<p>Bullying in schools is a prominent international concern. Given that bystanders’ behaviors can stop or fuel bullying, respectively, it is unclear why different bystanders engage in different bullying behaviors in a bullying situation. Bullying bystander behavioral intentions is significant predicter factors for bullying bystander behaviors. Consider popularity plays important role in social development during adolescent periods, this study explored bystanders’ popularity effects on bullying bystander intentions, with the moderating role of bystanders’ peer status relative to bullies in three bullying scenarios across three experiments. Adopting experimental design, a total of 277 (Study 1: 89; Study 2: 94; Study 3: 94) 7th -grade students from two junior high schools in Changsha City, China, participated in three study and was randomized into different conditions. The adapted witness behavior vignettes paradigm was utilized to collect experimental data. Results showed that bystanders’ popularity positively correlated with higher active defending intentions across scenarios. Furthermore, bystanders’ peer status relative to bullies significantly moderated the association between bystander popularity and active defending intentions, but not the association between bystander popularity and passive bystanding intentions. Specifically, the relationships between bystanders’ popularity and defending intentions were stronger when bystanders’ peer status was higher than bullies. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the important roles of popularity and bystanders’ peer status relative to the bullies in shaping bullying bystander behavioral intentions, providing essential evidence for future bullying bystander intervention programs.</p>