Dio Brando

Evil Incarnate (by Joseph Joestar)

Punk-Band Reject (by Wilson Phillips)

One of the leaders of the empire of terror

Expertise in psychology

Manipulation

Extensive knowledge of law

Charisma

Deception

Leadership

Endless craving for knowledge

Hand-to-hand combat prowess

Expertise in boxing

Knifesmanship

Vampire:

All abilities he had as a human amplified

Superhuman strength

Superhuman resilience

Superhuman endurance

Superhuman speed

Superhuman dexterity

Near-instantaneous regeneration

Ability to shot high-pressured liquid from his eyes

Cyrokinesis

Hypnosis

Necromancy

Teleportation

Ability to convert victims into zombie minions

Ability to convert people into vampires

Ability to create Flesh Buds

Levitation

Superhuman senses

Precision

The World:

Ability to freeze time (evolves as the story progresses)

Making minions

Reach "Heaven"

Annihilate the Joestar bloodline (all canonically failed)

Animal cruelty

Terrorism

Attempted world hegemony

Conspiracy

Mutilation

Sexual assault

Kidnapping

Sabotage

Destruction

Brainwashing

“ Muda, muda, muda, muda, muda, MUDA! „ ~ Dio's famous catchphrase.

“ Tell me, have you and JoJo kissed yet? I'll take that as a no. You thought your first kiss would be JoJo, but it was I, Dio! „ ~ Dio's famous quote, the end also referred as "Kono Dio Da!".

“ The World! „ ~ Dio activating his Stand, "The World", often referred to by its Japanese pronunciation, "Za Warudo!".

**Dio Brando**, also known as simply **DIO** (sometimes spelled **Dio**), is the main antagonist of the *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* franchise, serving as the main antagonist of both *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood* and *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders* and as the posthumous secondary antagonist in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean*. He is the sworn archenemy of the Joestar family, who is hellbent on destroying them in his quest to take over the world, being the arch-nemesis of Jonathan Joestar and Jotaro Kujo in particular.

He fathered Giorno Giovanna and three other sons, the latter three being under the rule of his friend Enrico Pucci, whereas Giorno became the boss of Passione to stop the drug trade. More than just a powerful vampire, Dio Brando wields the Stand known as **The World**, which has the ability to stop time.

## Portrayals

He was voiced by the following actors in the following works:

* Norio Wakamoto in the Drama CD.
* Isshin Chiba in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future*.
* The late Nobuo Tanaka in the *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* OVA.
* Hikaru Midorikawa in the film and PS2 adaptation of *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood*.
* Kenji Nojima (as a teenager) and Takehito Koyasu (as an adult) in the anime, with the latter also voicing him in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle* and *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven*.
* Andrew Chaikin in the English dubbed version of the OVA.
* Patrick Seitz in the English dubbed version of the anime

## Biography

### Past

“ Devil that you were, you drove mother to an early grave. I'm glad you're dead, may you burn for your sins. The riches that eluded your grasp? I will claim them in excess. You lacked the cunning to take what you wanted, but I'll prevail! This Joestar shall be the key! Now burn! „ ~ Dio figuratively and literally spitting on Dario's grave.

Dio was born in slums of London around 1868 as the son of Dario Brando, an abusive drunk deeply hated for causing his mother's death at an early age. Dio would later acquire poison from Wang Chan to kill his unsuspecting father, who told him of his encounter with a wealthy and extravagant man named George Joestar who felt indebted to him.

Dario tells Dio to take what he can from the Joestar estate with his last breath, Dio paying his final disrespect towards his father before leaving to be adopted into the Joestar family. Once at the estate, Dio kicks the family dog Danny then lies that he was startled by the hound. Dio wasted no time in making the life of George's only son Jonathan a living hell as part of his plan to subvert him.

When Dio enters the mansion, Jonathan tries to help him carry his suitcase up the stairs. However, Dio grabs Jonathan's hand and pushes Jonathan back with his elbow when Jonathan touches Dio's case. Dio tells Jonathan not to touch his stuff and that he will have a servant carry his stuff up instead. He also warns Jonathan to keep Danny away from him. Dio starts to outperform Jonathan in everything he does, leading Jonathan's father to praise him and Jonathan himself getting jealous.

Dio joined Jonathan's boxing club, so that he could beat Jonathan up in a boxing match and he nearly gouged Jonathan's eye out. After the fight, Jonathan's friends begin to praise Dio for his skill as a fighter to which Dio replied by spreading fake rumors of Jonathan to them, leading them to bully Jonathan. Dio then started to notice that Jonathan was getting happier by spending time with Erina Pendleton, denying the Joestar love by forcefully taking Erina's first kiss. But once Jonathan heard about this, Dio found himself being overpowered by the enraged youth to the point of bleeding with droplets hitting a

While Dio got revenge on Jonathan by putting Danny in a furnace and have a man unknowingly burn him alive, he realized that he needed to rethink his method and ceased antagonizing Jonathan.

### *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood* (1888-1889)

“ I am throwing away my humanity, JoJo! I am moving beyond humanity! „ ~ Dio Brando to Jonathan Joestar, moments before he became the sadistic vampire he is today.

Seven years pass, both boys attend Hugh Hudson Academy, with Dio studying law. Having spent the last seven years feigning being brotherly and friendly toward Jonathan, Dio decided to enact his plan to poison George. But Jonathan learned of Dio's scheme from the letter that Dario sent to George before his death, confirming it when Dio refused to deny it on his father's word. This forced Dio to think up a means to kill off Jonathan in the freak accident involving the stone mask, only to learn Jonathan entered Ogre Street and expects the Joestar to be killed.

While in a drunken stupor, Dio decided to test the mask on some older drunkards who crossed him, killing one to subject the other to the mask. But Dio is shocked to find the masked drunkard turned into vampire, saved from certain death by morning's light. Later returning to the Joestar Estate after nightfall, Dio finds Jonathan waiting for him and learns the youth found Wang Chan and the antidote to the poison. About to be arrested, Dio then changed his plan to use the stone mask on himself using Jonathan's blood. As he attempted to stab Jonathan with a knife, George jumped at him and took the blow. Though shot dead by the constables, Dio became a vampire and slaughtered them with Jonathan setting the Joestar estate on fire in an attempt to destroy the monster Dio has become.

However, Dio survived, turning Wang Chan into his zombie minion along with Jack the Ripper. Dio then set up his plans for world dominion in the village of Wind Knight's Lot, absorbing blood to restore his body while turning most of the townsfolk into his zombie army. At one point he kidnapped a mother and her baby child. When the mother begs Dio not to hurt her baby, Dio promises that he won't. However, Dio turns the mother into a vampire and she eats her own baby.

When Jonathan learned of Dio's survival, have underwent Hamon training until Baron Zeppeli, he and his group reach Wind Night's Lot to confront him. But Dio overpowered the Hamon users by using his abilities to block their attacks before allowing the zombie knights Bruford and Tarkus to finish them off. However, Jonathan manages to defeat them. Dio then kidnaps Poco's sister and tries to get her to join his army.

When she refuses, Dio prepares to kill her but is stopped by the arrival of Jonathan and his gang. Jonathan's gang attacks Dio, with Dire wounding Dio and Dio retaliating by killing Dire. Dire managed to injure Dio enough to the point that the vampire summoned his minions to kill the intruders while he deals with Jonathan himself. The battle ultimately ended with Jonathan using his flame covered hands to deliver Hamon into Dio's body as the vampire fell to his death. But Dio decapitated himself for his head disintegrated, retrieved by Wang Chan. Wang Chan delivered Dio to the ship where Jonathan and Erica were having their honeymoon at and he proceeds to turn the guests on the ship into zombies and vampires. In was then that Dio had an apathy that he and Jonathan's destinies have been intertwined from the very beginning, deciding to take the Joestar's body as his own.

Dio fatally wounds Jonathan and then tries to take Jonathan's body. Jonathan uses the last of his ripple to make the sabotage the ship to explode. Dio tries to have his minions undo the Jonathan's ripple on the ship, but to no avail. As the ship begins exploding, Dio lunges after Jonathan, preparing to kill him and take his body. Jonathan managed to stab Dio and then hold on to Dio's head while he died. Dio tries to manipulate Jonathan into letting him go, only to realize that Jonathan has already died. Despite a dying Jonathan's last attempt to stop him, Dio took Jonathan's body and entered a casket as the ship sank into the Atlantic.

### Pre-*JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders* (1983-87)

Dio's casket was recovered off the coast of Africa by fishermen a century later, who are implied to have been killed by him shortly after. Now known simply as "DIO", the vampire starts traveling around the world, meeting with various people who would later become his henchmen, such as Enya Geil, who uses an arrow on him, which makes him gain his stand, The World. Around this time, he learned about a prophecy to create the ultimate stand, who would have the power to recreate the world. DIO himself was part of this prophecy. He met with a priest called Enrico Pucci, who later became his most trusted friend. DIO gave him a bone from his own body as a sign of friendship and an apology for trying to force Pucci to betray him and steal his stand.

### *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders* (1987-88)

“ What a truly magnificent feeling! I feel so good, I could break out into song! [...] One hundred years ago, I obtained immortality. But I didn't feel as absolutely wonderful as I do now! Joestar blood suits me well! This is the greatest high! „ ~ DIO after sucking Joseph Joestar's blood.

The anime series and vast majority of video games are based on this third arc, which occurs about 100 years after *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood* and begins in the later months of 1987. DIO's ambition shift from conquering the world to creating a perfect world for him and his servants. However, because of the fact that he was using Jonathan's body, Jonathan's descendants also developed stand powers. Despite the long time span in which DIO's been using Jonathan's body, he still hadn't fully synced with it and thus he needed the blood of Jonathan's descendants.

Both Joseph Joestar and his grandson Jotaro Kujo developed Stands, as well as Jotaro's mother Holly, who, due to her peaceful nature, was unable to control her stand, getting sick and slowly dying as a result. Because of this, the Joestars embark on a journey to find DIO and kill him before Holly perishes. Despite knowing the Joestars were after him, DIO makes no effort to go after them, deciding to avoid them and sending various stand users hired by him to go after them instead. He only appears occasionally as a shadowy figure, either talking with his servants or reading books on his mansion. However, at one point he sent a message to Joseph and Avdol through a television warning them about Kakyoin before making the television explode.

He only appears to confront the heroes by the end, after all of his henchmen have been already defeated. After the defeat of his right-hand men, Terence T. D'Arby, Kenny G. and Vanilla Ice, DIO finally shows his face and his stand, confronting Polnareff on the stairs and toying with him. He quickly flees when the rest of the heroes join Polnareff, hiding on the top of the mansion. The heroes force DIO's minion Nukesaku to open his casket, but suddenly Nukesaku appears on the inside with his body sliced to pieces. The heroes escape the room, but as the sun sets, DIO finally decides to give pursuit.

The group splits in two, so DIO chases Joseph and Kakyoin, who take on a truck to flee. DIO takes a limousine and forces his owner, a senator, to drive for him. After DIO knocks the truck by tossing the senator after it, Joseph and Kakyoin flee to the rooftops of Cairo, where Kakyoin prepares a trap for DIO, making him unable to move.

However, DIO for the first time demonstrates his power to stop time, easily cutting over Kakyoin's trap and killing him with a punch. Before dying, Kakyoin uses his last strength to shoot a clock tower, so Joseph would understand that DIO could stop time. Joseph protects himself with his stand and his Hamon powers and tells Jotaro of DIO's powers, but DIO stops time and toss a knife on him, knocking him unconscious.

Jotaro confronts DIO and attempts to trick him into believing Jotaro couldn't move during his time stop, in an attempt to hit his head when he lowers his guard. DIO notices the trick, however, stopping time and tossing a salvo of knifes towards Jotaro, who is unable to dodge the attack and is then stabbed by them. Jotaro, who had put various books around his body to relieve his pain, survives the attack but starts pretending to be dead to once again try to get a hit on DIO's head, going so far as to use his stand to stop his heartbeat. Despite thinking Jotaro is really dead, DIO picks up a street sign to slice his head from a distance, but Polnareff appears just before DIO delivers the attack, giving Jotaro enough time to punch DIO's head. Because of the head trauma, DIO is unable to control his own body and attempts to flee by grabbing a passing car, but Jotaro stops him and pummels him.

As DIO is flung by Jotaro's attack, he realizes DIO was not actually trying to escape. He falls near Joseph's body and drains his blood, recovering and getting more powerful than before. DIO goes all out on Jotaro, who plans on stopping time just before DIO's time stop expires, but DIO drops a steamroller on him, pummeling it until it explodes. However, Jotaro escapes the attack and freezes time, breaking DIO's leg. Despite the wound, DIO squirts blood into Jotaro's eyes, momentarily blinding him, and attacks him with a kick, but Jotaro retaliates with a punch to The World's knee. The attacks connect with each other, with Jotaro's Star Platinum hand breaking, but since The World's leg is hit on the same spot where DIO's was broken, the stand shatters and DIO explodes, with only his lower half remaining. Jotaro takes it and does a blood transfusion, reviving Joseph, and leaves DIO's body in the desert to disintegrate in the morning sun.

### Legacy

“ I understand that happiness cannot be obtained by having an invincible body or mountains of money, or even being the ruler of the human race. The true winner is the one who gets to see "Heaven"... I will get there, no matter how many things I must sacrifice. „ ~ DIO to Enrico Pucci.

Despite DIO's death, his legacy still influences the later arcs.

In *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable*, some of the stand arrows were shipped to Yoshikage Kira’s father, Yoshihiro, and in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind* to Diavolo.

In *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind*, DIO's son Giorno Giovanna serves as the main protagonist and carries a picture of him in his wallet.

In *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean*, DIO appears in flashbacks and what remains of him is used by Enrico Pucci to carry out his last request with his three other sons aiding him.

in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run*, even though it takes place in an alternate timeline stemming from the climax of the last part, an alternative version of him called Diego Brando still antagonizes the Joestars and their allies with another version of Diego (nicknamed "Dio") having an alternate version of The World (stylized as **THE WORLD**) as his Stand.

DIO made a small cameo in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: JoJolion* in a sequence describing the creation of the Rock Humans and the Wall Eyes, wearing the Stone Mask.

## Personality

“ Living in the gutter, you learn to spot low-lifes pretty quick if you want to see tomorrow. I've trained my nose to sort out the bad ones from the good just from a sniff! This fellow reeks of brimstone and blood worse than anyone I ever laid eyes on! He is pure evil, right down to his very bones! Is he a victim of circumstance, you're wondering? Not on your life! He's been evil since he drew his first breath! „ ~ Robert E.O. Speedwagon giving Jonathan his assessment on Dio.

While Speedwagon claimed that he was born evil, Dio's treacherous and insane nature may be partially effected by his abusive upbringing at the hands of an alcoholic father, whom he later killed. He is shown to be an extremely arrogant and ambitious megalomaniac. He will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means trampling people, like he did to Jonathan Joestar when they were young, and relinquishing his humanity in favor of becoming a vampire. However, DIO is not entirely evil, at least not at first. He does show a good side to those who are good to him. In particular, he has shown extremely favorable attitudes towards Enrico Pucci, who also showed loyalty in return. DIO also has a passion for reading, as he is found in the library of his Egypt mansion at times.

Unless provoked or deemed an obstacle, DIO will normally not attack anything or anybody, although this is probably more out of regarding them as inconsequential, and as such unworthy of his attention, rather than anything akin to kindness or mercy. He will first try persuading people to work for him, then fight them if they oppose him.

Despite this however, DIO proved to be far more depraved and evil than he initially appeared, with his actions becoming more horrendous as the series progresses. He is willing to throw away, discard or destroy anything that holds him back in pursuing his insatiable hunger for power. Furthermore, his repeated lack of any empathy or conscience throws away any redeeming qualities he held at the start.

## Powers and Abilities

“ Immortality! Eternal life! And STAND POWER! This proves that no one can surpass DIO! Puny humans! I shall rule you all! Bow before my knowledge and might! „ ~ Dio Brando

His vampiric powers include superhuman strength, self-regeneration, immortality, ability to recover lost parts from his body and to shoot high-pressure liquid from his eyes, named Space Ripper Stingy Eyes. He also learned to use a freezing punch to counter Hamon-empowered blows. When he gained his stand The World, he got the ability to stop time for a couple of seconds (Originally five seconds, something that extends to nine seconds by the end of *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders*. The duration of his time stop would have continued to increase had he not been killed).

## Quotes

“ Will A. Zeppeli: Tell me, to undo your injures, how many innocent lives did you consume? Dio Brando: I don't know, how many loaves of bread have you eaten in your lifetime? „ ~ Will A. Zeppeli questioning Dio Brando on the amount of blood he has drunk.

“ You were a fool to attack me. I have disowned my weakness in favor of life everlasting! „ ~ Dio Brando

“ Really? The "Let's do battle!" stance? You're not serious. No matter how you prepare, human ability is extremely limited and finite. Your Hamon training avails you nothing. It's USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS, USELESS! A MERE MONKEY CAN NEVER DEFEAT A LION! In comparison to my power, you are but a mere monkey, JoJo! „ ~ Dio Brando

“ The World's true power, as its name suggests, is to reign supreme over the entire world! „ ~ DIO

“ You fell for it, Jotaro! Now my victory is all but assured! ONCE AGAIN, MY GENIUS HAS TRIUMPHED OVER YOU! DOESN'T THIS STREET LOOK FAMILIAR?! „ ~ DIO gloating to Jotaro as he was flinged to Joseph Joestar's location by Jotaro unwittingly. “ Wryyyyyyyy! „ ~ DIO's iconic screech of power.

“ Seven seconds! I'm going to ROLL ALL OVER YOU! „ ~ DIO attacking Jotaro with a road rollar (also famously referred as "Road Roller Da!" in Japanese). “ What the hell?! It's impossible! I am the immortal DIO! I... AM... DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIO!!! „ ~ DIO's last words.

## Trivia

* Dio's first name is the Italian word for "God", but is also a reference to the heavy metal band DIO, fronted by the late Ronnie James Dio.
	+ In comparison, Dio's last name is a reference to American actor Marlon Brando.
* Dio actually had spawn a number of memes among fans, they are "It's useless/Muda", "Kono Dio Da!/It was I, Dio!" , "Za Warudo!/The World!", "Road Roller Da!", and "WRYYYYYYY!" This become one of the reason that Dio become popular in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure* series.
* Hirohiko Araki considers Dio "the true protagonist" of *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood*, and Dio was made and makes his debut before Jonathan. Additionally, his "darkness" was meant to rival Jonathan's "light".
* Dio's return was inspired by Araki thinking that "evil from the past" would be a frightening thought.
* Dio's Japanese voice actor, Takehito Koyasu, said in his interview he "had a feeling" that Dio would be given to him to play. He has also voiced Redda, Doji, Zeke Yeager, Zechs Merquise, Seifer Almasy, Takuma Saiou, Aokiji and Nobuyuki Sugou.
* His English voice actor is Patrick Seitz, who has voiced various villains like Kunzite, Scorpion, Garrosh Hellscream and Uvogin. His anime character often overlaps with Takehito Koyasu.
* In the light novel *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Over Heaven*, it is revealed that Dio had a miscarried sibling, is aware of Diavolo's existence, and would consider starting a family with Enya Geil if she was younger.
* In a top ten made by Araki in 2000, Dio was placed as his tenth favorite character.
* Dio Brando's and Diego Brando's themes in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven* are remixes of each other. The same is true for DIO's and Alternate World Diego's themes.
* Dio is canonically bisexual.
* His surname, "Brando", means Sword in Italian. It is unknown if "Dio" is either Italian or British in definition.