6 underrated Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure that are surprisingly powerful

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure thrives on flamboyant excess, blending eccentric characters and unpredictable powers into a uniquely whimsical saga that spans generations of the Joestar Family. The franchise defies physics and logic, and much of that is due to the presence of Stands. Supernatural manifestations of people’s spirit and willpower, Stands are ethereal entities with outlandish abilities, acting as protectors, tools, or warriors at the command of the wielder.

Each Stand possesses a specific, unique power, generally related to the user’s personality. Stands wield exceptional abilities of all sorts, ranging from immense physical might to more subtle reality-altering effects, with certain Stands being incredibly dangerous in particular scenarios but otherwise ill-suited for direct combat. The incredible variety of Stand powers fuels dynamic, thrilling battles, where victory often depends on creative strategy and inventive thinking.

Stands like Pucci’s Made in Heaven, Funny Valentine’s D4C, Diavolo’s King Crimson, Giorno Giovanna’s Gold Experience, DIO’s The World, Jotaro Kujo’s Star Platinum, and Rohan Kishibe’s Heaven’s Door are usually celebrated for their superior effectiveness, while others, such as Okuyasu Nijimura’s The Hand or Fugo’s Purple Haze, are underutilized by their owners. Some Stands, however, remain overlooked, despite their abilities posing a serious threat to most foes.

These Stands from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure should never be underestimated

6) Aerosmith

Aerosmith in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Aerosmith is the Stand of Narancia Ghirga, a member of Passione’s Team Bucciarati who assisted Bruno Bucciarati and Giorno Giovanna during their perilous quest to protect Trish Una in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo. Despite its reduced size, Aerosmith packs great power, with its bombs and rapid-fire machine guns rivaling being as lethal as conventional grenades and bullets.

This Stand is also equipped with a special radar capable of detecting all sources of carbon dioxide, which allowa Narancia to track and pinpoint all breathing lifeforms in the nearby area. With its powerful weaponry, high-speed movement, and exceptional mobility, Aerosmith stands as a versatile and highly effective Stand in combat.

Aerosmith deserves more recognition, considering that it enabled the 17-year-old Narancia to triumph over Formaggio, an experienced killer from Passione’s Squadra Esecuzioni, as well as single-handedly defeat Squalo and Tiziano from Passione’s Unità Speciale. The fact that Narancia’s opponents resorted to cunning strategies to avoid direct confrontations with Aerosmith is another testament to the sheer firepower of this underappreciated Stand.

5) Horus

Horus in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Horus is the Stand of Pet Shop, a ferocious falcon serving as the steadfast guardian of DIO’s mansion in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders. Horus allows Pet Shop to unleash devastating ice-based attacks, their power high enough to be effective even in Egypt’s arid heat. Of course, in colder, moister environments, Horus’ power surges, enabling Pet Shop to freeze anything around in order to ensnare enemies as helpless prey in an icy trap.

Pet Shop often uses Horus to dominate from afar, conjuring colossal ice blocks capable of crushing cars. However, this Stand also grants Pet Shop an enhancement in close-quarters combat, coating its talons and beak with ice shards for amplified lethality. It can seal Pet Shop’s wounds by freezing them to stop the bleeding.

The synergy of Pet Shop’s natural pugnacity as a falcon and Horus’ icy deadliness renders the former a force to be reckoned with. Vicious and unrelenting, it strikes fear into anyone who dared approach DIO’s mansion. When the Stand-wielding dog Iggy ventured too close, it was plunged into a brutal, desperate fight for survival, overwhelmed by Horus’ sheer might. Despite its own Stand powers, it barely managed to win.

4) Red Hot Chili Pepper

Red Hot Chili Pepper in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Akira Otoishi, an antagonist from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, wields Red Hot Chili Pepper, a humanoid Stand that can travel through electric currents and absorb electricity to increase its speed and raw strength. When fully charged, Red Hot Chili Pepper becomes powerful enough to match and even overwhelm Josuke’s Crazy Diamond.

Red Hot Chili Pepper’s ability to enter flows of electricity and pass through electrical systems makes Akira Otoishi nearly impossible to track, granting him a range advantage that sets him apart from most users of humanoid Stands. Red Hot Chili Peppers can hide inside batteries and power wires, quickly travel through electrical cables, and even drag living beings inside an electrical network to electrocute them.

By doing so, Otoishi killed Okuyasu Nijimura’s brother, Keicho. Otoishi’s Red Hot Chili Pepper is a versatile and deadly Stand, good both in and out of combat. This Stand’s only glaring weakness is the fact that while it becomes exponentially more dangerous when it is near electricity, it must also remain near those sources of electricity or its stamina will quickly deplete. The same happens if it comes into contact with water.

3) Harvest

Harvest in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Harvest is the Stand of Shigechi, a young boy who bonded with Josuke and Okuyasu in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Harvest comprises about 500 small insect-like creatures that could act individually or unite to transport items and quickly swarm a target. Each of Harvest’s units is strong enough to tear into flesh with ease, making this Stand a formidable asset with the combined numbers.

Destroying a single unit of Harvest had minimal impact on Shigechi, equivalent to losing just one five-hundredth of his vitality. Of course, being a child, Shigechi mostly used Harvest for trivial tasks, like gathering lost coins and objects. Yet, this Stand proved fearsome in battle, allowing Shigechi to outmaneuver the likes of Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura and even driving the deadly Yoshikage Kira into a corner.

Shigechi had the chance to kill Kira, with Harvest ready to pierce the latter’s throat for a killing blow. Kira was spared only by Shigechi’s hesitation and reluctance to kill in cold blood. Distracted by his childish greed, as well as unaware of the abilities of Kira’s Killer Queen, Shigechi then loses his life at Kira’s hands. However, despite being a child without a fighter’s mindset, Shigechi still posed a serious threat to Kira, a testament to Harvest’s remarkable potential.

2) Notorious B.I.G.

Notorious B.I.G. in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Notorious B.I.G. is easily one of the strangest Stands in the entire JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure franchise. Originally wielded by Carne, a member of Passione’s Unità Speciale, this Stand reveals its appalling power only after Carne dies in the failed attempt to stop Bucciarati’s team from seizing a plane.

Carne’s death caused Notorious B.I.G. to turn into an autonomous, almost invincible blob-like creature fueled by grudge. In this form, Notorious B.I.G. is essentially indestructible. No matter how much damage it takes, it can regenerate from the smallest remnant, a tiny fragment being enough to reform and grow stronger. Notorious B.I.G. can also absorb Stand energy, which grants it immunity to most Stand attacks.

This monstrous entity proves nearly invincible, a formidable foe that continues to grow, devouring flesh and energy from Stands and inanimate objects until it became large enough to fill up a plane. At this stage, the Stand is blind but still capable of sensing motion, instinctively attacking the fastest-moving thing in its vicinity. To do so, it would continuously accelerate itself until it could seize the target in a merciless grip.

Unstoppable and terrifyingly persistent, Notorious B.I.G. ambushes Bucciarati’s team as they headed for Sardinia, even catching up with their plane after they tried to throw it down. Giorno and the others narrowly escape by dumping Notorious B.I.G. into the sea, but even then the Stand remained alive and active. Driven by the ravenous, animalistic urge to devour and grow, it begins to terrorize ships in the Tyrrhenian Sea, almost like a sea monster.

1) Death 13

Death 13 in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Image via David Production)

Death 13 is the Stand of Mannish Boy, a malevolent child prodigy serving DIO. In JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Mannish Boy uses Death 13 against Jotaro, Joseph, Polnareff, Avdol, and Kakyoin, who survives the encounter only by chance. In all fairness, Jotaro and the others were only saved by a stroke of fortune, combined with plot armor and Mannish Boy’s sadistic overconfidence.

This ominous Stand ensnares any living being who falls asleep near Mannish Boy into Death 13’s dream world, where they have no power to retaliate. Death 13, which appears as a cloaked, Grim Reaper-like humanoid with an eerie Venetian carnival mask, is the absolute ruler of this space and the only Stand allowed inside it.

Other Stand users can’t conjure their Stand inside Death 13’s nightmare, which leaves them completely defenseless, as only a Stand can defeat another. The sole exception occurs when a user falls asleep—or is knocked out—with their Stand already active. In any case, Death 13 has full control over the nightmare world, where it can reshape reality at will, altering everything as it sees fit.

Trapped victims can’t escape the nightmare by waking up themselves. They can only be woken up by someone in the real world. Until then, they are at the mercy of Death 13, who torments them before using his scythe to deliver a fatal blow.

Any wound suffered inside Dream 13’s nightmare world is transferred to the victim’s physical body in the real world. On the other hand, the opposite is also true, meaning that if Death 13 heals its target inside the dream world, their bodies in the real world will also be healed.

Although utterly powerless in direct combat and needing its targets to be asleep in order to activate, Death 13 is a uniquely lethal threat in the world of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Its user, a cruel yet seemingly innocent and harmless infant, evades suspicion, luring targets into slumber. Once asleep, they are trapped in a nightmarish prison from which survival is nearly impossible.