How Did DIO Get a Stand in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (2024)

DIO is undoubtedly the single most recognizable and influential villain in all of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, featuring in three different parts and having a massive effect on numerous other storylines. Even his Stand Ability, known as The World, stands out as one of the most iconic Stands in the franchise, with the ability to pause time being a simple, yet devastating, power that sets the standard for all future villain Stands.

But while The World has gained such notoriety within JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, DIO harbors a second, lesser known, Stand that hasn't gotten nearly enough attention. Some might assume that this Stand in question is "Scary Monsters," the Stand used by DIO's multiversal counterpart, Diego Brando in Steel Ball Run, yet that is not the case. The original fan-favorite incarnation of DIO truly did have another Stand that was not The World.

DIO's Second Stand Was Born Out Of A Continuity Error

When JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders first introduced the concept of Stands, one of the biggest mysteries became what Stand Power does DIO have? Early hints of his potential power came when DIO appeared to manifest purple vines that looked similar to Hermit Purple, the future-telling Stand of Joseph Joestar. This was furthered by the fact that DIO seemingly had a psychic connection to Joseph Joestar and the rest of his family thanks to him stealing the body of Joseph's grandfather, Jonathan Joestar. As such, the two sharing similar Stands seemed to make sense, and was certainly what was being telegraphed by the narrative during the early stages of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders.

Yet, perplexingly, when it finally came time to unveil DIO's Stand near the finale of the storyline, this purple vine-looking Stand did not appear. Instead, DIO's Stand was depicted as a muscular golden man who had the ability to stop time for a short while. This would go on to be the Stand that would battle the main protagonists as the final obstacle they needed to overcome so that Joseph Joestar could save his dying daughter. But while The World was an incredibly cool Stand, it was absolutely nothing like the Stand that DIO was teased with earlier on in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, making it an enigma within JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

The Passion Was The Stand Jonathan Would Have Inherited If He’d Survived

Fans were left wondering if these purple vines were a secondary power of The World, or if the series' writer, Hirohiko Araki, had simply retconned or even forgotten his original idea for DIO's stand and replaced it. It was not until twenty years later that Araki would address the confusion in the art book JOJO A-GO!GO!, wherein he explained the Stand that was shown in the beginning JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders was the Stand that Jonathan Joestar would have inherited had he not been killed by DIO in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood.

Hence, when DIO stole Jonathan's body, he inherited two Stands — one being his own Stand, The World, and the other being Jonathan's Stand, The Passions. This did, however, conflict with Araki's early Stand rule that Stand Users could only possess one Stand at a time, except for Stands that could evolve and devolve to gain different abilities or weaker Automatic Stands that made up a bigger one. But as of more modern JoJo's Bizarre Adventure stories — which would likely have been on Araki's mind when he wrote JOJO A-GO!GO! in 2000 — this rule had largely been done away with.

Hence, it was retconned that DIO had always possessed two Stands throughout JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders but never truly made use of both in equal measure before he was finally defeated. It was also officially confirmed that, while he never awakened it while he was alive, Jonathan did have the ability to develop a Stand like his grandson (Joseph), great-grandson (Jotaro Kujo) and great-great-granddaughter (Jolyne Cujoh) were able to. But since The Passion made only fleeting appearances in the main series, there were still many mysteries left that fans wanted to know about the Stand; fortunately, Hirohiko Araki answered many of these answers in the novel Jorge Joestar in 2012.

The Passion Allowed DIO To Foresee The Actions Of His Greatest Foes

While it was alluded to in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, the Jorge Joestar novel confirmed that The Passion acted similarly to Hermit Purple, but instead of seeing into one's own future, The Passion allowed DIO to see the present and future actions of anyone related to Jonathan Joestar. This was a great boon to DIO, as the Joestar Family had always been the greatest threat to him, making his ability to track their actions from far away one of the greatest strategic advantages he could have had in the entire series.

But while he failed to capitalize on The Passion's powers extensively in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, the alternate universe storyline in Jorge Joestar saw DIO use this ability far more extensively. Using The Passion, DIO learned of the future existence of his (and technically Jonathan's) unborn son, Giorno Giovanna, who would go on to defeat the Italian mafioso boss, Diavolo, so that DIO would not have to. He also learned that his son would eventually grow too powerful and later have him killed.

The Passion was so powerful that it allowed him to see beyond his own dimension and see the future actions of any blood relative throughout the multiverse, including the actions of Jorge Joestar, a multiversal variant that shared aspects similar to George Joestar II and Josuke Higashkita from the main JoJo's Bizarre Adventure universe. But with such a powerful Stand, Hirohiko Araki naturally had to create an equalizer to counter DIO's Stand, so the villain could not just win every fight in Jorge Joestar. Thus, a brand-new type of ability was created distinct from Stand Abilities.

Only Beyond Users Can Beat The Passion's Foresight

This new ability was known as Beyond and acted as the successor to previous modes of power in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure — such as Hamon, Stands and Vampiric Magic — within the Jorge Joestar novel. Seemingly first mastered by the Japanese student Tsukumojuku Kato, Beyond was powered by one's sense of belief; as long as they believed strongly enough that their own will and the abilities of Beyond are capable of anything, then the power is almost omnipotent. Beyond Users, such as Kato and later Jorge Joester, were essentially able to manipulate destiny itself, removing themselves from the confines of fate and allowing for any number of possible (or impossible) outcomes to take place, regardless of how probable such an outcome was.

In the case of Jorge Joestar, he grew up as an incredibly gifted detective, and as such, he developed an egotistical mentality that he is so smart that he can flawlessly outwit any opponent. Thus, this almost narcissistic mindset meant his control over Beyond flowed continuously at an almost subconscious level. This meant that DIO's The Passion could not see into the future of Jorge Joestar, because his future was forever undetermined, causing his Stand to ultimately become useless before the power of Beyond. Ultimately, The Passion will never be as iconic as DIO's The World, but it remains a fascinating and underappreciated Stand that helped open up the gateway to a whole new type of power within the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure franchise.