Western Animation / Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie

Prepare for something Miraculous.

Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie (or Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie as it is known in some territories) is a 2023 French animated fantasy / romance / musical / superhero movie based upon the Miraculous Ladybug animated series. It is directed by Jeremy Zag, produced by Zagtoon, and features the voice cast from the series. The songs are written by Zag, Chris Read, Britt Britton, and The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. French singers Lou and Elliot provide the singing voices for the respective title characters.

Set in an Alternate Continuity, the film reimagines the origins of Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, the beginning of their careers as Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, their first clash with the evil Hawk Moth… and the birth of their ongoing Will They or Won't They? relationship.

The film premiered theatrically in France on July 5, 2023 and was released on Netflix in the US and several regions on July 28. A sequel is in development.

Previews: US Teaser, US Trailer

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Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie provides examples of:

• Act of True Love: During the climax of the film, Cat Noir's partially destroyed mask causes Hawk Moth to realize he's his son, Adrien. Gabriel is horrified that he hurt his son, and immediately decides to reveal himself as his father, then renounces his Miraculous and willingly gets arrested as a result.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
  • Adrien takes the death of his mother much harder than he did in the original series. He was also much younger when it happened (In the series she died the year before while here it was when he was a child).
  • Marinette is more insecure and lonely, to the point where she imagines people talking bad about her.
  • While Gabriel was motivated by grief for his wife in the cartoon like he is here, this version of Gabriel is more noticeably afflicted by it. While his canon-counterpart was a selfish Control Freak who was manipulative and emotionally abusive to his son, here he's more worn down and broken by grief, genuinely hurt when Adrien calls him out for never being there when he needed him.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Hawk Moth is capable of making multiple akumas at once. In the series, he could only do so if his powers were temporarily enhanced. He's also able to Akumatize himself while transformed, which was explicitly one of the things he couldn't do in the series, and needed to circumvent in some way in order to achieve it — even by the end of season 5, he had to at least detransform to do so.
  • Adrien actually calls out his father for his aloofness, something series-Adrien was physically incapable of accomplishing because of the amok in Gabriel's wedding ring.
  • Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm twice in one battle, when in the series it took five seasons for him to overcome the one-use limit per transformation. Ladybug is also able to use her World-Healing Wave without creating a Lucky Charm (which she never does in the film), simply guiding the power of creation directly.
• Adaptational Context Change:
  • Master Fu being nearly run over before Marinette saved him was a Secret Test of Character to determine if she would be a good Ladybug wielder. In the film, it's no test at all: Master Fu ends up getting stuck in traffic while trying to catch the fleeing Miraculous, and Marinette saving him convinces him that she must be the chosen wielder.
  • Just like in the show, Gabriel's connection with Adrien serves as the reason for Hawk Moth's defeat. However, while in the show Marinette convinces him that what he's doing isn't what Adrien would want, which leads him to change at the last second, in the film he discovers that Cat Noir is his son Adrien as a result of his domino mask being partially destroyed, revealing his face, and he ends up so horrified at what this means that he detransforms and renounces the Butterfly Miraculous.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: Luka, who canonically debuts in the show during season 2, makes a cameo among the students here in events that are the equivalent to the Origins episode.
• Adaptational Job Change: In the show, Adrien works as a model for his father's brand. Here, he's an ordinary student.
• Adaptational Karma: Gabriel in the show ultimately won and achieved his wish, but sacrificed himself to bring back Nathalie, with him being remembered as a good man and not as the magical terrorist who terrorized Paris for over five seasons. Here, he willingly renounces the Butterfly Miraculous after learning that Adrien is Cat Noir, and gets swiftly arrested once he's exposed as the one who's been akumatizing people all along.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Gabriel is still not a very nice person, being a supervillain, but he isn't abusive or controlling of Adrien, just emotionally neglectful. When he finds out that Adrien is Cat Noir, he is horrified that he hurt his son and stops immediately, which is the complete opposite of what happened in the series. And while in the series, his desire to bring his wife back is extremely selfish in nature, here he makes clear that a lot of it is motivated by Adrien's well-being, as he feels he isn't up to the job of being a single parent and that Adrien is better off with his mother than without her.
  • In the series, Sabrina was a willing participant in plenty of Chloé's bullying, and seemed to enjoy it. In the movie, she is still an Extreme Doormat, but does not enjoy what Chloé does and even helps Marinette get away from her.
  • Chloé herself is far less mean than in the show (although this isn't saying much). While she is still a bully and self-centered, she no longer goes out of her way to make other people miserable and seems to be targeted solely at Marinette, which largely seems to be due to her blaming Marinette for "ruining" Chloé's outfit on the first day of school. She also calls (for the lack of a better term) a truce with Marinette in the winter ball and sincerely tells her to enjoy the festivity (although she will continue bullying her later), when the series version would be utterly relentless. She can even be seen helping Sabrina up after Hawk Moth's defeat, something her show counterpart likely would never have considered.
• Adaptational Superpower Change:
  • Downplayed with Akumatization. In the show, the way it works is that an akuma enters the victim's item, allowing Hawk Moth talk to them to convince them to join his forces, and only once they accept can he grant them powers. Here, the akuma enters the victim's body, then amplifies the negative emotions of the target until they end up akumatized without a deal being required, as shown with his first victim (subsequent ones are criminals Hawk Moth intentionally recruited and empowered). Additionally, in the show, the heroes deakumatize the villains by breaking the object housing the akuma. In the movie, the villain just needs to take significant damage. And in the show, Hawk Moth couldn't akumatize himself without giving up the Miraculous first. No such limit appears in the film, though he only does it at the height of his despair after a string of failures.
  • The Butterfly Miraculous in the series, broadly speaking, grants superpowers to those the user makes a deal with, and Hawk Moth simply chooses to amplify negative emotions in his use of it. In the film, Master Fu describes it as amplifying hate to create villains and monsters, and while Nooroo does object to his powers being used for evil, it's not clear how else his powers would be used in such a context.
  • In the show, the Miraculous Cure is a standard ability of the Ladybug Miraculous that reverses the damage Akumas cause after each fight, and is inextricably tied to the Lucky Charm and a purified Akuma. In the movie, Ladybug isn't able to do the cure until right after Hawk Moth's defeat, unlocking the power similarly to how show Ladybug unlocks the ability to grant Magical Charms. It has nothing to do with purifying the Akuma, and Lucky Charm doesn't exist at all, though the "Ladybug-vision" associated with it shows up when Marinette is figuring out how to properly use the yoyo.
  • In the show, the Miraculous users' masks can't be removed and quantum masking prevents anyone from recognizing them while transformed. Neither of these aspects exist in the movie, as in the climax Hawk Moth removes part of Cat Noir's mask and recognizes Adrien underneath.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • In the show, the Mime's civilian form was the kindhearted Fred Haprele. Here, his civilian form isn't given a name, but he and the Magician were a well-known criminal duo prior to their akumatization, and their actions while transformed are implied to be voluntary, given Hawk Moth's Villain Song just prior.
  • Speaking of which, in the show, almost all of Hawk Moth's victims are ordinary people he corrupts into villains, and only rarely has he transformed actual criminals into villains. Here, he intentionally seeks out criminals to empower after the failure of the Gargoyle, all of whom are indicated to be acting of their own free will.
  • It's also implied that the Butterfly Miraculous is the Token Evil Teammate of the lineup, with its powers being said to amplify hatred and anger. There's also the implication that it corrupts the user by preying on their negative emotions, with Nooroo's purpose being to prevent that as much as he possibly can by warning them against misusing it.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • The Akumatized Villains are hit with this. In the show, the only way to properly stop them is to destroy the item that houses their Akuma, and then have Ladybug purify it before using the Miraculous Cure to undo any damage they did while akumatized. In here, sufficient damage to the villain will cause them to detransform immediately, though as shown by the Gargoyle, that threshold is significantly big.
  • The Ladybug Miraculous itself is also hit with this. In canon, alongside having the enhanced powers like every other wielder, it can summon a random object that allows Marinette to then figure out how to use it, and fix every damage done by the akumatized villain using a World-Healing Wave. In the film, Lucky Charm is never used, and Miraculous Cure is nowhere to be seen until the climax of the film, right after Gabriel renounces the Butterfly Miraculous.
• Adaptation Distillation:
  • None of the other Miraculous holders aside from the main three and the Kwamis show up. Master Fu does appear, but his role remains to appear once in a while, narrate the beginning, appear at the end and doesn't get any further than that, not even showing Wayzz with him or how he came to guard and lose the Miraculous. Which is jarring considering we do see that the Peacock is with Emilie's body under the Agreste mansion, yet he makes no mention of also losing it.
  • Most season 2 to 5 characters and their akuma forms never show up (save for Luka as a background character), although some akumatized forms appear on in-universe magazine and newspaper covers.
  • The way Akumatization works in the show is that Gabriel sends his Akuma to his victim, he speaks to them through the visor, makes a deal with them to let them go wild in exchange for getting the Miraculous, and then they are turned into an akumatized villain. In the film, the akuma simply enters the body of the victim, then amplifies their negative feelings until they turn into a villain, no deals required. That said, Hawk Moth seems to intentionally recruit criminals from then on, as they're more rational than a mindless beast.
• Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In the show, Chloé is interested in Adrien (romantically or platonically) because he is a rich and famous model as well as her childhood friend. While Adrien is rich and handsome in the movie, it still seems Out of Character for her to want to date a depressed loner. It doesn't help that the two never actually interact.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • In the show, Master Fu is a traditional wise old Mentor Archetype, usually calm and collected. In the movie, the burden of his role as guardian of the Miraculous has clearly done a number on him, as he is highly eccentric and overdramatic to the point of appearing crazy.
  • Adrien in the show is very sociable yet naïve given that he's been kept in isolation for most of his life. The movie's version is more of an emotionally distant loner who hasn't been isolated and simply never fully got over his mother's death. Nino appears to be his Only Friend, and even around him Adrien is more faking being happy than sincere about it.
  • The show's version of Tikki is the patient and motherly voice of reason for Marinette, whereas she's very energetic and reckless here. Likewise, Plagg is less of a mischievous child and more of a sardonic bum, and while Tikki still ends up growing close to Marinette, Plagg's relationship with Adrien is much more impersonal.
  • Chloé in the series was a Card-Carrying Jerkass who used her father's political status to avoid punishment. Here, she folds from harassing Marinette after she realizes Alya is recording her, instead waiting for when there's no witnesses to torment her.
  • Gabriel in the show was defined by his stoicism and being a Control Freak. This version is the exact opposite. This version of Gabriel wears his angst on his sleeve, distraught that his family is falling apart as he becomes more and more unkempt as his loses begin to pile up. While his canon-counterpart is willing to exploit his son's emotional well-being and takes advantage of him when he discovers that he's Cat Noir, here it's when he finds out that Adrien is Cat Noir does he quit and turn himself over to the authorities, hurting his son the one line he isn't willing to cross.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
  • As opposed to their more playful relationship in the show, Ladybug and Cat Noir start off with a more contentious initial relationship, with MUCH more bickering, only to grow into their usual relationship after a montage of heroing.
  • Marinette and Adrien's first meeting is much less abrasive than it is in the cartoon, with Marinette falling for Adrien minutes after first meeting.
  • Adrien is noticeably introduced as Nino's friend instead of Chloé's, thanks to his backstory being altered so that he wasn't a model for his father's brand.
  • In the cartoon, Nino had a crush on Marinette before moving on to Alya. Here, it's shown that he harbors those feelings for Alya from the get-go, while both notice Marinette and Adrien's awkwardness around each other.
  • While Hawk Moth initially had a hostile relationship with both Ladybug AND Cat Noir, as the season went on his hostility for Ladybug grew more and more, with Cat Noir eventually fading into just another loose end in order to get his wish. In the film, he's antagonistic to both heroes for most of the runtime, and it's Cat Noir, not Ladybug, who causes him to have a change of heart and renounce the Butterfly Miraculous.
  • In the show, Master Fu's connection with Ladybug is far stronger than his connection with Cat Noir because she came to meet him first, with him generally confiding in her, showing her the ropes when he can, and giving her the power ups directly before choosing her as his successor during the season 3 finale, while Fu and Cat Noir don't meet until much later and generally only when Ladybug is also present. Here, while his connection with Ladybug is still more developed than with Cat Noir, having run into her first, he now reveals himself to both of them after their first battle and his interactions with them is more neutral, rather than being more focused on Ladybug.
  • The heroes and their Kwamis also have a slight change in relationship. In the show, Tikki acted like a mentor figure to Marinette whenever she felt worried, and was generally rather relaxed, while Plagg treats Adrien more like a friend and cheese dispender than his owner, and has a very casual and relaxed attitude. The film flips this around: Tikki's now the energetic one that, while wanting Marinette to become Ladybug to save the world, treats her more like a friend or equal rather than a student, and Plagg has become much more subdued in his interactions with Adrien.
• Adapted Out:
  • Stoneheart, Ivan's akumatized form, served as the first villain that Ladybug and Cat Noir ever faced. In here, however, he's nowhere to be found; with a different character being akumatized instead while Ivan remains in the background.
  • Adrien's bodyguard, a.k.a., "the Gorilla," is absent, leaving Nathalie as the sole help for the Agreste family.
  • Because the plot of the movie is vastly simplified from the show, and the need for these concepts isn't strictly necessary, the power up potions and Unification are nowhere to be seen.
  • Gabriel's only supervillain persona in this film is Hawk Moth, removing Shadow Moth and Monarch from the picture.
  • Since both Ladybug and Cat Noir are present for the final battle and aren't separated, Marinette never unifies the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous to become Bug Noire.
  • Also, because Gabriel never gets both Miraculous and make his wish, Gimmi never shows up.
• Advice Backfire: After Ladybug rejects Cat Noir, Plagg tries to help by saying that falling for her in the first place was a bad idea. This just helps Adrien revert to his Safety in Indifference mentality.
• Almost Kiss: Cat Noir and Ladybug almost kiss during their duet, but Marinette has feelings for Adrien and stops short.
• Alternate Continuity: The film is an adaptation of the series' origin story, but has a number of deviations: the character personalities and dynamics of much of the cast are slightly altered, the various Miraculous powers work differently (often to simplify how they function), and the end of the film has Gabriel sent to prison after surrendering, likely preventing his eventual death in the show, as well as Marinette and Adrien finding out each others secret identities, showing that the film continuity going forward is not going to be a straightforward retelling of the series.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Tom is on a whole new level. Making unicorn cupcakes for Marinette (which is sweet, but Marinette sees as childish and embarrassing, as they're meant to be shared but she lacks friends) and intending to pick her up from school when she's perfectly capable of going home on her own. He also follows her to the fair to spy on her, despite Sabine telling him not to, and Adrien and Marinette catch him spying on them. And to top it off, he’s wearing a pink clown wig when they see him.
• Animate Inanimate Object:
  • Ladybug's yo-yo can fly around on its own and even drag her around, apparently the result of Tikki being able to exert her will over it even while Marinette is transformed.
  • The Magician's power allows her to animate virtually anything. She makes a roller coaster fly around and creates a giant balloon monster, among others.
• Animation Bump: The animation for the film is a lot more detailed and cinematic than the series.
• Apocalypse How: Hawk Moth empowering himself with Akumatization leads him to lay waste on Paris in order to bring out Ladybug and Cat Noir, cracking the ground and creating a thunderstorm, which comes close to a type 0. It's implied that it could have gotten even worse if he successfully stole both the heroes' Mirculouses.
• Bad Powers, Good People: While Nooroo provides the power to weaponize anger and hatred, he himself is not evil, and tries to discourage Gabriel from becoming a villain.
• Being Evil Sucks: As the film goes on Gabriel becomes more disheveled as a result of his obsession and constant failures.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ladybug and Cat Noir's dynamic, especially during a spontaneous sparring match.
• Big Bad: Hawk Moth is the main villain who empowers other supervillains to serve as his minions. During the climax, he goes after the heroes himself.
• Blood Knight: Tikki practically revels in the idea of fighting villains and risking death when singing to Marinette about being Ladybug.
• Bullet Catch: Cat Noir catches the Mime's invisible bullet, which makes him and Ladybug realize that their powers are stronger when they fight as a team.
• Butterfly of Transformation: The Butterly Miraculous has this power: the Akuma enters a person and amplifies their negative emotions until they turn into a villain.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Adrien calls out his father for not caring when Gabriel, for once, is actually concerned that Adrien vanished overnight and he couldn't reach him.
• The Cameo: Numerous classmates irrelevant to the movie's plot show up in the halls, but one noticeable character is Luka Couffaine, Juleka's twin brother, who's apparently still in middle school level and attending Françoise Dupont with his sister, as opposed to having already graduated while Juleka had to repeat a year. Also, the Bubbler and Guitar Villain both appear on magazine covers as two of the akumatized villains Ladybug and Cat Noir defeated.
• Canon Foreigner: Many of the akumatized villains, such as Gargoyle, Magician, and Snailman, are original characters created for the movie.
• Childhood Friend Romance: It's shown that Gabriel and Emilie first met when they were little kids.
• The Chooser of the One: Played with. Master Fu insists to Tikki and Plagg that they need to decide together who will wield them, but the pair immediately jet off in opposite directions and it's through a twist of fate that Fu happens to run into Marinette, who Tikki chooses before Fu can even process what just happened. Plagg, meanwhile, finds his way to Adrien with zero input from Fu.
• Clingy MacGuffin: Marinette tries to get rid of the Ladybug earrings after her first battle, but Tikki isn't having it and foils every attempt.
• Clothing Damage: While the Miraculous suits are extremely resistant to damage, the climax sees part of Cat Noir's mask destroyed as a result of the battle against the akumatized Hawk Moth, which leads to Gabriel discovering he's Adrien, and thus renouncing the Butterfly Miraculous.
• Convection, Schmonvection: The Final Battle takes place on a river of lava, but Marinette is completely fine because she's floating on metal debris.
• Cowardly Lion: Marinette is shy and nervous, but still faces danger head on when needed. Cat Noir acknowledges that she's not afraid of fighting, just afraid of failing.
  Tikki: I find hearts with complete courage; a love that can drive out all fears.
• Dance of Romance: Cat Noir and Ladybug share a dance among the clouds around the Eiffel Tower during the song "Stronger Together", which is juxtaposed with Ladybug singing (to herself) that she already loves Adrien and shouldn't let herself fall for Cat Noir, too.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Implied with self-Akumatization. Hawk Moth's dialogue suggests that it might kill him.
• Death Dealer: The Magician throws a bunch of magically-enhanced playing cards at Ladybug. Ladybug easily swats them out of the air with her yo-yo.
• Decomposite Character: A Freeze-Frame Bonus during the Good-Times Montage shows the Bubbler on a magazine cover as one of the akumas fought and defeated by Ladybug and Cat Noir, with the cover suggesting he was sent to prison. As this was Nino's akumatized form in the show, this would suggest the two are separate characters here.
• Defiant to the End: Cat Noir is injured, half-drowned, and it's obvious he can't defeat Hawk Moth, who already stole Ladybug's Miraculous. Yet when Hawk Moth tries to take Cat Noir's Miraculous, he activates his Cataclysm and claws the supervillain in the face.
• Demoted to Extra: Many characters have been reduced to minor roles as part of the compressed adaptation of the film, but some characters stand out among others:
  • Chloé, Alya, and Nino all had significant development in the show, the former being a bully to Marinette and former friend to Adrien, while the latter two formed a romance and became the heroes known as Rena Rogue and Carapace. In the film, they're very minor characters: Chloé serves as a bully that sends Marinette to the store where she gets Tikki, while Alya and Nino don't do much beyond playing matchmaker during the festival between Adrien and Marinette.
  • Master Fu was a supporting character who acted as the heroes' mentor, or mostly Marinette, and acted as a wise master who gave them advice whenever the need arised. In here, he's relegated to narrating the film's beginning, giving some vague warnings to Ladybug and Cat Noir, and disappear into the background until the end of the film.
  • Ivan is a minor case. While he's never been a very important character, he and his akumatized form, Stoneheart, are the main antagonists of the origins episode, which is what the film is based on. However, he remains a background character for the whole film, while the first villain role is instead given to a supervillain called the Gargoyle.
  • While Tikki has a significant role in the plot by propelling Marinette forward, Plagg only gets a couple of scenes with Adrien in the whole film, with their relationship not getting much development.
• Desk Sweep of Rage: During the Good-Times Montage, Gabriel sweeps his desk in anger as his losses to Ladybug and Cat Noir mount.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Chloé violently threatens Marinette because she blames her for spilling a single drop of coffee on her shirt.
• Diving Save: In the climax, Marinette tackles Cat Noir to protect him from Hawk Moth's attack, the attack dissipating harmlessly against her thanks to love being stronger than hate.
• Dramatic Unmask:
  • Hawk Moth rips off half of Cat Noir's mask while torturing him, which is enough for Gabriel to recognize him as Adrien. He then detransforms, revealing his secret identity to Adrien. Marinette witnesses this, and thus learns both their identities. The public also learns Hawk Moth's identity, but not Cat Noir's or Ladybug's, who regained her Miraculous before the crowd showed up.
  • Invoked at the ball. Adrien is initially wearing a mask, and Marinette walks up to him and takes it off, as she already knows his identity. She then puts on the mask, tells Adrien her secret identity, then takes off the mask and tosses it aside, as there are no more secrets between them.
• The Dreaded: The Butterfly Miraculous has this reputation, as it is capable of weaponizing anger and hatred and can turn people with even the tiniest bit of those qualities into horrifying monsters, making it extremely dangerous in the wrong hands.
• The End... Or Is It?: The movie ends on a "The End" card, only to then move into The Stinger where Nathalie enters a secret chamber where Emilie is being kept, and is seemingly wearing the Peacock Miraculous.
• Enemy Rising Behind: Inside Notre-Dame, while Cat Noir is busy boasting that his super senses prevent anybody from sneaking up on him, the Gargoyle — the first of Hawk Moth's akumatized monsters — is slowly rising up right behind him, to Ladybug's alarm. Cat Noir doesn't notice the monster's presence until he accidentally sticks the tip of his staff into the Gargoyle's nostril by gesticulating.
• Everybody Owns a Ford: Various vehicles seen in the film are that from Volkswagen's ID electric vehicle series as a result of a deal between the aforementioned company and ZAG Inc. Notable examples include Marinette's Beetle EV concept, Adrien's ID.4, Gabriel's ID. Vizzion, and Tom Dupain's ID. Buzz.
• Evil Overlooker: The English poster above depicts Hawk Moth glaring down at the titular duo.
• Family Portrait of Characterization: The Agreste mansion has a large portrait of Gabriel and Adrien, where they look distant and unhappy. Meanwhile, the years-old photo of them with Emilie shows they were a close and happy family.
• Ferris Wheel of Doom: In the battle with the Mime and the Magician, a Ferris wheel is sent rolling through the city, becoming the set of the battle with the duo until Ladybug and Cat Noir eventually manage to defeat them and bring it to a halt.
• Finger Gun: The Mime, naturally, mimes a gun with his fingers and is able to fire real (invisible) bullets from it. He uses both the "holding an invisible gun" and "fingers in the shape of gun" variants at different points.
• Friendless Background: Both Marinette and Adrien have one. Marinette because she's afraid of disappointing people, Adrien because he's afraid to get close to anyone and risk losing them.
• Gay Paree: It still takes place in a picturesque Paris, there's an Enemy Mime... you name it.
• Glass Smack and Slide: During the fight against the Mime, Cat Noir is sent flying into the Ferris Wheel of Doom, landing on the window of the cabin holding Chloé and Sabrina. He tries to talk to them reassuringly while his face is smushed against the glass. The slide occurs when the Mime ropes him from the ground and attempts to yank him off.
• Good-Times Montage: Halfway through the movie, there is a montage where Ladybug and Cat Noir keep defeating Hawk Moth's minions and become loved by the city, Marinette becomes more confident and succeeds at the things she couldn't do before, she and Adrien become closer friends, and Gabriel becomes increasingly frustrated at his repeated failures.
• Got Volunteered: Marinette has no desire to become Ladybug, but Tikki refuses to take "no" for an answer when she can see Marinette's potential, forcibly transforming her and then literally dragging her to meet Cat Noir and their first villain.
• Graceful Landing, Clumsy Landing: Ladybug and Cat Noir's first encounter results in them getting entangled together. When they free themselves, the agile Cat Noir naturally does a Three-Point Landing. Marinette, being very new... doesn't, and lands in an undignified heap (she can thank the Super-Toughness granted by the Miraculous, or she would likely have hurt herself very badly).
• Grew a Spine: Marinette starts out shy and lacking confidence, being bullied into submission by Chloé. After coming into her own as a hero, she stands up to Chloé and even mocks her.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: At the beginning, Adrien wears earbuds whenever he's walking in public. He stops wearing them after meeting Ladybug, but wears them again after Ladybug rejects him for "someone else".
• "I Am Becoming" Song: "Courage In Me" is about Marinette coming to terms with her fears and accepting her role as a superhero, concluding with her first willing Transformation Sequence into Ladybug.
• Instant Knots: Justified with Ladybug's yo-yo, which is shown to be able to move of its own will and thus can actively wrap itself around Ladybug's intended targets and come loose just as easily.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: On their first outing, Cat Noir proudly boasts to Ladybug that nothing can sneak up on him thanks to his super senses. He's doing that just as the massive Gargoyle is rising right behind him.
• Intrepid Reporter: Nadja is shown delivering a news report from the station helicopter while Paris looks like a literal war zone.
• Ironic Echo: Ladybug rejects Cat Noir because she has feelings for someone else. When Marinette asks Adrien out to the ball, he's clearly saddened and distracted and lets her down... using the explanation she gave Cat Noir.
• Ironic Juxtaposition:
  • Adrien talks to Plagg about how brave Ladybug is, as Marinette is having a panic attack. He then says how impressive she must have found him, as Marinette tells Tikki how ridiculous Cat Noir is.
  • Nino gives Adrien some pointers about impressing a girl. At the same time, Alya is telling Marinette about how each one of Nino's suggestions are things she should avoid.
• It's What I Do: Part of "You Are Ladybug" is Tikki boasting that her one job is finding Ladybugs, and she's had thousands of years to get really good at it. So when Marinette denies that she's up to the job, it's a personal insult to Tikki and she only gets more insistent that she made the right choice.
• "I Want" Song: "If I Believed in Me" is about how Marinette wishes she could be confident.
• Kissing Discretion Shot: Marinette and Adrien dance at the Masquerade Ball and lean in to kiss... THE END.
• Lighter and Softer: With the story of five seasons compressed into one movie, many details end up changed or removed, which ends up resulting in a happier environment for the characters: Chloé doesn't seem to know Marinette all that much before the coffee stain scene (constantly misnaming her) and thus didn't bully her for years prior to the story's beginning, Adrien wasn't forced to model for his dad and could thus go to school like any kid his age (his lack of friends stemming from his own issues instead of his father's control over him, and even then Nino is already his friend when the movie begins), Lila never shows up to stir up trouble and not only does Master Fu keep his memories this time around, but when Hawk Moth discovers his son to be Cat Noir, he does the opposite of his show self and rather than try to akumatize him, deliberately stops his evil plans and renounces his Miraculous altogether, allowing the heroes to achieve their initial goal with the only drawback being that Adrien doesn't have his parents around to raise him after Gabriel's arrest.
• Love Redeems: Adrien showing love for his father, even after learning that he's Hawk Moth, causes Gabriel to completely stop and give up.
• Loves My Alter Ego: Marinette loves Adrien, who loves Ladybug. Marinette also develops feelings for Cat Noir over time.
• Make My Monster Grow: The Magician creates a small balloon monster and disguises it as an infant to fool Ladybug, then super-sizes it into a towering monstrosity when she gets close.
• Masquerade Ball: The final scene has a masquerade ball for the class.
• Meet Cute:
  • Marinette meets Adrien when they see each other through a bookshelf at the library. She starts crushing on him when he helps her up when she slips.
  • Ladybug meets Cat Noir when her yo-yo drags her into him and they crash through a stained glass window, then get tangled up together in the string.
• Metaphorically True: It is said that the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses united possess a power stronger than death, which Gabriel seeks to use to bring Emilie back to life. He later realizes that this was referring to the fated love between the Miraculous holders, not a literal resurrection power.
• Monumental Damage:
  • Ladybug's yo-yo causes her and Cat Noir to smash through a stained glass window at the Notre-Dame de Paris. The cathedral is then further damaged in their fight with the Gargoyle. Ironically, this is still significantly better than what happened to it in Real Life.
  • During the climax, Cat Noir accidentally touches the Eiffel Tower with his Cataclysm, which weakens the metal. Hawk Moth then creates an explosion that collapses the whole thing. It's later repaired by Ladybug's World-Healing Wave though.
• Musical World Hypothesis: The fantastical parts of "If I Believed in Me" are explicitly in Marinette's imagination, suggesting The All in Their Heads Hypothesis. However, other songs involve multiple people, which suggests The Adaptation Hypothesis or The Diegetic Hypothesis, as Marinette briefly brings up that Tikki sang a song to her in regular dialogue.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Gabriel has this reaction when he discovers that his own son is Cat Noir, and he had just injured and nearly killed him.
• Never My Fault: Chloé demands that Sabrina ride the Ferris wheel with her, despite the latter's fear of heights. When the Mime starts destroying the Ferris wheel, Chloé blames Sabrina for making her get on.
• Non-Serial Movie: It's an Alternate Continuity from the TV show, retelling Ladybug and Cat Noir's origins.
• Opposites Attract: Marinette wants to have friends and fit in with everyone, but her anxieties prevent her from doing so. Adrien is perfectly capable of fitting in, as shown by his Cat Noir personality, but he doesn't want to get close to anyone out of fear of losing a loved one again. Over time, Cat Noir helps Marinette have confidence in herself, and Ladybug helps Adrien see that love is worth risking heartache.
• Order Versus Chaos: Hawk Moth explicitly plans to spread chaos into Paris in order to get the Miraculouses, with Ladybug and Cat Noir representing order in the conflict.
• Origins Episode: As per the synopsis, this movie primarily deals with a retelling of Ladybug and Cat Noir's origins, showing how they were recruited up until they became the heroes of Paris.
• Our Gargoyles Rock: A living gargoyle is Hawk Moth's first akumatization.
• Paper-Thin Disguise:
  • Ladybug and Cat Noir are completely unrecognizable with nothing but Domino Masks obstructing their faces. Cat Noir losing half his mask is enough for Gabriel to recognize him.
  • Master Fu just puts on a trench coat, glasses, and a hat to conceal his identity to Marinette, who doesn't recognize him until he gives a Meaningful Echo.
• Parental Neglect: Gabriel hardly spends any time with Adrien, not even on Emilie's birthday. The two don't even appear onscreen together until over an hour into the movie.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Akumatized Hawk Moth creates countless explosions that cause massive damage to Paris, and then turns the Seine into lava.
• Pet the Dog:
  • As the people gather around Ladybug after the climax, Chloé is shown helping Sabrina get back on her feet. Considering how poorly she has treated Sabrina for most of the movie, this quick moment shows she still cares about her.
  • Chloé actually wishes Marinette a good time at the winter ball… before admitting she will go back to bullying her next school year.
• Playing Hard to Get: Adrien tries this with Ladybug, ignoring her when she tries to call him on his ring to help her fight Hawk Moth after he akumatized himself. Plagg has to snap him out of it and point out how serious the situation is.
  Adrien: The less interested you are, the more they run after you.
• Poor Communication Kills: If Master Fu would just be more patient regarding his choice of Marinette and taking her to somewhere safe before telling her that she's been chosen (fittingly enough, Tikki takes her to his shop and he doesn't make it back in time), then she wouldn't have assumed him to be insane/senile for saying her destiny is to save the world right after they both almost got ran over by a car.
• The Power of Hate: Hawk Moth's Miraculous allows him to use people's hate and anger to transform them into supervillains and monsters.
• The Power of Love: A major theme of the movie.
  • Marinette's Imagine Spot of Tikki tells her that as long as there's more love in her heart than fear, she doesn't need her Miraculous to be a hero. This convinces Marinette to get up and save Cat Noir from Hawk Moth, even without her powers.
  • When Marinette performs a Diving Save on Cat Noir, Hawk Moth's energy blast made of hatred vanishes upon touching them.
  • Gabriel comes to a realization about the ultimate power he was seeking from the Miraculouses.
    Gabriel: The only power stronger than death... is love.
  • Love's ultimate triumph over hate enables Ladybug to access her full power, and perform a World-Healing Wave after Hawk Moth is defeated.
• Product Placement:
  • Several vehicles are shown with Volkswagen logos on their fronts. The car manufacturer even commissioned an animated short to help tie into the movie.
  • Marinette and Adrien wear Flik Flak brand watches. They also have a tie-in short where the Kwamis have the non-canon power of turning back time.
• Psychic Strangle: Hawk Moth gains this power after akumatizing himself, and he uses it against both Ladybug and Cat Noir.
• Quarreling Song: "You Are Ladybug" is a argument between Tikki and Marinette, the former insisting that she knows Marinette can be and is Ladybug, while Marinette denies that a person like her can be a hero.
• Railroad Tracks of Doom: The battle with the Gargoyle ends at a train station. Cat Noir gets his foot stuck on the track and is nearly hit by a train, with Ladybug pulling him out of the way at the last second. The Gargoyle isn't so lucky.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Adrien, of all people, delivers a huge one to his father when Gabriel shows concern for him being out of the mansion all night. While Gabriel's concern is understandable, Adrien's bitterness shows up and he tears into his father for suddenly acting worried when he has barely shown any kind of affection or compassion for Adrien ever since Emilie died.
• Refusal of the Call: Marinette initially doesn't want to be Ladybug, and Tikki has to forcibly transform her for the first time, then literally drag her along. It's not until the attack at the fair that Marinette finally accepts her destiny.
• Rescue Romance: Cat Noir falls in love with Ladybug after she saves him from getting hit by a train.
• Sanity Slippage: The more Gabriel uses the Butterfly Miraculous, the more worn out and ill he appears. He's noticeably gone off the deep end by the third act, enough to let the akumas take over him and akumatize himself.
• Safety in Indifference: Adrien avoided forming new relationships after his mother's death, wanting to avoid losing a loved one again. But this is ironically what is preventing him from healing.
• Self-Disposing Villain: Hawk Moth akumatizes himself for the final act and very nearly wins, but when he realizes he's attacking Adrien, the hate in his heart evaporates and his akumatization breaks, causing him to realize how far he's fallen and give up.
• Self-Proclaimed Love Interest: Chloé claims that she and Adrien are meant to be, and that he was talking about her when he told Marinette he loves someone else. Chloé never actually talks to Adrien throughout the entire movie.
• Serenade Your Lover: "Stronger Together" starts with Cat Noir singing and playing the piano for Ladybug, as part of his Love Confession to her.
• Shape Dies, Shifter Survives: The gargoyle villain that serves as the first villain Ladybug and Cat Noir fight ends up deakumatizing after being run over by a train. Once the smoke dissipates, the man who was the base of the gargoyle is shown to be unharmed, if a little bit disoriented, having turned back to normal at the back of the train after the gargoyle crashed through it on impact.
• Shoehorned Acronym: Tikki says that Marinette is suffering from PTFAFS: Post-Traumatic First Akuma Fight Shock.
• Shout-Out: Gabriel recalls saying "We have all the time in the world" to Emilie. Bonus points for both utterances being related to love... and also both addressees being dead wives.
• Sickly Green Glow: Hawk Moth's Villain Song has the mood set by an ever-present green glow, either from the windows of the homes or the green flames in the prison.
• Singing Voice Dissonance: In the French and English versions, Marinette's singing voice Lou Jean is deeper than both Anouck Hautbois and Cristina Valenzuela. This is particularly noticeable when Lou briefly talks during the song "You are Ladybug".
• Sleep-Mode Size: Uniquely to this continuity, the Kwamis have regular animals as an alternative form without a holder. As both Marinette and Adrien pick up their Miraculouses for the first time, Marinette sees a small ladybug fly above while a disheveled outdoors cat knocks down Adrien's garbage bin. Not long after, the ladybug turns into Tikki while, presumably, the cat becomes Plagg offscreen.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Master Fu, in the show, sacrificed his memories as a guardian in order to pass on the title to Marinette, ensuring that Hawk Moth wouldn't be able to get his hands on the Miraculous. The film has him remain as the guardian in the end with Hawk Moth defeated, ensuring he doesn't have to sacrifice his memories to negate him his victory. This also spares Marinette from the extra pressure she got from being the new guardian that plagued her.
  • Gabriel sacrifices his own life during the season 5 finale in order to bring back Emilie and Nathalie back to life, with him being remembered as someone who gave his life to stop Monarch. In the film, however, Gabriel willingly renounces the Butterfly Miraculous after revealing himself to his son after learning that he is Cat Noir, which allows him to remain alive and gets him arrested due to exposing himself to the world.
• Stepford Smiler: According to Adrien, there hasn't been true meaning behind his smiles for years until he became Cat Noir and got to meet Ladybug, as he'd never fully recovered from the death of his mother and subsequent emotional neglect by his father.
• The Stinger: After The End title card, there is a scene where Nathalie enters a Secret Room in the Agreste Mansion, revealing Emilie in an unconscious state. There's also a Peacock-shaped item on her chest, implying that Ladybug and Cat Noir's mission to retrieve a lost Miraculous is far from over...
• Stock Scream: The ticket seller at the entrance of the fair, after yelling at Magician and Mime to pay the fee, lets out a Wilhelm Scream when Mime drops the metallic curtain of his booth on his fingers.
• Summon to Hand: Cat Noir summons his stick to his hand at one point.
• Superpowered Evil Side: The akumatized villains lose their sanity upon transformation, albeit some are genuinely criminals even before getting akumatized and are only mildly worse with powers. It turns out Hawk Moth is also this for Gabriel, as even if he retains some form of control over himself, he and Nooroo let it be known that he's being consumed by Hawk Moth when he uses the brooch, and it's only a matter of time until hate and chaos completely overtake him...
• Symbolism: When Marinette learns of Adrien's identity as Cat Noir then reveals to him her identity as Ladybug during the Masquerade Ball, Marinette tosses the mask away, affirming no more secrets between the two.
• There Are No Therapists: Adrien apparently wasn't provided any kind of grief counseling following the death of his mother, though Gabriel seems like the type of person that doesn't believe in that sort of thing.
• Three-Point Landing: After the two heroes have their first encounter, or rather collision, Cat Noir does a textbook superhero landing. Ladybug... doesn't.
• Title: The Adaptation: Officially known as Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie, referred to in French previews as Miraculous: The Film and Netflix trailers as Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Movie.
• Toilet Humor: Plagg says that love stories give him gas, then starts farting as Adrien starts talking about his newfound crush. The stench is so horrid that when Nathalie initially comes to check on Adrien, thinking he's talking to himself, she quickly relents and leaves him be, looking about to vomit as she runs away from his bedroom door.
• Trash Landing: When Chloé is thrown from the rolling Ferris wheel, Ladybug catches her mid-fall and then quickly drops her into a nearby dumpster to cushion her landing. Chloé is quick to complain about this.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: One of the pieces of bad romantic advice Nino gives Adrien is to feign disinterest in the girl, as that will make her more desperate to talk to him. Adrien decides to follow this advice after Ladybug turns him down, which leads to him showing up late to the final battle with Hawk Moth when he interprets Ladybug's frantic messages as her being desperate to get him back.
• Villain Song: "Chaos Will Reign Today" is about Gabriel accepting his role as a villain and preparing to unleash chaos on the city.
• Vocal Evolution: Compared to the series, the voice actors have more of a chance to showcase their acting and give the characters more nuanced performances.
• World-Healing Wave: Once Hawk Moth is defeated, Ladybug is able to repair all the damage he's done with the Power of Creation.
• Would Hurt a Child: Hawk Moth uses a Psychic Strangle on Ladybug, then violently throws her aside after taking her Miraculous. After being injured by Cat Noir, Hawk Moth tortures him and attempts to kill him with a blast of energy that Marinette risks her own life to save him from. However, he does relent when he discovers that Cat Noir is his son.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: The Balloon Monster pretends to be a baby in distress in order to lure in Ladybug.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Marinette has major confidence issues, and it takes encouragement from both Tikki and Cat Noir for her to overcome them.
• You're Not My Father: Adrien shouts this very statement at Gabriel, when the latter explains his concern about Adrien being missing all night as "being his father". He shouts back that ever since Emilie died, Gabriel stopped being his father, while Gabriel's unable to answer back to his son's angry speech.

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