Battle Tendency

In the series' backstory, 10,000 years ago, Kars, an underground-dwelling humanoid being known as a Pillar Man, created a stone mask which grants immortality by absorbing life energy to conquer the sun (which kills his kind). He slaughtered all but four of the tribe.[6] As the Pillar Men's bodies were already immortal, they required more power for them to become ultimate beings.[7] In 39 AD,[8] three of the Pillar Men, Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi, came to the Roman Empire to find a perfectly-cut Red Stone of Aja[lower-alpha 2][9] known as the Super Aja.[lower-alpha 3][7] Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi developed fighting styles to counter Hamon,[10] an energy with the same properties as the energy from sunlight,[11] and nearly wiped out the Hamon tribe,[9] but the stone narrowly escaped them.[7] Following this, the Pillar Men went into a 2,000-year sleep.[9]

In 1889, Erina Joestar's husband Jonathan lost his life on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Erina survived and saved the life of a baby girl,[12] whose parents were killed by the stone mask.[13][lower-alpha 4] The girl, Elizabeth, was raised by the Hamon master Straizo, who taught her to use Hamon[13][15] and gave her the Super Aja.[13] Elizabeth married Erina's son George and they had a son called Joseph. When Joseph was a baby, George was killed by a zombie that blended in as a commander of the Royal Flying Corps and his death was covered up. Elizabeth killed the zombie and a warrant for her arrest was sent out. She went into hiding and adopted the alias Lisa Lisa.[15] Joseph was raised by Erina.[16] He inherited Hamon abilities from Jonathan.[17]

At the start of the series, in the fall of 1938, Joseph and Erina move from London to New York.[18] Meanwhile, the oil baron Robert E. O. Speedwagon invites Straizo to Mexico to destroy a sleeping Pillar Man with Hamon. Straizo instead wounds Speedwagon,[17] and uses a stone mask near the Pillar Man and Speedwagon's blood to become an immortal vampire. Straizo goes to New York to destroy Joseph and Erina, believed to be the last people who know about the stone mask.[16] When Joseph defeats Straizo, Straizo tells him that the Pillar Man is about to awaken and he will meet the Pillar Man soon. Intrigued, Joseph goes to Mexico.[19] Joseph saves Speedwagon, who survived, from the awakened Pillar Man named Santana,[lower-alpha 5][20] and tricks Santana into being turned to stone by the sunlight reflected from a well.[21]

Joseph and Speedwagon travel to Rome, where they meet Caesar Zeppeli,[22] a man who trained in Hamon to continue the legacy of his father Mario and grandfather Will.[23] However, the group arrives too late to prevent Kars, Wamuu, and Esidisi from awakening.[24] Joseph plays on Wamuu's pride and convinces Wamuu to let him live to be a more worthy opponent. Both Wamuu and Esidisi implant poison-filled rings in his aorta and windpipe, giving Joseph 33 days to get the antidotes from each of them.[25]

Joseph and Caesar train in Hamon under Lisa Lisa on Air Suplena Island off the coast of Venice.[26] Joseph and Caesar destroy Esidisi.[27] The group tracks down Kars and Wamuu to Switzerland.[28] Caesar is killed fighting Wamuu one-on-one, and takes the antidote for Joseph before dying.[29] Joseph and Lisa Lisa then confront Kars and Wamuu for the Super Aja, Lisa Lisa bluffing that she has a timed explosive that will destroy the stone.[30] Joseph kills Wamuu in battle.[31][32]

On February 28, 1939,[6] Kars acquires the Super Aja[33] and uses it along with the stone mask to become the ultimate being.[15] Now immune to the sun[34] and able to use Hamon,[6] Kars's only desire is to kill Joseph.[34] Joseph steals a Nazi plane and tries to crash it and Kars into the volcanic island of Vulcano.[35] Joseph and Kars escape, but the shock of the plane crash causes a volcanic eruption.[36] Kars attempts to kill Joseph with Hamon, but Joseph instinctively holds up the Super Aja, which causes the energy to make the eruption climax, sending Joseph and Kars flying into the sky on a large rock. Kars is knocked into space by volcanic debris.[6] Unable to die, he drifts throughout space for eternity, eventually ceasing to think. Returning to Earth, Joseph is nursed to health by Lisa Lisa's assistant Suzi Q,[lower-alpha 6] whom he marries. In the epilogue, set in 1987, an aged Joseph takes a flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport to Japan, where his daughter and grandson live.[37]

• Joseph Joestar[lower-alpha 7] is the main protagonist and grandson of Jonathan Joestar. Like Jonathan, he can use Hamon, though he is not initially as skilled in its use as Jonathan was. He initially uses a pair of Hamon-empowered clackers in battle, but he relies more on his wits than brute strength in fights, employing his uncanny ability to predict his opponent's actions down to what they will say next. Joseph makes return appearances in Stardust Crusaders and Diamond Is Unbreakable.
• Caesar Anthonio Zeppeli[lower-alpha 8] is a suave ladies' man and the grandson of Jonathan Joestar's teacher Will A. Zeppeli. He is rather cool and collected, especially compared to Joseph, with whom he is grudgingly paired to fight the Pillar Men. But over time, Joseph starts to grow on him so much that he is able to understand his strange thought patterns and they form an unbeatable duo. He infuses the Hamon into soap bubbles he creates with his specially-made gloves.
• Lisa Lisa,[lower-alpha 9] formerly Elizabeth,[lower-alpha 10] is a mysterious Hamon master who lives in Venice. She is introduced as Caesar's Hamon teacher and later revealed to be the last surviving master of the Hamon Tribe as well as Joseph's mother. She fights by conducting Hamon through her specially made scarf.
• Smokey Brown[lower-alpha 11] is an ordinary pickpocket hailing from New York whose newfound friendship with Joseph Joestar places him at the spectator's seat of the battle against the Pillar Men.
• Robert E. O. Speedwagon[lower-alpha 12] is an ally of Joseph and an old friend of the Joestars. Since the events of Phantom Blood, Speedwagon has settled in America, where he became an oil tycoon and founded the Speedwagon Foundation in order to deal with paranormal threats such as the Stone Mask and, later, the Pillar Men.
• Rudol von Stroheim[lower-alpha 13] is the commander of the Nazi forces who discovered Santana[lower-alpha 5] in Mexico. He is responsible for not only saving the life of Speedwagon, but also for trying to help Joseph defeat Santana by blowing himself up along with him. He returns later as a cyborg to assist in the fight against Kars and his army.
• Esidisi[lower-alpha 14] is one of the Pillar Men. Like the other Pillar Men, he uses a particular fighting style known as a "Mode". Esidisi's Heat Control Mode[lower-alpha 15] allows him to make his blood boil at 500 °C (932 °F) and inject it into his foes to burn them alive by extending his needle-like blood vessels out of his own body.
• Wamuu[lower-alpha 16] is one of the Pillar Men and Kars's loyal servant, following a warrior's code of honor. His Wind Mode[lower-alpha 17] allows him to control the air in his lungs, which he can use to blast his opponents, cut them with extremely fast gusts, or render himself invisible.
• Kars[lower-alpha 18] is the main antagonist of Battle Tendency as well as the leader of the Pillar Men and the creator of the stone masks. He uses Light Mode,[lower-alpha 19] which allows him to produce saw-bladed appendages from his body which produce a radiant glow. He is intelligent and ruthless, and single minded in his dedication to become the ultimate being.[lower-alpha 20] Though Kars succeeds, his obsession with killing Joseph leads to his defeat, as he ends up being knocked out of Earth's orbit and frozen in space.
• Santana[lower-alpha 5] is one of the Pillar Men. He was discovered by the Nazis in Mexico. Although he does not have a Mode, he is able to manipulate his body, allowing him to squeeze into tiny spaces and use his ribs as blades. He can also absorb other people into his own body. When awakened, Santana attempted to absorb Joseph Joestar and Stroheim, but he was turned into stone by the sun.

The original volumization and Shueisha's 2002 re-release use different chapter titles.

Ōtarō Maijō's 2012 novel Jorge Joestar, follows the titular character, the father of Joseph Joestar, and his story as a child in the Canary Islands and pilot in the Royal Air Force, as well as an alternate version who lives in Japan and is investigating strange events regarding alternate dimensions.[60]

The arc was adapted as part of the first season of David Production's anime television adaptation, airing between December 7, 2012 and April 5, 2013. Warner Bros. Entertainment released this series in English on July 28, 2015.[61]

The young Joseph of this series appears as a playable character, alongside his older self, in Capcom's 1998 arcade fighting game, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. Joseph, Caesar, Wamuu, Esidisi and Kars appear as playable characters in Bandai Namco Games' 2013 fighting game, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, with Lisa Lisa later appearing as a downloadable character. Joseph, Caesar, Stroheim, Lisa Lisa, Wamuu, Esidisi, and Kars also appear in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, also by Bandai Namco.