DIO's Resurrection

How Dio survived Phantom Blood and returned a century later.

Dio's return links Phantom Blood to Stardust Crusaders. At the end of Phantom Blood, Dio sneaks aboard Jonathan Joestar's ship intending to transplant his head onto Jonathan's body, and on February 7, 1889, he mortally wounds Jonathan, who dies with Dio's head in his arms.

Lore & Background

In Stardust Crusaders (Japan, 1987), Joseph Joestar explains that Dio survived that final battle by decapitating his nemesis's corpse and attaching his own head to it. Now preparing for global conquest, Dio has awoken his own Stand - which also awakens the Stands of the rest of the Joestar bloodline, because he uses Jonathan's body - and recruits Stand-using assassins to kill Jonathan's remaining descendants. Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol and Kakyoin set out for Cairo, Egypt, to defeat him and save Holly's life.