow and Arrow before being crippled by Diavolo during the events of "Vento Aureo", forced to use the Arrow on himself at the time of his to evolve his Stand into the soul manipulating Chariot Requiem to protect the Arrow while Polnareff's soul was transferred into a turtle.
A recurring minor antagonist whose Stand Emperor takes the form of a gun that fires bullets that can change their transjectory in midflight, preferring to work with other Stand users. Hol Horse previously encounters the Joestar group in India alongside J. Geil, nearly killing Abdul. When the Joestars reach Cairo, Hol Horse teamed up with Boingo in a final attempt to kill the Joestar group and ends up being hospitalized.