Stands, manifestations of the user’s soul conferring (and conferred with) certain supernatural abilities, are one of the key ways JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure joined the ranks of Shonen Jump’s best manga ever. It’s a simple concept, but its influence was profound—the idea spread like wildfire and was adapted for use in other media such as with Hunter x Hunter‘s Nen beasts and Persona‘s, well, Personas. Through Stands, creator Hirohiko Araki developed a creative way to show a character’s personality, both in the abilities of the Stand itself and the ways its user puts it to work.
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There are a handful of Stands well-known in the community for being powerful yet underwhelmingly presented. Okuyasu’s The Hand is a premier example: a space-eliminating super-punch artificially limited by its user’s wits (or lack thereof). However, there are also countless powerful or noteworthy Stands that have slipped under the radar, whether because of poorly written fights, poor strategy on the part of their users, or any other of a number of problems.
Narancia’s Aerosmith (Part 5: Golden Wind)
Golden Wind is awash with genius Stands. When it stands alongside dazzling alternatives like, say, Sticky Fingers and Moody Blues, Aerosmith is easy to forget. That’s not a reflection of the Stand itself, though; in fact, in its strength and utility, Aerosmith is easily one of Golden Wind‘s most overpowered Stands. At the end of the day, Aerosmith is forgotten simply because it’s built around a very simple idea.
With infinite ammo bearing the properties of real bullets, a carbon dioxide radar that can detect the breath of allies and enemies alike, and a bomb as powerful as a grenade ready to be deployed at any moment, Aerosmith is a versatile and overwhelming Stand to face off against. All of that is only bolstered by its massive range, allowing Narancia to stake out and subdue from a safe distance.
Rohan’s Heaven’s Door (Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable)
Rohan Kishibe is a brilliantly talented mangaka, a fact reflected by Heaven’s Door. This Stand is basically god-mode: with very few limitations, Rohan can peruse a person’s whole life and write events into reality as memories. Perhaps most famously, he ends the battle with Cheap Trick by writing in that, though he claims not to know whether it exists, the Stand is destined for hell. (As an aside, this has led to a fun fan theory that Rohan himself created hell with this gesture.)
The Stand has earned more time in the sun in recent years, especially with the release of JoJo spinoff Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe where it often takes center stage. Nonetheless, Rohan’s hands-off, evasive, and honorable personality still act to conceal the real damage this Stand is capable of. When you look over its effects, it’s clear that Heaven’s Door could be a real terror.
Joseph’s Hermit Purple (Part 3: Stardust Crusaders)
Joseph Joestar’s masterfully diverse use of Hamon in Battle Tendency sets the stage for his development of Hermit Purple, Hamon-conducting purple vines. Hermit Purple is strangely omnipotent: it sets the plot of Stardust Crusaders in motion through its (limited) long-distance telecommunication; its capacity for both destructive and restorative Hamon is made clear several times; it even has the ability to hack game controllers and computer terminals. Wherever energy can make a difference, Hermit Purple finds a use.
Speaking of fun fan theories, Hermit Purple also has a few to its name. For example, its lack of well-defined limits has led some fans to speculate that Joseph uses it to conduct Hamon after fights and heal his fellow Crusaders, explaining their ability to recover just in time for the next villain of the week. It’s easy to argue that Hermit Purple is as strong as the Hamon user who possesses it—and we’ve seen how strong they can be.
Sale’s Kraft Work (Part 5: Golden Wind)
JoJo has only a handful of utility-focused Stands as useful as Kraft Work: Yasuho’s Paisley Park (Jojolion) and Pucci’s Whitesnake (Stone Ocean) come to mind. You’ll notice, too, that both of those Stands belong to the main characters. Perhaps one of the most surprising things about Kraft Work is that it doesn’t. Kraft Work confers the ability to essentially control kinetic energy at will.
Any matter can have its kinetic energy locked, essentially halting motion until further notice; kinetic energy can also be added, stored within, or sucked out of any matter. Objects can also be fixed to other objects, accumulating mass and yielding huge projectiles. If that sounds overpowered, it’s because it is. Kraft Work feels more like a protagonist’s ability, rather than a side character like Sale’s.
Blackmore’s Catch the Rainbow (Part 7: Steel Ball Run)
It’s no coincidence that Blackmore’s Catch the Rainbow has a similar face to Jodio’s November Rain; while Catch the Rainbow is so far more limited, both involve turning rain into a force to be reckoned with. When it rains, Blackmore is virtually unstoppable. He can stop rain in its tracks to walk on it, dissolve into it, and completely phase into it to become practically invincible. From plugging his wounds to using the rain to communicate, Catch the Rainbow also offers a notable utility range.
That’s not to mention its destructive power. Blackmore is able to weaponize rain, forming raindrops into projectile blades, while the rain it stops also bores holes in opponents and can easily become fatal. Maybe it’s because Steel Ball Run is still manga only (where to make matters worse, the fight easily becomes tedious), but Catch the Rainbow has never gotten proper flowers. Nonetheless, it’s one of the many mind-blowing Stands we think will make Steel Ball Run become JoJo‘s best anime adaptation yet.
[RELATED: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Shares First Look At Golden Wind Prequel]
Jolyne’s Stone Free (Part 6: Stone Ocean)
Jotaro Kujo set a standard in Stardust Crusaders for protagonists and their power Stands thanks to Star Platinum being able to pack a wallop right off the bat. This was repeated for Josuke’s Crazy Diamond and Giorno’s Gold Experience. It’s easy, at the start of Stone Ocean, to get the sense that Stone Free is a weak Stand by comparison. In reality, it’s the first case where a protagonist’s Stand steadily becomes stronger.
That’s not to mention its unheard-of utility. The string mechanics Stone Free confers allow Jolyne to decompose her Stand and body to fit in cramped spaces, materialize bridges, lasso goons, mischievously pick pockets and locks, and more. Stone Ocean corrects Stardust Crusader‘s mistakes by making Stone Free capable of Star Platinum’s utility and antics without good ol’ Star Finger magic. It can’t stop time or negate someone’s will eternally, but by the end of Stone Ocean, Stone Free stands on its own.
Ojiro’s Fun Fun Fun (Part 8: Jojolion)
Fun Fun Fun is a challenging Stand to use because it has a very narrow window for activation: the user must be standing above an injured person, who receives a mark on one of their limbs providing control over that specific limb. If every limb is marked, the user gains complete control over the victim’s body, able to direct their actions like a puppeteer.
Because of its complicated activation, Ojiro primarily makes use of it by setting traps. Nonetheless, when it’s turned against Josuke, it actually turns out to be menacing. Yes, Fun Fun Fun is tedious to set up—but imagine this Stand being in nefarious hands while control over your body is slowly stolen away from you, and the possibilities of this Stand become clear. In the right team setup, Fun Fun Fun has the potential to be unstoppable.
Aisho’s Doobie Wah (Part 8: Jojolion)
Few Stands are as horrifying as Doobie Wah, an automatic long-range Stand that relentlessly pursues its victims, materializing in their breath with a violent, destructive cyclone. Doobie Wah is essentially limitless; it’s shown that oxygen masks don’t even stop its pursuit. As long as you’re still breathing, Doobie Wah presents a threat. To make matters worse, it can target multiple people at once.
In spite of that, its activation is incredibly simple; all that user Aisho has to do is touch a person or their Stand. The only reason that Tsurugi and Yasuho are able to escape death is because of a stroke of luck when Tsurugi’s own long-range Paper Moon King kills Aisho. Doobie Wah isn’t a terribly flashy stand, but its sheer destructive power means that a triumphant beatdown wasn’t necessary to begin with.
Tiziano’s Talking Head (Part 5: Golden Wind)
There’s a reason that Team Bucciarati’s stand-off with Squalo and Tizione is so frustrating to watch: Talking Head is an understated powerhouse. Conceptually, it’s simple: Talking Head is a little guy who attaches to your tongue and does two things: first, he prevents you from telling the truth (which Tiziano can toggle); second, he’s able to control your tongue (and, to a lesser extent, your body) at will.
It’s a horrifying situation to watch play out, and you can really feel Narancia and Giorno’s pain, respectively, as they both try and fail to communicate what’s happening. All the while, Talking Head is at work elongating Narancia’s tongue to pick up a knife and make him cut himself. In the right hands, Talking Head is capable of dire manipulation as it forces its victims to speak or be silent, to lie or be permitted the truth. Many Stands hurt; Talking Head hurts to watch.
Rubber Soul’s Yellow Temperance (Part 3: Stardust Crusaders)
Amusingly, some related searches for Yellow Temperance call it the “yellow goo Stand”. At the end of the day, that really sums it up. Yellow Temperance is a flesh-eating, matter-consuming invincible goo that multiples and spreads over the bodies of people it touches. The matter it consumes can then be put to multiple uses, like equipping an invincible goo suit or perfectly replicating the appearance of, really, any material thing.
Rubber Soul mostly puts it to use replicating people, but there’s no defined limit that says it couldn’t be deployed as a giant trap by replicating, say, a building contaminating anybody who enters. It speaks to Yellow Temperance’s power that its only limits are the Stand user’s own; Jotaro doesn’t even defeat Yellow Temperance, he just exploits Rubber Soul’s human need to breathe. The overbearing pressure Yellow Temperance exerts is a prime example of why Stardust Crusaders is JoJo‘s most beloved anime part.
Of course, across JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure‘s many stories, countless other powerful Stands have slipped by viewers too. If we missed one you think deserves mention, drop a comment below, and as always, you can reach out to the author on X (@KoltDay) if you have something to add.
