In the bizarre world of JoJo, where punching ghosts battle for supremacy, one Stand has been elevated to near-mythical status among fans: Gold Experience Requiem. This evolved form of Giorno Giovanna’s Stand has been hyped as virtually unbeatable, and for good reason.
GER’s infamous “Return to Zero” ability automatically activates whenever Giorno or his Stand faces danger, reverting any action to the state before it was initiated. This isn’t just undoing an attack—it’s erasing the cause itself, as if it never happened. Combined with GER’s ability to trap opponents in an infinite death loop, this Stand has earned its reputation as the ultimate defensive ability.
But within the vast and increasingly convoluted JoJo universe, are there any Stands that could theoretically overcome this seemingly impenetrable defense? Let’s delve into the wildest corners of Stand abilities to find potential counters to Giorno’s godlike power.
1. Made in Heaven (Enrico Pucci)
Ability Type: Universal Time Acceleration
Appearance: Part 6 - Stone Ocean
Counter Mechanism: Indirect Effect, Universe Reset
Made in Heaven’s universe-wide time acceleration might bypass GER’s defenses because it’s not a direct attack but a universal phenomenon affecting all of reality simultaneously.
Made in Heaven represents one of the most catastrophic Stand abilities ever introduced. Enrico Pucci’s ultimate Stand doesn’t just manipulate time—it accelerates the entire universe’s passage of time to mind-boggling degrees. Everything except living organisms speeds up, eventually reaching the universe’s end and triggering a complete universal reset.
What makes Made in Heaven a potential counter to GER is the indirect nature of its ability. GER typically activates against direct threats to Giorno, but Made in Heaven doesn’t attack him directly—it affects the entire universe simultaneously. Would GER recognize the universal time acceleration as an attack when it’s happening to everything in existence? That’s the key theoretical question.
Even if GER attempted to return the acceleration to zero, it would be like trying to stop an ocean with a bucket. The sheer scale of Made in Heaven’s effect might overwhelm GER’s ability to identify a specific point to revert, especially since the time acceleration gradually increases rather than activating all at once.
The most compelling argument is that Made in Heaven’s ultimate goal—resetting the universe—fundamentally changes reality itself. If the universe resets before GER can react, Giorno and his Stand might be rewritten into the new reality without the Requiem arrow’s power, effectively nullifying GER’s abilities altogether.
2. Wonder of U (Toru)
Ability Type: Calamity Manipulation
Appearance: Part 8 - JoJolion
Counter Mechanism: Passive Effect, Logic Manipulation
Wonder of U’s passive calamity effect doesn’t directly attack its opponents, but rather manipulates probability to ensure misfortune befalls anyone who pursues or intends to attack its user.
Wonder of U might be the definitive counter to GER from a conceptual standpoint. This terrifying Stand, wielded by the mysterious character Toru, automatically redirects “calamities” toward anyone who pursues its user with hostile intent. These calamities range from minor bad luck to catastrophic accidents, manifesting as seemingly natural occurrences.
The key to Wonder of U’s potential effectiveness against GER lies in its passive nature. The Stand doesn’t actively attack Giorno—it simply ensures that misfortune occurs as a natural consequence of pursuit. Since there’s no direct attack for GER to revert, the calamities might bypass its defenses entirely.
Wonder of U has been described by Hirohiko Araki himself as potentially the most powerful and terrifying ability he’s created. The calamities function almost like a force of nature or karma, operating on a fundamental level of reality that might be beyond GER’s influence.
If Giorno were to pursue Toru with Wonder of U, even GER’s attempt to nullify the calamity might be interpreted as a form of pursuit, triggering even more severe misfortunes. This creates a paradoxical situation where any attempt to use GER’s power against Wonder of U would only strengthen the calamity effect.
The battle would essentially pit a supreme defensive ability against an unbeatable passive offense, creating a conceptual stalemate that might ultimately favor Wonder of U’s more persistent and all-encompassing nature.
3. D4C Love Train (Funny Valentine)
Ability Type: Dimensional Barrier, Misfortune Redirection
Appearance: Part 7 - Steel Ball Run
Counter Mechanism: Dimensional Manipulation, Fate Redirection
D4C Love Train creates a dimensional barrier that redirects all misfortune away from Valentine, potentially including GER’s effects, while allowing him to attack from between dimensions.
Funny Valentine’s Stand, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (D4C), gains its evolved form, Love Train, through the power of the Saint’s Corpse. This evolution creates a dimensional barrier that redirects any misfortune or harm aimed at Valentine to random locations elsewhere in the world.
This dimensional barrier exists as a literal “gap in space,” operating on such a fundamental level of reality that it might be beyond GER’s influence. When Love Train is active, Valentine is essentially invincible, as all harm is automatically redirected away from him.
The critical aspect that makes Love Train a potential counter to GER is this redirection ability. If GER attempted to attack Valentine, the dimensional barrier might simply redirect the attack to another location or even another dimension. Even GER’s “Return to Zero” might be considered a form of misfortune from Valentine’s perspective, which Love Train would redirect.
Additionally, D4C’s base ability to traverse dimensions offers Valentine numerous strategic advantages. He could potentially launch attacks from dimensional gaps where GER’s influence doesn’t reach, or retreat to alternate realities if threatened.
While Tusk Act IV was eventually able to overcome Love Train through the infinite energy of the Golden Spin, it required a power that specifically broke through dimensional barriers. Whether GER possesses a similar capacity to pierce Love Train’s defenses is debatable and remains one of JoJo’s most fascinating theoretical matchups.
4. Tusk Act IV (Johnny Joestar)
Ability Type: Infinite Rotation
Appearance: Part 7 - Steel Ball Run
Counter Mechanism: Infinite Energy, Dimensional Penetration
Tusk Act IV’s infinite rotation transcends dimensions and conventional physics, potentially bypassing GER’s ‘Return to Zero’ because infinity has no beginning point to revert to.
Johnny Joestar’s Tusk Act IV harnesses the power of the infinite rotation, created through the perfect Golden Spin technique. This infinite rotation is so powerful that it can pierce through dimensions and even function within stopped time, as demonstrated against Diego Brando’s The World.
The central argument for Tusk Act IV potentially defeating GER revolves around the concept of infinity itself. Since the infinite rotation has no beginning or end, there is theoretically no “zero point” to which GER could return it. How can you revert to zero something that exists outside the conventional concepts of beginning and end?
Tusk Act IV has already demonstrated its ability to overcome seemingly absolute defenses by breaking through D4C Love Train’s dimensional barrier. This suggests that the infinite rotation exists on a level of reality that transcends conventional Stand abilities, possibly including GER’s power.
The nail bullets fired by Tusk Act IV continue to pursue their target across space and time, and any object that might aid in escape is simply torn apart by the rotation. Once the infinite rotation is applied to a target, it continues indefinitely unless countered by an equal and opposite rotation.
While GER would certainly attempt to revert the infinite rotation, the fundamental nature of infinity might prove to be the one concept that GER cannot simply erase or return to zero, creating a fascinating clash between the concepts of “zero” and “infinity.”
5. Soft & Wet Go Beyond (Josuke Higashikata)
Ability Type: Non-Existent Bubbles, Spin Technique
Appearance: Part 8 - JoJolion
Counter Mechanism: Existential Paradox, Logic Bypass
Soft & Wet Go Beyond creates bubbles that technically don’t exist within the conventional laws of physics, potentially making them immune to GER’s reality manipulation.
Josuke Higashikata’s evolved Stand ability, Soft & Wet Go Beyond, represents one of the most conceptually fascinating powers in JoJo. The “Go Beyond” bubbles are not actually bubbles in the conventional sense—they’re more like a series of lines so close together that the distance between them is almost zero, creating a paradoxical entity that technically doesn’t exist.
These non-existent bubbles operate outside the conventional laws of physics, making them invisible to most Stand users and capable of bypassing typical defenses. The bubbles can phase through objects and erase anything they touch, demonstrating extraordinary offensive potential.
What makes Go Beyond particularly interesting as a counter to GER is that these bubbles demonstrated the ability to bypass Wonder of U’s calamity defenses—a Stand that manipulates logic itself. Since the bubbles technically don’t exist within physics, they aren’t bound by the same logic as other attacks.
The central question becomes: How can GER return something to zero if it doesn’t technically exist in the first place? If the bubbles exist outside the realm of conventional physics, they might also exist outside GER’s sphere of influence, creating a unique vulnerability in its otherwise impenetrable defense.
This matchup represents a fascinating philosophical clash between the concept of “zero” (GER) and the concept of “non-existence” (Go Beyond), potentially creating a scenario where Go Beyond’s bubbles could reach Giorno despite GER’s protection.
6. The World Over Heaven (DIO - Eyes of Heaven)
Ability Type: Reality Overwriting
Appearance: Game - Eyes of Heaven
Counter Mechanism: Reality Manipulation, Conceptual Erasure
Though non-canonical, The World Over Heaven’s ability to overwrite reality itself represents perhaps the most direct counter to GER’s abilities, potentially erasing the concept of ‘Return to Zero’ entirely.
While not technically canon to the main JoJo storyline, The World Over Heaven from the video game Eyes of Heaven represents perhaps the most straightforward counter to GER conceptually. This evolved version of DIO’s Stand possesses the power to overwrite reality itself with a simple touch.
The World Over Heaven can rewrite virtually anything DIO desires, including the abilities of other Stands. In a direct confrontation, DIO could theoretically overwrite GER’s “Return to Zero” ability or even erase GER’s existence entirely through reality manipulation.
During the game’s storyline, The World Over Heaven proves capable of overwriting fate itself and defeating numerous powerful Stands, including Star Platinum, which eventually gains the same “Over Heaven” ability to defeat DIO.
The central argument for The World Over Heaven’s effectiveness against GER is the hierarchy of abilities. GER operates by reverting actions to zero, but The World Over Heaven operates by overwriting reality, including concepts like “reverting” or “zero.” The ability to rewrite reality would logically supersede the ability to revert actions within that reality.
While its non-canonical status limits the relevance of this matchup in discussions of the main JoJo timeline, The World Over Heaven nonetheless represents an interesting thought experiment regarding what type of power would be necessary to overcome GER’s seemingly absolute defense.
7. Chariot Requiem (Jean Pierre Polnareff)
Ability Type: Soul Manipulation, Stand Control
Appearance: Part 5 - Golden Wind
Counter Mechanism: Stand Control, Soul Switching
As another Requiem Stand, Chariot Requiem’s ability to control other Stands and manipulate souls might allow it to take control of GER itself, bypassing its defensive abilities.
As another Requiem Stand, Chariot Requiem offers a unique potential counter to GER. While it appeared only briefly in Part 5, Chariot Requiem demonstrated extraordinary abilities related to soul manipulation and Stand control that might challenge even Gold Experience Requiem.
Chariot Requiem’s primary ability forces everyone within a several-block radius into a deep sleep while swapping their souls into different bodies. More importantly, it gains control over all Stands within its range, forcing them to protect the Requiem Arrow and even turn against their own users.
This Stand control ability is the critical factor that might counter GER. If Chariot Requiem could take control of Gold Experience Requiem itself, it could potentially prevent GER from using its “Return to Zero” ability or even turn it against Giorno. We’ve seen that even Stands with independent wills can be controlled by Chariot Requiem, suggesting no Stand is immune to this effect.
While both are Requiem Stands, Chariot Requiem represents a more primal and chaotic manifestation of the arrow’s power, whereas GER is a focused evolution. This distinction might give Chariot Requiem an advantage, as its more fundamental connection to the arrow’s power could potentially override GER’s more refined abilities.
The matchup essentially becomes a question of whether GER’s automated defense would recognize Chariot Requiem’s soul and Stand manipulation as a direct threat to activate against, and whether GER’s power could overcome another Requiem Stand’s control.
8. Green, Green Grass of Home (Green Baby)
Ability Type: Automatic Size Reduction
Appearance: Part 6 - Stone Ocean
Counter Mechanism: Passive Effect, No Activation Point
Green, Green Grass of Home’s passive, always-active ability creates a continuous effect without a clear starting point for GER to return to zero.
The Green Baby’s Stand, Green, Green Grass of Home, possesses a simple yet potentially devastating ability against GER. This passive Stand causes anything approaching the Green Baby to continuously shrink in size as it gets closer, eventually reducing it to nothingness if it comes too near.
What makes this ability particularly effective as a theoretical counter to GER is its passive, always-on nature. Since the ability is constantly active rather than being triggered by a specific action, there may be no clear “activation point” for GER to return to zero.
The shrinking effect is a continuous process rather than a discrete attack, and it affects everything approaching the Green Baby without discrimination. This creates a scenario where GER might not register the effect as an “attack” in the conventional sense, potentially allowing it to bypass GER’s defensive trigger.
In a theoretical confrontation, if Giorno approached the Green Baby, he would begin to shrink continuously while the Baby itself would remain unaffected. Since the effect is proportional to distance, moving away would only slow the shrinking rather than reverse it, creating a no-win situation for Giorno.
The fundamental question becomes whether GER could identify and negate a passive effect that has no clear beginning or activation point, representing another fascinating conceptual matchup in the JoJo universe.
JoJo’s Stand Abilities FAQ
How exactly does Gold Experience Requiem's 'Return to Zero' ability work?
Gold Experience Requiem’s signature ability, “Return to Zero,” operates by reverting any action, will, or effect back to its starting point—essentially erasing not just the action itself but the very cause behind it. Unlike simple time reversal, GER negates the action so completely that it never happened in the first place, leaving only the target with the memory of what was attempted. This ability activates automatically in response to any perceived threat toward Giorno, without requiring his conscious control. In practical terms, if someone tries to attack Giorno, not only is the attack nullified, but the attacker is returned to the state before they even decided to attack, creating a situation where they’re trapped in an endless loop of cause without effect. This was most famously demonstrated against Diavolo’s King Crimson, where GER was able to function within erased time and counter time manipulation itself, suggesting the ability operates on a metaphysical level beyond normal physical or temporal constraints.
Are Over Heaven Stands considered canon in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure?
Over Heaven Stands, which appear primarily in the video game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, are not considered canon to the main storyline created by Hirohiko Araki. These Stands, including The World Over Heaven and Star Platinum Over Heaven, were created specifically for the game’s narrative and represent a theoretical evolution beyond what has been shown in the manga or anime. While the game’s story was supervised by Araki, the events and power upgrades it introduces are generally treated as an alternate reality or “what-if” scenario by the fandom. However, the concept of Stand evolution is certainly canon, as evidenced by abilities like Requiem Stands and Acts, making the theoretical basis of Over Heaven not entirely incompatible with established lore. Many fans find Over Heaven Stands useful for power-scaling discussions and theoretical matchups, even while acknowledging their non-canonical status. Some elements introduced in games or other supplementary materials have occasionally been incorporated into the main canon later, but currently, Over Heaven abilities remain outside the official JoJo timeline.
Could a stand user defeat GER by attacking Giorno before he obtains the Requiem Arrow?
Attacking Giorno before he obtains the Requiem Arrow is indeed one of the most practical strategies for defeating him, though it’s more of a temporal workaround than a direct counter to GER itself. Several time-manipulating Stands could theoretically accomplish this: Killer Queen Bites the Dust could rewind time to before Giorno acquired the arrow; Made in Heaven could accelerate time to potentially reach a new universe where Giorno never encountered the arrow; even The World or Star Platinum could stop time at a crucial moment to prevent Giorno from obtaining it. However, this approach has several limitations. First, it requires foreknowledge of GER’s power and the circumstances that lead to its creation, which most opponents wouldn’t have. Second, Giorno’s base Gold Experience is still a formidable Stand with life-giving abilities that make him a dangerous opponent even without Requiem. Finally, any strategy relying on changing past events risks creating timeline paradoxes or alternate realities where the conflict might continue in different forms. While this approach is technically valid, it’s more about avoiding GER altogether rather than defeating it in direct confrontation.
Are there any canonical battles where GER was actually defeated?
No, there are no canonical battles in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure where Gold Experience Requiem is defeated. GER appears very briefly in the main storyline, only during the final battle against Diavolo in Part 5: Golden Wind, where it comprehensively overcomes King Crimson’s time erasure and traps Diavolo in an infinite death loop. After this victory, GER is never shown in battle again within the main canon. Some fans speculate that Giorno may have lost the Requiem ability after the arrow fell out of his Stand, as is suggested to happen with Requiem evolutions, but this is never confirmed in the manga or anime. In the non-canonical game JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven, GER is indeed defeated by The World Over Heaven, which can overwrite reality itself, but this is not considered part of the official storyline. The absence of GER in future parts of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure has led to much speculation about its permanence and potential limitations, but within the established canon, GER remains undefeated and largely untested against other top-tier Stand abilities.
Is Giorno with GER the strongest JoJo character overall?
Whether Giorno with GER is the strongest JoJo character overall remains one of the most debated topics in the fandom. GER’s ability to negate any action and trap enemies in infinite death loops certainly places Giorno among the most powerful characters in the series. However, several factors complicate this assessment. First, characters like Johnny Joestar with Tusk Act IV, Funny Valentine with D4C Love Train, and Toru with Wonder of U possess abilities that operate on such fundamental levels that they might theoretically counter GER. Second, the exact limitations of GER are never fully explored, as it appears only briefly at the end of Part 5. We don’t know how it would interact with fate manipulation, passive abilities, or reality overwriting. Third, non-Stand users like Ultimate Kars from Part 2 possess near-immortality and adaptation abilities that might create stalemates rather than clear victories. Ultimately, Araki has deliberately created a power system where direct comparisons are difficult, with many abilities operating on conceptual rather than merely physical levels. While GER is certainly among the strongest manifestations of Stand power, declaring any character definitively “strongest” oversimplifies the complex and often paradoxical nature of JoJo’s power scaling.