JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fans have gotten to see many of its villains and their horrifying Stand powers brought to life onscreen in the anime at this point. As reckless, powerful, and over-the-top as the heroes of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are (traits which make them beloved by fans), the many villains of the long-running series are possibly even more popular for much the same reason.

The villains have been ranked more according to their story impact and narrative role, rather than their Stand abilities or other powers they might possess. General popularity also plays a role here, as some villains are just so much more popular than others that it has to be taken into account. Fans should be aware of spoilers from all parts of the anime, as it's tough to discuss the villains without also mentioning their fates. Without further ado, here are the 10 best Jojo's Bizarre Adventure villains from the anime.

10 Esidisi

The first of the three Pillar Men, who harnessed the power of the Stone Mask millennia ago, Esidisi is a hot-blooded warrior in every sense of the word. Literally, he superheats his own blood past boiling, using his blood vessels as weapons. Esidisi is a very smart fighter, with his instincts for strategy and battlefield analysis surpassing even those of Joseph "Your next line is!" Joestar's. He lacks Kars' ego and Wamuu's strict adherence to honor, meaning that he is willing to do anything to win a battle and ensure their victory, from pretending to be a coward to pulling underhanded tricks on his opponents.

9 Kars

More arrogant, bloodthirsty, and willing to fight dirty than his companions Wamuu and Esidisi, Kars is the leader of the three Pillar Men. What he lacks in cleverness and physical power, he makes up for in pure ruthlessness and authority. He was the one who created the Stone Mask by wiping out his entire civilization, making him directly responsible for Dio's transformation and everything that followed. His evolution into the Ultimate Life Form at the climax of Battle Tendency gives him greater powers than any other character. Joseph must trick Kars into taking himself off the playing field permanently, giving him one of the harshest fates in the series.

8 Wamuu

More popular than his own leader, Wamuu is the third Pillar Man and Joseph's standout opponent as a young man. Loyal to his companions, intensely respectful to worthy opponents, and disgusted by cowardice, Wamuu is an honorable warrior, down to the bone. Though these traits lead directly to his eventual death, they also make him beloved by fans. Wamuu is not only responsible for the death of Joseph's friend Caesar, who he also respected as a noble warrior, but his chariot race battle with Joseph makes up some of the best episodes of one of the best parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. He comes very close to winning, going so far as to gouge out his own eyes to counter Joseph's attempts to manipulate him.

7 Risotto Nero

The cold and prideful leader of Passione's execution squad, Risotto is not someone to mess with. His Stand Metallica can manipulate any and all iron, even that within a person's body, to the point where he can make needles and razor blades form in a target's bloodstream. Even after having two members of his team killed as a warning to back off, Risotto refuses to give up on unmasking and overthrowing the Boss. Finally, as the last survivor of La Squadra, he finds the Boss by accident, hiding inside the Stand user Doppio. As intimidating opponents as Doppio and Diavolo are, Risotto comes thrillingly close to winning, and even uses the attack from Aerosmith that kills him to try and take the Boss out with him.

6 Vinegar Doppio

Doppio is the kinder and more cheerful of the two souls inside his body, which may be why he has so many fans, but don't be fooled. He is still Passione's underboss, and anyone unlucky enough to face him in battle or put the Boss' hidden identity in jeopardy will find out very quickly how few qualms he has with slaughtering his enemies. Because he's unaware that "the Boss" is his own split personality, he is willing to risk his own life to protect him, much to Diavolo's horror. In his fight with Risotto, Doppio disobeys orders to run when he's close to being killed by Metallica, determined to try and stay in the fight long enough to figure out how the Stand works and kill Risotto.

5 Hol Horse

Hol Horse is the most popular of all Dio's minions in Stardust Crusaders, to the point that he got his own JoJo spinoff alongside Josuke, and it's not hard to see why. His cowboy persona, the ease at which he partners up with other villains, and the utter imbalance between his confidence and his actual skills endeared him to fans. Though his weapon is his Stand, Hol Horse is one of the few characters who doesn't use a humanoid Stand, much like Guido Mista. While he's often cowardly, he still mustered up the courage to try to shoot Dio in the back. Even Dio couldn't be too mad from the sheer audacity, so he lets Hol Horse live, making him one of the few on this list who does.

4 Diavolo

The dangerously paranoid Boss of Passione, Diavolo keeps his identity completely under wraps, murdering anyone who even tries to discover who he is. The reveal that he will even kill his own teenage daughter to eliminate any connection to himself marks a huge shift in the plot of Golden Wind, with the rise in intensity and the mystery of such a villain delighting fans. Though many maintain that his King Crimson is one of the Stands in JoJo that just doesn't make sense, Diavolo's mastery of it makes him a terrifying opponent. He never attains an evolved form like Kars or an upgrade in power like Dio, but that's because he doesn't need to. From the start, Diavolo is brutally strong, and his downfall stems only from his overconfidence that nobody can match him.

3 Enrico Pucci

The head priest at Green Dolphin Street Prison, Father Pucci manipulates the inmates to help him carry out his plan to achieve "heaven," which has been years in the making. The course of his life was changed forever by meeting Dio as a young man, and even long after Dio's death, Pucci still loves him "like a man loves his god," and is determined to bring about his will. Conducting himself with pragmatism and quiet intensity, Pucci keeps his cards close to his chest, and carries out his machinations without anyone catching on until it's too late to stop him. He even manages to functionally kill one of the strongest characters in all of anime, Jotaro Kujo, by stealing his Stand and memories.

2 Yoshikage Kira

Kira, as his name suggests, has no grand ambitions or plans for world domination: his only desire in life is to kill. With his stand Killer Queen, he does so with impunity, stealing his victims' hands as trophies while leaving no other trace of evidence behind. Shadowy, vicious, and ice-cold, Kira terrifies fans as much as he intrigues them with his twisted logic and obsessions. Unlke his counterpart in JoJoLion, Kira places zero value on lives that are not his own. There are no limits to what he will do to protect his identity, including transforming people into explosives that will destroy them if they reveal anything about him.

1 Dio Brando

There's no character quite like Dio Brando. At first only aiming to rise up from poverty and usurp the Joestar fortune from his adoptive brother Jonathan, his ambitions skyrocket once he becomes a vampire using the Stone Mask. He survives being beheaded by grafting his head to Jonathan's body, gathers a widespread following of the strangest possible characters, and aspires to not only dominate the world with his great power, but to obtain heaven itself. Though his massive ego fuels everything he does, he is rarely if ever reckless. Dio is far and away the most popular villain in JoJo for his unrepentant and wildly over-the-top performance of evil deeds.

There are many other fantastic villains faced over the course of the series, particularly in the yet-to-be-animated parts 7 and 8, so these comprise only a few of Jojo's best. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure just has a way of creating bad guys that fans love to hate, and if Dio is any indication, that fascination even transcends the fandom itself. Fans of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure are no doubt looking forward to seeing the next batch of villains hit their TV screens, and they'll be in for a treat when it finally does.