Every Shonen action anime series needs some cool villains for the hero to fight, and the likes of Frieza, Sosuke Aizen, Madara Uchiha, Father the homunculus, and more rank among anime's finest villains of all. In the world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, we get a new supervillain with every plot arc, most of whom are stand users.

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Two standout villains are Dio Brando, and Yoshikage Kira. Appearing in Phantom Blood and Stardust Crusaders, Dio was an impoverished boy who turned to evil and became a vampire/stand user. Yoshikage is a serial killer in the Japanese town of Morioh, with a fetish for women's hands and a stand named Killer Queen. Which one is the ultimate baddie of this anime? Let's review a few reasons why it should be Dio and a few other reasons why Kira deserves that title, based on their combat powers and their major victories.

10 Dio: immortality

Dio Brando in the Phantom Blood arc using Vampire Status in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

It's tough to argue with this one! Dio was a bitter orphan who plotted to take down the Joestar family, and when Jonathan cornered him, Dio put on that stone mask... and his life was never the same again.

Being a vampire gave Dio all kinds of powers (more on that soon), but it also makes him nigh-immortal, so long as he avoids sunlight. He has many human lifetimes to gather power, gather minions, plot schemes, and more. Few anime villains can make a boast like that.

9 Kira: he's elusive

Yoshikage Kira Blond JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable

Yoshikage Kira is a blood-chilling villain like Dio, but he's not as brash as his vampire counterpart, nor is he the type to show off. In fact, he would rather blend into the background, and that makes him far more dangerous than if he were a battle maniac, challenging all comers.

Kira was tough to track down even for Jotaro and Josuke, both of whom are pretty smart guys. What is more, Kira borrowed the powers of the Cinderella stand to get a new face and new life. So much for getting a lead on him!

8 Dio: Melee monster

Anime DIO’s World

This isn't to say that Kira's stand, Killer Queen, can't throw a punch. It certainly can. But if a stand battle becomes a matter of fist vs fist, you'd rather have The World by your side than Killer Queen.

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The World boasts incredible abilities (more on this soon), but it's also a terrific melee fighter, and easily holds its own against the martial arts specialist Star Platinum. Even with Jotaro's "I'll beat the tar out of you" speech, Star Platinum found itself tested to the limits against The World's knuckles.

7 Kira: Careful planning

Whoa, Yoshikage Kira is looking pretty smug in this picture. And for a reason. He's a salaryman and stand user, not to mention serial killer, and he does an apt job balancing all those lives (unfortunately). While Dio merely plots world dominance and dives right into battle, Kira is more patient.

Kira will not take any action without having everything in place first, and this became clear near the end of Diamond is Unbreakable when he used Bites the Dust to keep Hayato in line. Even Rohan struggled to find a way out of Kira's carefully-laid trap.

6 Dio: Freeze time

What on earth are you supposed to do when time itself is turned against you? In Dio's lair, Polnareff was baffled when he approached Dio up that staircase, only to end up back at the bottom in an eyeblink. Was something missing?

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Yes: a few seconds of time! Dio used The World's fearsome time-halting power against the Stardust Crusader gang and evaded Kakyoin's trap while delivering a fatal blow in return. Joseph nearly lost his life to this ability, and Jotaro only survived because he learned to use that power for himself on the fly. But other stand users won't be so lucky!

5 Kira: Evolving powers

Killer Queen in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

True, Dio also upgraded himself, going from a regular vampire to a stand user. The World was totally absent in Phantom Blood, we can say that much. But Yoshikage Kira took some extra steps to realize his stand's full potential.

In Morioh, the stand arrow made its first appearance, and it can grant stand powers to anyone who survives getting punctured by its sharp head. Kira pricked himself on it... then unlocked the time-rewinding power of Bites the Dust! He rigged Hayato into an explosive trap with it in order to protect his identity and circumventing that proved a real headache for the good guys.

4 Dio: Grab bag of vampire powers and weapons

This mainly applies to Phantom Blood, and unlike Kira, Dio has the benefit of appearing in more than one of the anime's story arcs (we're not counting manga-only content for this list). Dio was not only an immortal vampire, but he could also shoot laser beams from his eyes for ranged firepower.

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On top of that, Dio could even recombine his mauled body, which came as a shock after Jonathan cleaved him in half. Dio's bloodsucking ways also allow him to regain any lost strength or energy, giving him an edge over the all-too-human Yoshikage Kira in the endurance department. Don't forget his fantastic skill with throwing knives, either! He's got some serious aim.

3 Kira: explosion power

killer queen jojo

What is Killer Queen capable of, aside from some basic melee combat skills? We'll tell you: it has harnessed the power of explosives, and it doesn't need sticks of TNT to get the job done. No, Killer Queen can touch an item and convert it into an explosive device, even living tissue.

Once the makeshift bomb is armed, Killer Queen mimes pressing a detonation button... and BOOM! This delivers some serious kinetic and heat-based firepower, and few stand users can survive such an attack. Shigechi, that poor kid, was helpless against this power, and Kira badly injured Jotaro and Koichi with a combination of these bombs and the remote stand known as Heart Attack.

2 Dio: master of puppets

Is a villain cooler if they are a one-man army, or if they are the boss of a whole gang of monsters? That's a matter of preference, but we can say this much: Dio has a heck of a stand user gang at his disposal.

Some may call it cowardly, but we think it's smart that Dio was willing to send his stand users after Jotaro's gang first, to wear them out and exhaust their stands. Just look at Vanilla Ice, who injured Polnareff and killed both Iggy and Avdol. That made Dio's job easier, and a ruthless man like Dio won't feel ashamed to use a tactic like this.

1 Kira: he's resourceful

What the darn heck is that thing? It's the soul of a cat that was reborn as a plant stand, and Kira could hardly believe his eyes when he saw it. This critter can create air bubbles, including for self-defense, and Kira soon saw its potential.

Kira actually crammed this thing into Killer Queen's chest cavity, and used its invisible air bubbles as stealthy, guided bombs in the final battle. It took every ounce of Josuke and Hayato's creative thinking to get around a combined attack like that! Even Dio would have a tough time seeing that coming, especially if the air-bomb comes from around the corner very stealthily.

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