JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is a true adventure and action anime at its core, filled with well-known anime tropes. One of these commonly established themes is the triumph of good over evil. The series’ incredibly creative mangaka, Hirohiko Araki, is always sure to ensure his heroes achieve success over the wicked villains they fight, letting the good guys win in the end in each part of the iconic series.

Each of the nine parts of the franchise follows a member of the Joestar family who battles against villains and protects peace in the city they live in, often with the help of a powerful being named a Stand. Stands represent a personification of the hero’s powers, and take on a vaguely human-like form filled with bright colors and details that hint at that specific Stand’s talents.

Of course, with so many iconic protagonists, fans often discuss which of the Jojos is the strongest. While it’s easy to dismiss Jonathan and Joseph from the competition, it’s hard to come to an answer when comparing their successors. Rather than simply “powerscaling” their Stands, however, one may look at JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s protagonists in different terms.

After all, strength is not just about having incredible powers, but also about being ruthless and merciless when the situation calls for it. In these terms, there is only one JoJo who stands heads and shoulders above the others, and that’s evident from the gruesome fate he reserved to his villain.

Diavolo’s Golden Wind Death Took Retribution Too Far

Giorno Giovanna Delivered Justice to One Villain, But the Punishment He Chose Is Almost Too Cruel

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is filled with thrilling takedowns of truly evil villains, such as Jotaro’s iconic beatdown of the series’ greatest villain, Dio Brando, for example. Many fans live for the moment in each season when the Joestar protagonist finally catches the evildoer by surprise and corners them, destroying them with rapid-fire attacks and clever Stand power usage. JoJo’s villains are usually awful people, killing the innocent, thirsting for power at any cost, and viewing themselves as gods. This makes it satisfying when the heroes finally deliver justice, but some fans feel that one villain’s punishment went a step too far.

Part Five, Golden Wind is often regarded as one of the best parts of the entire series. The protagonist of this part is Giorno Giovanna, who is actually one of Dio’s sons. He has one of the most interesting and useful Stands that can create life out of any object, called Gold Experience. Throughout the season, Giorno and the Passione gang, led by stern but kind capo, Bruno Bucciarati, pursued the evil mob boss Diavolo, who was responsible for ruining the lives of many people, including teenagers and children, through Italy’s rampant drug trade that he was heavily involved in.

Giorno Trapped the Mob Boss in a Cruel, Never-ending Time Loop

In a Horrific Twist, the Final Scenes Reveal That Diavolo is Fated to Suffer Forever

Diavolo’s Stand, King Crimson, was somewhat similar to Dio Brando’s time-stopping Stand, The World, but with a unique twist. Rather than just freezing time, King Crimson fully erases time, which allows him to see in the future and also “cancel” any attack that would harm him. This made the terrifying boss nearly unstoppable. However, once Giorno’s Gold Experience Stand leveled up into Gold Experience Requiem with the use of a powerful Stand arrow, he gained a power that was the perfect counter to King Crimson.

While King Crimson could essentially negate the relationship between cause and effect, Gold Experience Requiem does the opposite, nullifying the “effect”. meaning the actions and willpower of its targets. As such, once this inescapable effect activates, any action the opponent performs will be reverted, regardless of their ability. This includes the death of any opponent directly attacked and “killed” by Requiem, causing them to continuously experience death in different scenarios.

When Giorno defeats Diavolo, the evil mob boss is trapped in an endless cycle of death and rebirth, fated forever to keep dying in cruel ways and being reborn, only to be killed again, over and over. Although Diavolo was undoubtedly evil, many fans of the series felt that his punishment was too over the top for its cruel and never-ending nature, making it the worst fate any JoJo’s villain ever suffered as retribution for their crimes.

Arguably Worse Villains Than Diavolo Were Given More Lenient Punishments

Dio Killed More People, but Received a Less Terrifying and Violent Punishment Than the Mob Boss

A handful of Diavolo’s causes of death were pictured, including drowning, a car accident, stabbing, and being sliced open on an operating table. Each new way of dying seemed more gruesome and inhumane than the last, with no hope of escape available. This fate brought out a new, previously unseen side of Diavolo, reducing the confidently arrogant and menacing villain into a fearful coward, which makes sense considering the horrors he was living through.

Although everyone agrees that Diavolo’s heartless murders and distribution of drugs to vulnerable people deserved punishment, some felt this penalty was over the top. Other villains like Dio, who wreaked havoc on humanity in similar ways to Diavolo, were merely killed, but not fated to suffer in a loop eternally. Dio likely killed more humans than Diavolo ever did, but he didn’t receive such a creatively brutal punishment and was simply beaten down by Star Platinum, Jotaro’s Stand, and laid to rest.

Giorno Proved Himself as the Most Heartless Joestar

His Actions Toward Diavolo Prove That He Will Never Show a Single Moment of Mercy to Evildoers

Some JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure villains received physically brutal Stand attacks from the heroes, but none of these compare to what happened to Diavolo. His final scenes in the series show him in such a state of panic and terror that viewers could almost begin to feel a little sorry for him in spite of his unforgivably awful actions throughout Golden Wind.

When comparing all the Jojos of the franchise, fans should go beyond the “simple” metric of Stand powers. As the series has shown many times, grit, determination, and ruthlessness are often what make the difference between victory and defeat. Giorno showed that he possesses all these qualities, plus that extra switch he can turn on to become truly cruel and merciless, which he perhaps inherited from his father.

Diavolo’s truly terrifying fate in the final moments of the Golden Wind Arc of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure definitely proves that Giorno Giovanna is the most heartless Joestar when it comes to dealing out justice and retribution to those who have wronged humanity.