Despite Marinette Dupain and Adrien Agreste being Birds of a Feather, they have a number of differences that serve to contrast them.
Personality — Marinette has a bold, expressive personality as either a civilian or superhero while Adrien often has trouble verbalizing his feelings unless he's Cat Noir.
Families — Marinette is from a loving middle-class family while Adrien is from a wealthy broken one.
Reaction to getting their Miraculous — Neurotic, insecure Marinette refuses the call, while sheltered, lonely Adrien jumps at it.
Relationship with Chloé — Marinette has an antagonistic relationship with Chloé especially since the latter bullied her four years prior. On the other hand, Chloé was Adrien's Only Friend. Their relationship with Chloé also highlights the difference the two had in meeting their future best friend — for Marinette, Alya stood up to Chloé's bullying of Marinette, which became the primary reason for Marinette befriending her; Nino was initially skeptical on if Adrien was a good person due to his ties with someone as bratty and mean as Chloé.
Interest in fashion — Marinette is a budding fashion designer while Adrien has been a model for his father's fashion line. But while Marinette genuinely enjoys it, Adrien doesn't particularly like modeling and only does it to make his father happy.
Crushes on each other — Both are deeply in love with one another (bordering on stalkerish levels), and fell in love with one another for non-physical reasons, but they both can behave quite unhealthily possessive of one another. Marinette is in love with Adrien and acts quite shy and insecure around him, and whenever she suspects a girl may like him, she abuses her powers to stop said girl from getting close to him, but "Riposte" shows she's growing out of this; Adrien is in love with Ladybug and is flirty with her as Cat Noir but is shy when in his civilian form and his way of stopping another guy from pursuing her is to outright lie about their relationship status.
Chloé Bourgeois to Marinette Dupain — Marinette is clumsy and shy when it comes to her crush on Adrien, but she is a good friend and a humble, nice girl; Chloé is vain, rude, and treats her friend Sabrina like a servant, but she is also very straightforward in love. It also turns out they are both liable to get what they want from their parents when they ask for it, but while Chloé is a Spoiled Brat that demands something constantly every day, Marinette does this a lot more sparingly.
Chloé Bourgeois to Adrien Agreste — Both of them are Marinette's wealthy, blond classmates with a Missing Mom who have some kind of relationship with Marinette. Adrien is a Nice Guy who has had a restrictive life because of his smothering father, he is (unknowingly) in love with Marinette as Ladybug, but even in her civilian ego, he considers her a friend; Chloé is a Spoiled Bratjerkass who has more freedom than is healthy for her due to having an overly doting father; and she absolutely loathes Marinette, with the Origins episodes revealing she bullied Marinette four years prior to the story.
Luka Couffaine to Adrien Agreste — Both boys are teenagers with musical talent who attract Marinette's interest, but Luka is somewhat more emotionally open than the closed-off Adrien, and their musical styles (rock guitarist vs. classical pianist) contrast as well. Also, their ways of handling rejection differ as shown in "Frozer": Cat Noir's response is to act bitter and sulk despite Ladybug explicitly telling him she liked someone else, and while Marinette never told Luka her feelings for Adrien, he caught on and encouraged her to speak with Adrien. Taken further in season 3 when both Luka and Adrien take up the Snake Miraculous to become Viperion and Aspik, respectively. But while Adrien abuses it to try to woo Ladybug and fails miserably as a result, Luka never tries to abuse its power for personal gain and proves worthy to wield it, and it's this same dependability that eventually helps him gain Marinette's affections.
Luka Couffaine to Kagami Tsurugi — Both are alternative love interests for the main characters, but Luka is laid-back and friendly, as opposed to the stern and austere Kagami. Also, Kagami is a fencer, while Luka focuses on music. In regards to their social/love lives, Luka has been shown to easily interact with other people and have cordial relationships with them, Kagami hasn't developed any other friendships since coming to Paris. Furthermore, Kagami acts cold and antagonistic to her love rivals, even acting as possessive as them sometimes, while Luka bears no ill-will towards Marinette's interest in Adrien, and is quite friendly with him despite being rivals.
Luka Couffaine to Nathaniel Kurtzberg — Both are boys who have fallen in love with Marinette and express their feelings through their artistic qualities (Luka through music and Nathaniel through his drawings). Also, when they are akumatized they have the desire to take revenge on a person who harms them (Evillustrator wants revenge on Chloé and Silencer wants revenge on XY and Bob Roth). But Nathaniel is too shy to express his feelings to Marinette and she shows no romantic interest in him, while Luka is more open with his feelings and Marinette has show some attraction to him.
Kagami Tsurugi to Marinette Dupain/Ladybug — They both have black hair stylized as blue (but Kagami has Boyish Short Hair similar to Sabine while Marinette/Ladybug has hers in Girlish Pigtails), attract Adrien's affections, are from prominent Asian ethnicities, and wear red suits. But while Marinette is open and friendly, but has trouble expressing her crush on Adrien, Kagami is more closed-off and distant but is more confident in making her attraction to Adrien known. There's also their reactions to Chloé's bullying. While Marinette lets Chloé bully her for years before finally learning to stand up for herself, Kagami immediately tells Chloé where she can shove it the very first time she tries. Taken further in Season 3; just like how Adrien and Luka are both Snake Miraculous heroes at different points, Marinette and Kagami both become Dragon Miraculous holders. But the former uses it temporarily and fuses its power with her Ladybug Miraculous, the latter is the “primary” wielder and uses it by itself.
Kagami Tsurugi to Adrien Agreste — As stated above in the section, both of them lonely prodigies from an upper class family, and Kagami has a family ring that mirrors Adrien's Miraculous. But, while Adrien has a more friendly if slightly reserved personality, Kagami is more aggressive and is more reserved than he is. Ultimately, both want to have friends, an effort that initially goes poorly due to having No Social Skills and strict parenting but eventually succeeds.
Kagami Tsurugi to Chloé Bourgeois — Both are teenaged girls from well-off families who have a romantic interest in Adrien—but Chloé is a Spoiled Brat who acts like she's already Adrien's girlfriend (despite his feelings on the matter) while Kagami is an all around much better (if somewhat cold) person who doesn't feel entitled to Adrien's affection and Adrien has actually shown a modicum of interest in her.
Kagami Tsurugi to Lila Rossi — Both are teenaged girls who have an attraction to Adrien — but Lila is an unrepentant liar who tries to force her feelings on Adrien and is quite antagonistic towards Marinette while Kagami is honest to the point of bluntness, has a reciprocal attraction (to some degree) with Adrien, and has a more civilized relationship with Marinette, but soon becomes real friends with Marinette once they set aside their differences in “Ikari Gozen”. They’re both alone when they transfer and have different ways of dealing with it; Lila lies to gain friends and threatens to destroy anyone who opposes her, using them like tools, while Kagami refuses to stoop low to become popular, but doesn’t actually know how to make friends naturally, leaving her stuck trying to use an app to figure out how to communicate.
Kagami Tsurugi to Luka Couffaine — Both are alternative love interests for the main characters, but Luka is laid-back and friendly, as opposed to the stern and austere Kagami. Also, Kagami is a fencer, while Luka focuses on music. In regards to their social/loves lives, Luka has been shown to easily interact with other people and have cordial relationships with them, Kagami has not been shown to develop any other friendships since coming to Paris. Furthermore, Kagami acts cold and antagonistic to her love rivals, even acting as possessive as them at times (though it’s mostly towards Chloé and Lila), while Luka bears no ill-will towards Marinette’s interest in Adrien, and is quite friendly with him despite being rivals. In “Ikari Gozen”, Kagami drops her hostility towards Marinette and becomes friends.
Sabrina Raincomprix to Adrien Agreste — Both are the only two individuals who consider Chloé a friend among their peers, but act quite passively in regards to her mean behavior, fearing the loss of the only friendship they've ever had. Adrien is practically doted on by Chloé because of her crush on him, thus acting as her Morality Pet, and after some Character Development on his part, he begins to call her out on her behavior. Sabrina is more like Chloé's servant than friend, as the latter hardly ever shows her loyal "friend" any kindness outside of the rare occasion, and while Sabrina hashurt Chloé in retaliation for her cruelty, she goes right back to being Chloé's doormat "friend".
Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur to each other:
Powers - Akumatization works by corrupting an individual, effectively rewriting their personality via their negative emotions whereas amokization realises a person's negative emotions in the form of a sentimonster. Essentially the former is internal and the latter, external. Both work by charging an object with energy then sending it out.
Motivation - Gabriel is creating the Akuma villains to save the woman he loves and Nathalie is creating the sentimonsters to help the man she loves.
Gabriel Agreste to Tom and Sabine Dupain. Gabriel practices Parental Neglect on a regular basis and denies his son pleasures like a birthday party, while Tom and Sabine are loving authority figures who gently nudge Marinette to do her chores.
Gabriel Agreste to his own son Adrien Agreste as well; both are famous people who project a calm, professional image to conceal their true selves. Both are also the holders of a miraculous that give them dark-themed alter-egos with more outgoing personalities; but while Cat Noir is a happy-go-lucky, Dark Is Not Evil hero who protects Paris, Hawk Moth is a sinister Light Is Not GoodLarge Ham villain who corrupts people with his powers.
Lila Rossi to Marinette Dupain — A lot of Lila's lies or doubtful claims are actually true for Marinette: Lila lied about being a superhero, Marinette is one; Lila lied about being friends with superheroes, Marinette is friends with Cat Noir in both her identities (and his, but she doesn't know that); Lila claims she's an acquaintance of Prince Ali, Marinette became one as Ladybug; Lila claims to be friends with Jagged Stone to the point of having a song written about her, Marinette is friends with him in both her identities and as Ladybug actually had a song written about her. Also, both are good liars, even if Marinette doesn't like it, they once used the very same lie (being friends with Ladybug) for different reasons (Lila to get fame, Marinette to cover the fact she is Ladybug), and where Lila boasts about what she supposedly does, Marinette doesn't (her friendship with Jagged Stone being known because he told a few people about it).
Lila Rossi to Alya Césaire — Both are new to the school with tempers. But Alya is a Foreign Exchange Student from Martinique and Ladybug's best friend who became a holder of the Fox Miraculous. Lila lied about being from Italy and used makeup to appear Ambiguously Brown, claiming to be Ladybug's best friend and impersonated a Fox Miraculous holder as an Akumatized villain before obtaining the Butterfly Miraculous.
Lila Rossi to Kagami Tsurugi — Both girls are new to the school who have crushes on Adrien, but come from different backgrounds and families; Lila is from Italy and is mostly self-sufficient since her parents are rarely around, while Kagami is from Japan and is tightly monitored and controlled by her mother. Lila is a remorseless Consummate Liar who wins over her peers with lies hiding under the facade of a saint, while Kagami is blunt and icy and has a hard time befriending her peers, but ultimately good natured and honest. Their affections for Adrien are completely opposite, Lila only likes Adrien superficially, denying his flaws and dropping her affections the minute he tries to call her out, while Kagami has seen parts of the real him, accepts that he might like someone else, and fell for him because of his kindness after their introduction; also, Lila doesn't get Akumatized over Adrien (and claims it wouldn't be worth it) while Kagami was when it appeared Lila had got with him. They have contrasting views of Marinette/Ladybug; Kagami was initially mutually hostile to Marinette, but eventually both opened up and the two girls became friends, and she greatly respects Ladybug. However, Lila despises both Marinette/Ladybug and vice-versa, to the point Lila vows to destroy them and refuses reconciliation. Finally, both girls are involved with the Miraculous in different ways: Lila pretends to be the Fox Miraculous holder but is actually an Akumatized villain, while Kagami is (temporarily) the real deal, the Dragon Miraculous hero Ryuko.
Tom Dupain to Gabriel Agreste. Both are the fathers of the respective main characters, but everything about them from their personalities to their approaches in parenting are polar opposites. Tom is Happily Married with Sabine and knows what's best for Marinette, while Gabriel is cold and distant with the rest of the household and has been neglecting Adrien for most of his life. Tom genuinely cares about Marinette while occasionally scolding her for her flawed moments, and while Gabriel does care about Adrien, he's been raising him to be passive and is not only unresponsive to Adrien's flaws but is the main cause of his flaws in the first place. And since Gabriel is Hawk Moth, he often hides the truth from Adrien and is willing to brainwash people and inflict destruction on Paris to achieve his goal, even if it involves putting people's lives (especially Adrien's) at risk. This even extends to their villain forms Weredad and the Collector respectively, where both were the first people to be newly akumatized at the start of a season (not counting Lila). While Weredad is an overprotective dad who was akumatized because of his fatherly instincts towards Marinette and wants to protect her in every way he can, the Collector is Ax-Crazy and is obsessed with trapping everyone and everything into his sketchbook, even his loyal associates.
Amelie Graham de Vanily to Chloé's mother Audrey Bourgeois. Audrey makes no effort to hide her nastiness and her treatment of her daughter is neglectful at best and outright abusive at worst. Meanwhile, Amelie carefully masks her true nature behind a façade of friendliness and appears to have a much happier relationship with her son (though she's clearly still a bad influence on him).
André Bourgeois to Gabriel Agreste — In matters of parenting styles, Mayor Bourgeois is the opposite. While Gabriel is aloof and has placed restriction after restriction on his son's life, André is usually personable, but gives his daughter more freedom than is safe or healthy. Also, while Gabriel is openly rude to everyone he does have a softer side, André is more friendly in comparison, but can be quite obnoxious, especially when it comes to his daughter.
André Bourgeois to Tom and Sabine Dupain — Both are loving parents to their respective daughters, but while Tom and Sabine know when to discipline Marinette for her behavior, André constantly excuses Chloé's brattiness.
Clara Nightingale to Chloé Bourgeois — Both of them are relatively famous within France, but while Chloé is an Alpha Bitch, Clara is the opposite.
Clara Nightingale to Adrien Agreste — They're both famous and sweet, but Adrien is fairly reserved and largely went into modeling to please his father, while Clara is an extrovert with a genuine passion for music.
Tomoe Tsurugi to Gabriel Agreste - both are extremely controlling parents to their two prodigious children, both excellent fencers. Gabriel is a father to a son, Tomoe is a mother to a daughter. The two appear to be single; Gabriel's wife is in an unspecified coma and Kagami's father is not seen nor mentioned.
Xavier-Yves to Jagged Stone — One represents Pop while the other represents Rock, which are contrasting genres in music. And where Jagged is dedicated to Doing It for the Art, XY cares more for his fame and money.
Prince Ali to Adrien Agreste — Both are nice, rich kids who would like to behave like other kids their age. Both are also suffocated by their busy schedule and lifestyles. However, while Adrien has an outlet as Cat Noir, Ali doesn't.
◊ in their civilian outfits.
