Miraculous is a superhero show set in Paris, built around one very simple joke that never stops working. Marinette Dupain-Cheng is a kind, clumsy teenager with a hopeless crush on her classmate Adrien Agreste. Adrien is a lonely teenage model who's in love with Paris's mysterious heroine, Ladybug. Marinette is Ladybug. Adrien is her partner, Cat Noir. Neither knows.
Around that "love square," the show builds a cast of classmates, family members and magical creatures called kwamis, and a villain who turns ordinary people's bad days into supervillain attacks. Created by Thomas Astruc and first broadcast in 2015, it's a French co-production that has become one of the most widely watched children's animated series in the world. This guide covers the heroes, kwamis, hero team, villains and voice cast.
- Creator
- Thomas Astruc
- Studios
- Zag Entertainment, Method Animation and international partners
- First aired
- 2015
- Setting
- Paris
- Format
- CG-animated superhero series, plus specials and a 2023 musical film
- Main cast
- Marinette, Adrien, Tikki, Plagg, Gabriel Agreste
Ladybug and Cat Noir
Every episode follows roughly the same shape: someone in Paris has a terrible day, Hawk Moth turns them into a villain, and Ladybug and Cat Noir have to purify the akuma before the day is out. What changes, slowly, is everything around that formula.
Marinette Dupain-Cheng / Ladybug
Ladybug Miraculous · Power of creation
Marinette is the daughter of a French baker and a Chinese-born mother, and she lives above her parents' bakery. She's a talented designer, endlessly kind and hopelessly flustered around Adrien. As Ladybug she becomes calm, decisive and the leader of the duo. Her Lucky Charm summons a random object that turns out to be the key to winning, and she's the only one who can purify akumas and repair the damage they cause. In later seasons she becomes the Guardian of the Miraculous, which adds a heavy weight to her secret.
- Voice
- Cristina Vee (English), Anouck Hautbois (French)
Adrien Agreste / Cat Noir
Black Cat Miraculous · Power of destruction
Adrien is a polite, sheltered teenage model whose father keeps him under near-total control. Going to school at all is a hard-won victory for him. As Cat Noir he's free, flirtatious and full of terrible puns, and he's openly in love with Ladybug, who keeps turning him down. His Cataclysm destroys anything he touches. Under the jokes, he's a lonely kid who badly wants someone to choose him.
- Voice
- Bryce Papenbrook (English), Benjamin Bollen (French)
The kwamis
Kwamis are small, ancient, god-like beings, each tied to a concept, who live inside the Miraculous jewels and grant their powers to whoever wears them. They're advisors, comic relief and, sometimes, the only people who know a hero's secret.
Tikki
Kwami of creation · Ladybug Miraculous
Tikki is warm, wise and very fond of cookies. She has been paired with many Ladybugs over thousands of years and acts as Marinette's mentor, therapist and conscience. She's patient with Marinette's panic, but firm when it matters.
- Voice
- Mela Lee (English)
Plagg
Kwami of destruction · Black Cat Miraculous
Plagg is lazy, sarcastic and obsessed with camembert. He likes to boast about historical disasters he says he caused. Beneath the act he's genuinely fond of Adrien and protective of him.
- Voice
- Max Mittelman (English)
Nooroo
Kwami of transmission · Butterfly Miraculous
Nooroo is the gentle, frightened kwami forced to serve Hawk Moth. He's a reminder that kwamis have no choice about who uses them.
Duusu
Kwami of emotion · Peacock Miraculous
Duusu is dramatic and over-emotional, bound to a damaged Miraculous that harms whoever uses it. That damage drives a lot of the backstory.
Trixx, Wayzz and Pollen
Fox · Turtle · Bee kwamis
Trixx is a mischievous illusionist, Wayzz a loyal protector who long served Master Fu, and Pollen a formal, devoted kwami of subjection.
Sass, Longg, Kaalki and others
Snake · Dragon · Horse and more
The Miracle Box holds kwamis for the Chinese zodiac and more. Sass grants second chances, Longg elemental power and Kaalki teleportation portals.
Classmates and the hero team
As the series goes on, Ladybug starts lending Miraculouses to trusted friends, often without them realising who she is. Most of the extended hero team comes from Marinette and Adrien's class.
Alya Césaire / Rena Rouge
Fox Miraculous · Best friend
Alya is Marinette's confident best friend, an aspiring journalist who runs the Ladyblog fan site about Ladybug. She pushes Marinette to talk to Adrien and is first in line whenever there's a story. As Rena Rouge she uses the fox's power of illusion, and she eventually learns Marinette's secret, which makes her one of the most important people in Marinette's life.
- Voice
- Carrie Keranen (English)
Nino Lahiffe / Carapace
Turtle Miraculous · Adrien's best friend
Nino is a laid-back aspiring DJ and filmmaker and Adrien's closest friend at school. He dates Alya, and as Carapace he uses the turtle's protective shield. He's the easy-going friend Adrien never had at home.
- Voice
- Ben Diskin (English)
Chloé Bourgeois / Queen Bee
Bee Miraculous (former) · The mayor's daughter
Chloé is spoiled, cruel and the cause of a large share of Paris's akumas. She's Adrien's childhood friend and desperate for her cold mother's approval. She briefly becomes the hero Queen Bee, and the show teases a redemption several times before choosing to take her in a darker direction instead.
- Voice
- Selah Victor (English)
Luka Couffaine / Viperion
Snake Miraculous · Musician
Luka is a calm, kind guitarist who lives on a houseboat and has an unusual knack for reading people. He falls for Marinette and is honest about it in a way nobody else in the show is. As Viperion he can rewind a few minutes of time and try again.
Kagami Tsurugi / Ryuko
Dragon Miraculous · Fencer
Kagami is a reserved, highly disciplined fencer raised by a strict mother. She's blunt to the point of rudeness and becomes a rival for Adrien's attention before she and Marinette become friends. As Ryuko she can turn into wind, water or lightning.
Zoé Lee / Vesperia
Bee Miraculous · Chloé's half-sister
Zoé arrives from the United States as the kind, slightly nervous half-sister Chloé didn't want. She's everything Chloé isn't, and eventually becomes the new bee hero, Vesperia.
Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Classmate · Artist
A shy comic artist who sits at the back of the class and once had a crush on Marinette. He was one of the earliest akumatised students.
Rose, Juleka, Mylène and Ivan
Classmates
Rose is relentlessly sweet, Juleka (Luka's sister) quiet and gothic, and Mylène and Ivan a gentle couple. Ivan's akuma, Stoneheart, launched the series.
Kim, Max and Alix
Classmates
Kim is a competitive athlete, Max the class tech whiz, and Alix a fearless skater. An older Alix from the future also appears as Bunnyx, a time-travelling hero.
Sabrina Raincomprix
Classmate · Chloé's sidekick
Chloé's devoted and much-abused best friend, the daughter of the police chief.
Families and mentors
Master Fu
Guardian of the Miraculous
Wang Fu is an elderly Guardian who has protected the Miracle Box since a disaster in his youth. He chose Marinette and Adrien and quietly guides them through the early seasons. His decision about who should succeed him is a turning point in the series.
Tom Dupain and Sabine Cheng
Marinette's parents
A huge, gentle baker and his small, unflappable wife. They're about the most loving parents in any superhero cartoon, which is why Marinette's home life is such a contrast with Adrien's.
André and Audrey Bourgeois
Chloé's parents
André is the indulgent mayor of Paris; Audrey is a cold, famous fashion critic. Between them, they explain a lot about Chloé.
Ms. Bustier
Class teacher
A kind teacher who believes in every one of her students, even when they're actively being supervillains.
Villains and the Agreste household
The main villains live in the same house as Cat Noir. That's not a secret from the audience, and the dramatic irony is the point.
Gabriel Agreste / Hawk Moth
Butterfly Miraculous · Adrien's father
Gabriel is a world-famous fashion designer and a cold, controlling father. Secretly he's Hawk Moth, who sends dark butterflies called akumas to possess people at their lowest emotional moment and turn them into supervillains. He wants Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses because together they can grant a wish, and he plans to use it to restore his wife, Emilie. He later takes on the names Shadow Moth and Monarch as his methods change. He's a villain driven by grief, which makes him easier to understand and no easier to forgive.
- Voice
- Keith Silverstein (English), Antoine Tomé (French)
Nathalie Sancoeur / Mayura
Peacock Miraculous · Gabriel's assistant
Nathalie is Gabriel's efficient, loyal assistant, and his partner in crime. As Mayura she creates sentimonsters, magical creatures tied to an object and a person's feelings. The damaged Peacock Miraculous slowly ruins her health, and her quiet affection for Adrien makes her one of the show's most sympathetic villains.
Lila Rossi
Liar · Recurring antagonist
Lila is a transfer student who tells outrageous lies about her life and her friendship with Ladybug, and almost everyone believes her except Marinette. She was akumatised as Volpina, a fake fox heroine, and becomes a major villain in her own right, with a talent for manipulation that rivals Hawk Moth's.
Emilie Agreste
Adrien's mother
Emilie is Adrien's mother, missing for most of the series, and the reason Gabriel became Hawk Moth. The truth about what happened to her is one of the show's main mysteries.
Félix Graham de Vanily
Adrien's cousin
Félix looks almost exactly like Adrien and acts nothing like him: sharp, cold and scheming. He's a wild card whose goals don't line up with anyone else's, and his story ties directly into the Agreste family secrets.
Memorable akumas
Stoneheart, Lady Wifi, Evillustrator, Chat Blanc
Most akumas are one-episode villains-of-the-week, but some stand out. Chat Blanc, a dark future in which Cat Noir himself is akumatised, is a fan favourite.
Big reveals in later seasons
Season four ends with Hawk Moth seizing the Miracle Box and with a reveal for the audience: Adrien is a sentimonster, created by his parents with the Peacock Miraculous, and whoever holds his amulet can control him. Félix, it emerges, shares the same secret. Season five follows Gabriel as Monarch after he gains the Miracle Box. It ends with him using the combined Ladybug and Black Cat power to make his wish, at the cost of his own life. Ladybug's secret still stands for most of Paris, and the series continues past that point with the love square now on very different footing.
Voice cast
The show is produced in French and dubbed into many languages; the English dub is widely watched worldwide. These credits are for the main English and French voices.
| Character | English | French |
|---|---|---|
| Marinette / Ladybug | Cristina Vee | Anouck Hautbois |
| Adrien / Cat Noir | Bryce Papenbrook | Benjamin Bollen |
| Gabriel / Hawk Moth | Keith Silverstein | Antoine Tomé |
| Tikki | Mela Lee | — |
| Plagg | Max Mittelman | — |
| Alya / Rena Rouge | Carrie Keranen | — |
| Nino / Carapace | Ben Diskin | — |
| Chloé / Queen Bee | Selah Victor | — |
What the characters are really about
Miraculous blends Western superhero comics and Japanese magical-girl anime. Like Sailor Moon, it's about an ordinary, slightly hopeless girl who becomes extraordinary when she transforms. Like Spider-Man, it's about the cost of a secret identity: Marinette and Adrien keep hurting each other because they can't be honest.
- Marinette is about responsibility. Being Ladybug means putting Paris before her own life, and becoming Guardian makes that much harder.
- Adrien is about freedom. The mask is the only place he's allowed to be himself.
- Gabriel is about grief that has turned into entitlement: he's sure his loss justifies anything.
- Chloé is about choice. The show gives her chances to change and keeps her refusals on screen.
Marinette is one of the most popular female protagonists in modern children's animation, and the show's hero names are a clear example of the codename patterns covered in our naming conventions guide.
Where to start
- Season one — start with the origin episodes, which show how Marinette and Adrien got their Miraculouses.
- Seasons two to five — the mythology deepens, the hero team grows and the Agreste mystery comes to a head.
- Miraculous World specials — longer adventures set in New York, Shanghai, London and an alternate Paris.
- Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie (2023) — a musical retelling of the origin story, separate from the series' continuity.
All Miraculous character names A–Z
A–C
- Adrien Agreste — Cat Noir
- Alix Kubdel — Classmate / Bunnyx
- Alya Césaire — Rena Rouge
- André Bourgeois — Mayor
- Audrey Bourgeois — Chloé's mother
- Chloé Bourgeois — Queen Bee
D–K
- Duusu — Kwami
- Emilie Agreste — Adrien's mother
- Félix Graham de Vanily — Adrien's cousin
- Gabriel Agreste — Hawk Moth
- Ivan Bruel — Classmate
- Juleka Couffaine — Classmate
- Kaalki — Kwami
- Kagami Tsurugi — Ryuko
- Kim — Classmate
L–N
- Lila Rossi — Villain
- Longg — Kwami
- Luka Couffaine — Viperion
- Marinette Dupain-Cheng — Ladybug
- Master Fu — Guardian
- Max Kanté — Classmate
- Ms. Bustier — Teacher
- Mylène Haprèle — Classmate
- Nathalie Sancoeur — Mayura
- Nathaniel Kurtzberg — Classmate
- Nino Lahiffe — Carapace
- Nooroo — Kwami
P–S
- Plagg — Kwami
- Pollen — Kwami
- Rose Lavillant — Classmate
- Sabine Cheng — Marinette's mother
- Sabrina Raincomprix — Classmate
- Sass — Kwami
T–Z
- Tikki — Kwami
- Tom Dupain — Marinette's father
- Trixx — Kwami
- Wayzz — Kwami
- Zoé Lee — Vesperia
Frequently asked questions
Who is Ladybug in Miraculous?
Ladybug is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a 14-year-old student and aspiring fashion designer in Paris. She's powered by the kwami Tikki and the Ladybug Miraculous, a pair of earrings that grant the power of creation.
Who is Cat Noir?
Cat Noir is Adrien Agreste, a teenage model and the son of fashion designer Gabriel Agreste. His power comes from the kwami Plagg and the Black Cat Miraculous, a ring that grants the power of destruction.
Who is Hawk Moth?
Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father. He uses the Butterfly Miraculous to turn Parisians' negative emotions into supervillains, because he wants Ladybug's and Cat Noir's Miraculouses to make a wish that would bring back his wife, Emilie. His identity is confirmed to the audience early, but not to the heroes for a long time.
What is the love square?
Marinette is in love with Adrien. Cat Noir is in love with Ladybug. Since Marinette is Ladybug and Adrien is Cat Noir, each of them is chasing the other while ignoring the other. It's the main romantic engine of the series.
How old are Marinette and Adrien?
Both are 14 at the start of the series, students in the same class at Collège Françoise Dupont in Paris. They age slowly over the seasons.
Who voices Ladybug in English?
Cristina Vee voices Marinette and Ladybug in the English dub, and Bryce Papenbrook voices Adrien and Cat Noir. In the original French, Marinette is voiced by Anouck Hautbois and Adrien by Benjamin Bollen.
What order should I watch Miraculous in?
Watch the seasons in production order, but be aware that broadcast order differs between countries and the episodes were not always aired in the intended sequence. Official streaming services generally list episodes in the right order. The Miraculous World specials can be watched after the season they were released alongside.