Dio Brando

Appearance: Dio is a tall, muscular man. He has shoulder-length blond hair and, exposing Jonathan's muscular body (on which his head is attached in place). Due to prolonged attachment, Jonathan's body has become pale, so pale that it seems transparent. DIO dons a jacket with a tight tank-top underneath, as well as chaps with an exposed crotch. His face is now in full-view, and on his head is a heart-adorned circlet to match his knee guards.

Personality: Dio is consistently manipulative and violently domineering, and has repeatedly shown a lack of conscience and empathy.

Dio's most recognizable characteristics are his boundless ambition and his love of power. Abused by his father and having lived in the most miserable living conditions, Dio set for himself the goal of becoming the richest, then the most powerful being on Earth. To do so, Dio used anything or anyone that he could in order to further his goals, disregarding any kind of morality that would restrain the range of actions available to him. Using either manipulation, seduction, or plain violence, Dio constantly sought to become more and more powerful. Dio enjoys being in a position of power and has repeatedly stated how great he felt being in a dominating position. On the contrary, Dio never tolerated that someone could stand up to him or equal him in power, and was enraged and deeply disturbed at the thought several times.

Throughout his life, Dio has tended to surround himself with witless cronies and later minions, who were attracted by his natural charisma. Not thinking much of them at first, he then selected those he deemed as particularly evil, claiming that an evil person wasn't bound by rules such as honor and thus were stronger mentally. This belief culminated in including the absorption of 36 souls of sinners, or, as he claims, particularly strong souls, to unlock a power greater than that of his Stand, The World.

Naturally, Dio is an incredibly-selfish person, only looking over his own interest and overlooking those of others at best, trampling them on the ground at worst. Due to his composed nature, Dio can and will manipulate and take what he can from all sorts of people, using any method, as long as the person suits his present desires because he is primarily interested in their capabilities. Dio is the type who is incapable of loving another person wholeheartedly. The only people he can be said to have held some type of affection for were Jonathan Joestar, and Enrico Pucci; Dio recognizing Jonathan's worth as equal to his own, and having been friends with Pucci. Still, Dio stole the former's body and his friendship with the latter was proven nonetheless beneficial of a grander plan to further himself.

When interacting with someone, Dio will constantly try to manipulate them and sway them into his side, using a veneer of gentleness and his natural charm to make people admire and like him. For instance, he acted the model son and popular charismatic friend to Jonathan's father and entourage to better isolate him, and as a vampire, his charisma only increased as he appeared as a charming mysterious individual. However, his natural arrogance would lead him to openly insult and belittle his enemies, notably disparaging their insignificant strength before his vampiric or Stand powers. He is the type who would be comfortable being with a man or woman; however, he will do anything to get what he wants and would "absolutely never pour 100% of his love into a specific person."

Dio approaches obstacles and problems in a number of ways depending on the situation and his mood. When he was human, Dio was careful and methodical in trying to break Jonathan's spirit and slowly poisoned George for a sizeable period of time, only being thwarted due to unlucky twists of fate. As a vampire, DIO at first let his arrogance get the better of him and took a laissez-faire approach, only sending subordinates to kill the Joestar Group while he rested and recovered. However, his defeat by Jonathan taught him to be wary of the Joestar Family in its entirety, thus he would later ambush Jonathan. During the events of Stardust Crusaders, he would send his minions to delay the Joestars as much as possible to recover strength. During his final battle, his wariness, tactical acumen and arrogance would clash to make Dio alternate between meticulous approach and overconfident attacks.

Background: Dio was born in Northeastern London around 1867 to 1868 to Dario Brando, an alcoholic and abusive father who he secretly despised—in part for having caused pain to his mother. For ten years, Dio lived in squalor and was beaten by his father, having to live through the death of his mother. One day, as Dio tried to give his father medicine, Dario beat him for not buying the alcohol he wanted and told him to sell his dead mother's dress to buy more booze. Disgusted and furious, Dio decided to covertly murder his father with a poison he secured from Wang Chan, learning from his dying father of George Joestar's debt while told to take advantage of and seize the Joestar fortune.

At the age of 20, Dio used the Stone Mask to turn himself into a vampire, triggering his brutal fight with Jonathan.

In his final battle he was defeated, but being only a head he snuck onto Jonathan and his wife Erina's ship, going on their honeymoon. Dio then shoots beams of eye humor at Jonathan's throat in an attempt to instantly kill him, but the attack only fatally wounded Jonathan with his stopped breathing preventing him from using his Ripple. Regardless, Jonathan uses his remaining Ripple to sabotage the ship to explode in a final attempt to end Dio for good. After putting Erina inside the coffin to protect her from the engine's explosion, Jonathan holds Dio's head in his arms. Dio begs Jonathan to let him live while tempting him with eternal life but realizes too late that Jonathan had died. The sinking ship explodes, though Dio succeeds in taking Jonathan's body and sinks into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1983, Dio's casket is recovered off the coast of Africa by treasure hunters, who are implied to have been killed by him shortly after. Dio then seems to travel a great deal, ranging from Egypt to Japan. Around July 1984, he impregnates a Japanese woman who goes on to give birth to Giorno Giovanna. Around 1985 to 1986, he also impregnates the future mother of Donatello Versus.

In 1986, he meets Enya the Hag and gains a Stand power, The World, as a result of the Bow and Arrow.

Later that same year, Dio encounters Jean Pierre Polnareff and brainwashes him. In 1987, he first meets Enrico Pucci while hiding in a church waiting for the sun to set. DIO heals Pucci's disfigured foot and gives him a Stand Arrow, speaking about the gravity which draws people together. He then tells Pucci to seek him out using the Arrow if he wishes to learn more. Around 1987 to 1988, he impregnates the future mothers of Ungalo and Rikiel. In July 1988, he goes on to encounter Muhammad Avdol in Egypt. In August, he meets Noriaki Kakyoin while the latter is vacationing in Egypt and brainwashes him as well.

Dio died in 1989 in his battle against Jotaro Kujo, a descendant of Jonathan, being killed and destroyed by sunlight.

Stand: The World is an exceptionally powerful Close-range Stand, The World's signature power is its ability to stop time, allowing only itself, DIO, and anyone with the same power, to act within the duration of stopped time. Individuals with the same power can only act within stopped time for the "duration" that they are able to stop time.

In the stopped time, DIO can move his own body freely along with any object he touches that he wishes to move, allowing him to strike his defenseless enemies, move to a superior position, and toy with his victims. All force applied by DIO during the time stop continues to exist after the time stop. This is seen when the objects that DIO throws can momentarily move during the stopped time before grinding to a halt. DIO can seemingly levitate in stopped time. Since no forces other than the time stopper's exist during a time stop, there is no force of gravity, allowing DIO to move freely in space as he wishes, with the assistance of his stand.

When stopping time, DIO gives the impression that he is teleporting or otherwise moving at impossible speeds.

The ability is best known for DIO's activation and cancellation phrases, "The World! Time, stop!" and "Time resumes".

As a Vampire he has Anti-Aging, Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Speed, Superhuman Senses, Blood Sucking (he suck his victims' blood with his hands, digging the fingers directly inside the target) Hypnosis, Regeneration and superhuman senses.

Vaporization Freezing Technique: By vaporizing the moisture in his body, Dio can absorb heat from any living being he comes into physical contact with, freezing them and stifling their blood flow.

Space Ripper Stingy Eyes: Dio is able to pressurize bodily liquid in his eyeballs and then create small openings in his pupils, eventually unleashing two fluid jets, powerful enough to slice through stone.