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 Diego, trying to kill Johnny with very violent ways as throwing knives or trying to burn Johnny alive with matches. He didn't care about others, and had no scruples in his actions, even sacrificing others for his sake.

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 objetive 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 not other than Diego Brando. Johnny was at first suprised 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 her 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, doing 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 again 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. Using the head of the first Diego, Lucy attacks the villain killing him when their heads of both dimensions merged.

Supposed Past
The story of the new version of Diego Brando, is not revealed, but it could be assumed to have been similar to the original's.

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
Some resemblances to the Dio of previous JJBA parts include:
 * He has a liking to coffee.
 * He is the second final villain to die at hands of a secondary character. The first was Enrico Pucci, killed by Emporio 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.
 * He has been good with horses since he was a child; even untamable ones let themselves be handled him.
 * His five-year old self bears a resemblance to the young Giorno.
 * The original Diego Brando with the stand Scary Monster bears an homage to Dio's transformation to a vampire in Part I. The second Diego Brando with The World bears an homage to Dio with the same stand in Part III.
 * A fondness towards his mother (likely the only person he truly respects) and an alcoholic father.
 * A rise to fame with a cold-hearted attitude, in both stories he had no scruples in his actions to reach the top.
 * He married a woman of considerable age who fell in love with him – most likely a reference to Enya Geil (OVA) who died like the unnamed woman by his hand.
 * The same Stand as the original Dio and the same sadistic technique as well.
 * He finally beat his Joestar Rival. However, this time he only left him to die while the original Dio successfully killed Jonathan Joestar.