Killer Queen is a visibly muscular humanoid Stand about as tall as Kira himself, light in color overall. In both the manga and anime, it is portrayed as light pink. In the All-Star Battle video game, it is portrayed as white.
Its crown is flat, while two sharp, triangular shapes resembling cat ears stand on either side of the top of its head. Its eyes comprise cat-like vertical pupils in front of generally light-colored sclera. It has no nose, and its thin-lipped mouth is perpetually closed. It wears dark, studded, leather-like forearm-length gloves, mirrored in style by a garter belt-like band at its waist and ankle-height footwear. Its thumbs are additionally bandaged in white. Four short spikes line the top of its back. Its shoulders, the back of its hands, belt buckle, a plate hanging in front of its crotch, both sides of its ankles and the top of its feet all bear the emblem of a skull with ears resembling its own, in varying sizes and external decoration.[3] In the anime, after receiving the third bomb, Killer Queen's eyes adopt a deep glow.
Later, the space behind its stomach is revealed to be hollow and suitable for storing an object.[4]
Sheer Heart Attack takes the form of a plated sphere with a superficial, removable knob on its top and tank treads on either side. Embedded at its front is a cat-skull similar to those on Killer Queen's body, with the addition of a downward dagger on the forehead, a movable jaw, and a short spike as a nose.[5] While it is not visible to non-Stand users, if Sheer Heart Attack attaches to someone, it will leave visible tread marks on their clothing. It also leaves an indentation on Kira's hand that doesn't appear to be visible to non-Stand users.[6]
In the colored manga, Sheer Heart Attack is green, and in the anime it is portrayed as blue.
Personality
Killer Queen is unusual among humanoid Stands with complete faces in that its facial expression almost never reflects that of its user, and is instead nearly permanently locked in a wide-eyed, neutral position. Exceptions to its otherwise stoic demeanor include it scowling at Jotaro as Kira realizes he had survived Sheer Heart Attack's explosion,[7] and freezing in terror, mouth-agape, at it is torn apart by the hands of Ghost Girl's Alley.[8] These changes in expression are more visible in the anime.
Killer Queen's semi-autonomous secondary bomb, Sheer Heart Attack, speaks phrases to its targets including "Look this way".[9]
Kira is able to speak through Killer Queen, as he does to Rohan while using Bites the Dust.[10]
Abilities
Killer Queen is a short-range humanoid Stand of average to above-average speed and melee attacking power.[11] Although undeniably powerful physically speaking, it is overshadowed by other close range Stands like Crazy Diamond and Star Platinum and thus Kira relies more on evading his enemies or using Killer Queen's set of power to prevail.
Killer Queen's powers revolve around setting up different kinds of bombs that can annihilate Kira's enemies in one blast, making it a very dangerous Stand to face. Not only are the bombs powerful, Kira is able to deploy two initially, then eventually three kinds of bombs with different strengths, giving the serial-killer a large array of options when dealing with his foes.
Primary Bomb (Bomb Transmutation)
Killer Queen detonates a coin.
Killer Queen may charge any object, inanimate or not as a bomb simply by touching it.
Once a target has touched the object, Killer Queen can detonate the target by pressing its right thumb onto its index finger's middle phalanx, as if pressing a trigger on a handheld detonator; the charge immediately travels through the target's body before exploding.[12] Additionally, Killer Queen can blow up the charged target itself, as demonstrated with Stray Cat's air bullets during the final battle with Josuke Higashikata;[13] however, if someone else touches the charged target before Kira can detonate it, they will automatically be blown up instead, consuming the charge.[14] This can also be done through direct contact with Killer Queen or Kira himself, skipping the charging process.[15]
Matching Kira's desire to keep his murderous life a secret, anyone detonated by Killer Queen incinerates everything about them, including their body, their clothes, and any personal belongings they were carrying, leaving no trace;[16][17] however, it is possible for a victim to survive an explosion if it comes from a nearby object instead of their own body, though this is a rare occurrence.[18] Kira can also control the size and strength of Killer Queen's explosions[19][20][21] as well as what parts of a victim's body are vaporized, usually resulting in Kira destroying his victim's body except for their right hand to keep.[22] The effects of Kira's explosions on their surroundings vary; they generally do not damage nearby walls and floors,[16] but during Kira's battle with Josuke, they could potentially affect nearby objects and Kira himself, though this may be due to Stray Cat's own Stand power being combined with Kira's.[23]
There are several limitations to this ability. First, if Kira or Killer Queen cannot press their thumb against their index finger's middle phalanx to trigger the bomb's detonation, the target cannot blow up.[24] In addition, since this power is similar to incendiary bombs, it also cannot induce their explosions if there is no air, as demonstrated by Stray Cat disabling a bomb by creating a vacuum around it.[25] Finally, Killer Queen can only charge one object at a time.[26]
It is unknown if non-Stand users can see or feel the explosions, but they can see a victim of an explosion die.[15] Additionally, the explosion does not seem to generate much sound to anyone other than the victim, as Josuke and Okuyasu heard Shigechi call out to Josuke just outside of their classroom, but neither were aware of the ensuing explosion. Additionally, there were at least two other students in the same hallway as Shigechi when he was killed, but neither seemed to be aware of his demise as their backs were turned to him when he was killed and all evidence of an explosion dissipated within less than a few seconds.[16]
Manga Debut: Chapter 427, Another One Bites the Dust (10) Anime Debut: DU Episode 37, Crazy Diamond is Unbreakable (1)
During the final battle, Kira places Stray Cat (ストレイ・キャット, Sutorei Kyatto) in Killer Queen's hollow abdomen.[4] With Killer Queen's Primary Bomb charging Stray Cat's condensed air bubbles, Kira may create virtually invisible air bombs (空気弾, Kūki-dan) to use as projectiles.[27] These can be detonated automatically through contact[28] or manually through Killer Queen's switch.[29] Although he also cannot see these bombs, Kira is skilled in determining their trajectory using basic mathematical skills;[30] additionally, Yoshihiro Kira can verbally help him direct his aim by flitting about the battlefield in his photograph form.[31]
Secondary Bomb ("Sheer Heart Attack")
“
OVER HERE!
”
—Sheer Heart Attack
Sheer Heart Attack (シアーハートアタック, Shiā Hāto Atakku) is Killer Queen's second type of bomb, featured primarily in the arc Sheer Heart Attack.
This treaded automatic bomb detaches from Killer Queen's left hand,[32] so any Stand abilities activated upon it are reflected onto Kira's left hand.[33] Because Sheer Heart Attack is attached to Kira's left hand, the primary bomb can still be used when Sheer Heart Attack is active.[34]
It is completely autonomous and has a great range, so Kira can safely engage Sheer Heart Attack and move a great distance away while it carries out its duties.[35] It seeks out whatever the warmest object in the vicinity is,[36] even changing targets the second a warmer object appears; upon reaching its target, it automatically induces an explosion with power and blast size equivalent to the heat of the target.[37] If Sheer Heart Attack's explosion was set off by a non-human source, it will continue to seek out targets until it explodes from a human.[38] Like Killer Queen's first bomb, Sheer Heart Attack's explosions removes all physical evidence of the target.[39]
The body of Sheer Heart Attack is nigh-indestructible, withstanding countless blows from Jotaro's Star Platinum,[40] but can still be affected by non-damaging Stand powers[33] and cracked if pulled apart at the mouth with tremendous force.[41]
Its main drawback lies in its autonomous nature, which will sometimes prevent Sheer Heart Attack from prioritizing killing Kira's intended human target(s).[42][43] Secondly, since it needs to explode from making contact with a human target to fully dissipate, should Sheer Heart Attack need to be deactivated while actively seeking a target, the user must physically return in range of Sheer Heart Attack to deactivate and retrieve it.[44] Furthermore, Sheer Heart Attack can continue to be active even after Kira's hand has been cut off, seen when he uses this to escape Josuke and company.
Tertiary Bomb ("Killer Queen Bites the Dust")
“
Bites the Dust was born from my absolute desire to not encounter you... Bring it on!
”
—Kosaku Kawajiri
Killer Queen Bites the Dust (キラー・クイーン バイツァ・ダスト, Kirā Kuīn Baitsa Dasuto), more simply known as just "Bites the Dust" (負けて死ね, Baitsa Dasuto, kanji lit. "Lose and Die"), is Killer Queen's third type of bomb, featured primarily in the arc Another One Bites the Dust.
Kira is granted this ability when Yoshihiro Kira's Stand-creating Arrow pierces him a second time.[45] It is born from Kira's desire to prevent anyone from knowing his true identity, as well as his desperation following his impulsive murder of Hayato Kawajiri.[46]
This bomb appears as a miniaturized form of Killer Queen that hides inside whoever it is planted in; it acts independently of Kira's will, manifesting only when the bomb is triggered. When planted in Hayato, it activates when Kira's identity is revealed audibly or through writing,[47] as well as when other Stand users see the miniature Killer Queen.[48] When this happens, a miniature Killer Queen enters the eye of the person and causes an explosion, killing them.[49] The bomb can detonate multiple people simultaneously.[50]
After killing someone with its power, Bites the Dust creates a temporal loop, rewinding time to roughly one hour prior to the detonation.[51][52] Because Bites the Dust is completely independent and autonomous, Kira is not aware of who is killed by it,[53] nor is he directly aware of whether a time loop has taken place.[54] In fact, the only person who retains memory of each time loop is the person harboring Bites the Dust.[55][56] All actions performed in the previous time loop are destined to occur as they had happened.[57] Slight deviations may happen,[58] but any person killed by Bites the Dust in a previous time loop is destined to explode at the exact time that they were previously killed, even if they did not re-activate Bites the Dust in the current timeline.[59]
Bites the Dust loops time.
Because the person in whom the bomb is planted must be alive in order to activate the trigger, Bites the Dust will never harm the person with its explosions nor let them be harmed by other forces, demonstrated when the miniature Killer Queen prevented Hayato from slitting his own throat with a knife to prevent anyone else from dying.[60] Ironically, Bites the Dust also prevents the Stand User themselves from harming the bomb's carrier, with the miniature Killer Queen intercepting Kira's fist when he tries to punch Hayato.[61] It also appears to be able to revive that person if they are dead when it is activated, as Hayato was alive once more when Kira planted it in him after impulsively killing him, implying that time was relooped to prevent Hayato from dying again the same way.[62]
The only way to stop Bites the Dust's effects is to outright kill Kira or otherwise force him to withdraw it; should this occur, all targets marked for death in a previous time loop will be spared from their fate.[63] Additionally, using Bites the Dust forcibly prevents Kira from activating any of Killer Queen's other abilities because Killer Queen is planted in the body of the third party; thus, he must deactivate Bites the Dust and withdraw Killer Queen if he needs to defend himself.[64] Hayato also deduces that Bites the Dust only works on non-Stand users, as Kira can only tell a non-Stand user his secrets to enable the ability.[65]
This Stand's abilities appear to draw inspiration from lyrics to the song Killer Queen – "She's a killer queen / Gunpowder, gelatine / Dynamite with a laser beam / Guaranteed to blow your mind / Anytime". Additionally, its appearance and eventual use of Stray Cat may be another lyrical reference, specifically. – "Playful as a pussy cat".
Araki includes Killer Queen's whole design among his favorite things to draw.[66]
From the Stands up to Part 5, he considers Killer Queen his 2nd favorite in terms of design, below Gold Experience and above Echoes. The stand was designed to incorporate both the darkness surrounding Kira and the sort of eeriness a cat possesses.[67]
According to Araki, the sword on Sheer Heart Attack's skull is representative of an assassin.[68]
Araki states that when creating Killer Queen Bitesthe Dust he didn't want it to become an "ultimate Stand" of sorts that could do anything. So to give it a limitation, he had Bites the Dust be a separate ability that was difficult for Kira to abuse.[68]
In All-Star Battle, Killer Queen's Bites the Dust ability will reverse many effects. As examples; Pucci's Made in Heaven may be reverted back to Whitesnake, also reverting the timer back to its proper speed, the stage background to normal, and clearing any words already said to Green Baby; Kars' Ultimate form and Giorno's Gold Experience Requiem will revert to their previous forms; Johnny's Tusk will revert back to ACT1 if its transformed into ACTs 2, 3, or 4; and if Jonathan Joestar or Funny Valentine disable their HH gauges from using their special healing or comeback moves successfully, Bites the Dust will restore their HH gauges.
References
↑Harvest - Vol.17 "Shueisha Jump Remix Stardust Crusaders Edition" P190 The origin of STANDS! Part.6
Manga Appearances
Anime Appearances
