Diego Brando (THE WORLD)

"Johnny Joestar. In this world, for me, you are the greatest challenge!!"

- Diego Brando

Diego "Dio" Brando is a racer in the Steel Ball Run and serves as an antagonist of Part VII: Steel Ball Run. This article is about the second Diego Brando, who confronts Johnny Joestar in the final chapters of Steel Ball Run.

Personality
The "new" Diego appeared to be more sadistic than the original one, trying to kill Johnny with very violent ways as throwing knives or trying to burn Johnny alive with matches. He did not care for others, and had no scruples in his actions, even sacrificing others for his sake. His sadistic side makes him more similar to the original Dio Brando than his counterpart in Steel Ball Run.

Synopsis
During the 8th round, the original Diego turned against Funny Valentine. But he was quickly defeated by his stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. Later, after the final battle between Johnny and Valentine, the president tried to make a deal with Johnny, making the promise he can bring back Gyro Zeppeli (Switching a Gyro from another universe with the deceased Gyro). However, Valentine was planning a last trick and uses the time talking with Johnny to search for an ally in another universe. With this objective in mind, Funny Valentine negotiated with this alternative version of Diego to take the Corpse Parts and to kill Johnny.

After Johnny finally beat Valentine, he was surprised to see the Corpse Parts were gone again. He pursued the thief only to discover he was none other than Diego Brando. Johnny was at first surprised by the new Stand, The World, but still managed to discover the nature of its power after a few attacks. This time, Diego had the advantage of knowing Tusk's powers and Johnny super spin technique predicting his attacks and using his fans as human shields when Johnny attacked. In his final attack, Diego used his five seconds to make a double attack: He fired a gun while The World attacked Johnny's back. Johnny was badly hurt again falling from his horse and could not use his new attack. However, he had accumulated enough spin to make their final attack, using Tusk lvl 4 starts climbing Diego's leg. At that time, Diego remembers what Valentine told him about the Super Spin technique and how to overcome it. Cutting his leg and throwing it to Johnny, Diego manages to beat the Spin User with his own technique and mount his horse, leaving him to die.

Moments later, Diego wins the race and fulfills the last will of Funny Valentine by keeping the body in the secret chamber of Holy Trinity. When all hope seemed lost, Lucy Steel appears ready to stop Diego. She exposes the head of the first Diego, killing him when the heads of both dimensions merged and subsequently split into cubes.

Stand
The second Diego's version of The World has the same power as the original, with a small difference in appearance. This time the Stand has a letter 'D' instead of the Hearts of the original Stand.



Trivia

 * He is the second final villain to die at hands of a secondary character. The first was Enrico Pucci, killed by Emporio Alnino in Stone Ocean.
 * He is also the first antagonist to fight a JoJo at the end of a series without being a main antagonist himself.
 * The original Diego Brando with the stand Scary Monster bears a homage to Dio's transformation to a vampire in Part I. The second Diego Brando with The World bears a homage to Dio with the same stand in Part III.
 * This Diego has the same Stand as Dio Brando, with similar sadistic techniques. Like Dio, the alternate Diego died when his head split into several pieces and exploded.
 * The Alternate Diego defeated his Joestar Rival much like his counterpart. However, this time he only left him to die,but Johnny Joestar survived, whereas the original Dio successfully killed Jonathan Joestar.
 * Though the actual Diego is not physically present in All-Star Battle, some of his alternate's lines are present and fully voiced in the final part of Steel Ball Run's Story mode. Interestingly enough, he is referred to as the original "Dio" and is even voiced by Takehito Koyasu.