Ladybug (Marinette Dupain-Cheng)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug, is the main protagonist of the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir series.

Marinette is a student in Miss Bustier's class at Collège Françoise Dupont in Paris, France and a budding fashion designer. With the Ladybug Miraculous, when inhabited by Tikki, Marinette transforms into the superheroine Ladybug, gaining the power of creation to stop Hawk Moth and his akumatized villains.

Appearance
Marinette is a half French (by her father's side) and half Chinese (by her mother's side) teenage girl with medium-length darkish-blue hair with some blue reflections that is always seen tied back in two pigtails and bluebell eyes. She also has light freckles on both sides and the bridge of her nose. She is also shown to stand at an average height.

Civilian Attire
Marinette wears a dark gray blazer with rolled-up sleeves; the inside of the blazer is lined in white with pink polka dots and it has black trimming. Underneath, she wears a white t-shirt with black stitching and a flower design below the collar. The design itself has pink flowers and black leaves. She wears pink rolled up jeans and pink ballet flats with dark red soles. She wears eyeliner around her eyes and sports black earrings that also serve as her Miraculous when Tikki inhabits them. She often wears a light pink purse with a thin black strap over her right shoulder.

As Ladybug
As Ladybug, her hair becomes a slightly darker shade of blue. She wears a red skintight bodysuit covered in black spots and with a black collar/turtleneck. According to Marinette in "Marinette's Double Life", her suit is made out of indestructible fabric. When not in use, she keeps her yo-yo around her hips with a red string. On her face is a red mask with five black spots that are in a symmetrical design and the waterlines of her eyes are colored black. Her earrings are red with five black spots in a quincunx pattern and the bands holding her hair back become red ribbons, resembling a ladybug's wings when it's flying.

Personality
Marinette is a bit awkward, sweet, outgoing, joyful, and clumsy girl who loves fashion, her friends, family, and her crush, Adrien Agreste. Despite her outgoing and empathetic personality, Marinette struggles with self-confidence and self-esteem. In a situation, she deems urgent, like doing something for Adrien or losing something that will expose her secret identity, she becomes very nervous, awkward, and quick to panic. She's very helpful and is willing to help those who have insecurities, such as; Juleka Couffaine who thought she had a "class photo curse" and Marc Anciel who was too afraid to share his creative writing. However, opposed to that strength, Marinette herself losses confidence just by approaching her crush, Adrien, when in contact with a really big celebrity, or if she thinks others do greater success compared to herself. Marinette cares deeply for other people, usually putting their feelings and interests even before her own, in some cases at a personal cost. Despite being genuinely kind, she has her limits, such as in "The Evillustrator" when she gets irritated with Chloé Bourgeois to the point that she refuses to continue guarding her from the Evillustrator as Ladybug.

Marinette can act impulsively and irrationally at times, as shown when she tried to deflect the false accusation of "stealing" Chloé's bracelet onto others who are also innocent. She also expresses jealousy whenever other girls such as Chloé or Lila Rossi flirt with Adrien, sometimes causing her to act irrationally, even abusing her powers as Ladybug to keep them away. However, she tends to learn from her mistakes and become a more open-minded, understanding person. Although she is absent-minded and acts before thinking at times, Marinette is clever, showing when she hid her signature in her hat when Chloé stole her design, thus exposing her. Furthermore, she is willing to do a number of risky tasks in order to protect her identity and image, like stealing Adrien's phone in "Copycat" to erase an embarrassing message she accidentally left on it. Thanks to her confidence as Ladybug, she's gotten more calm and comfortable around Adrien as herself, like as seen in "Gorizilla" when she helps him get away from a swarm of fans and talks to him more fluently.

In "Frightningale", according to Clara Nightingale, Marinette has a pure heart. Adrien also claims that she is funnier than Ladybug. She also takes her image and Miraculous powers as Ladybug very seriously, getting annoyed at Chloé playing her alter ego in Clara Nightingale’s music video and becoming a little angered in "Anansi" when Nora doubted her abilities. Also in "Queen Wasp", when she got angry at Chloé as Ladybug for using her powers to create a fake accident which could have led to a serious one. She also takes advice from others very well whether it's family or friends seen in "Malediktator", "Heroes' Day" and other episodes.

As Ladybug, Marinette retains many of her alter ego's characteristics, but she is much stronger. Her confidence and bravery come out more prominently. Her quick-thinking, resourcefulness, and wits are more obvious, especially when she is figuring out how to utilize her Lucky Charm. Marinette strives to rescue everyone, including those akumatized by Hawk Moth. No matter the difficulty of her tasks, she does everything in her power to set things right while keeping up with her everyday responsibilities, like designing something or working in the bakery. Like Cat Noir, Ladybug is clever with her words and occasionally enjoys making puns. She has a more serious side when fighting against Hawk Moth's villains, as opposed to Cat Noir's laid back and goofy personality. At times, she enjoys teasing him and others, while she can get exasperated, she handles joking calmly. Marinette as Ladybug, is more cautious and careful than Cat Noir sometimes needing to restrain or stop him from doing hasty acts seen in several episodes.

As her alter ego, Marinette strives to keep her personal and superhero lives separate to protect herself, the people she knows, or is close to. She is also great at giving advice to others when they need it. With her greater confidence, she aims to be honest with others in other ways, like her honesty with Cat Noir about not having romantic feelings for him. In "Mayura", she also acknowledges that good things come by doing good actions and that not all problems can be solved by wishing them away, especially at the expense of hurting the innocent.

As a Civilian
Marinette has talent in fashion design as she is able to sketch ideas in a notebook after getting inspired by certain surroundings or topics, and sewing by hand or with a machine. Using computer software to create graphic designs is also an ability she possesses for creating things, such as albums covers. She wears her own creations like her little purse and also makes things for others, such as the bakery's logo, Adrien's scarf and Jagged Stone's glasses. Her skills in this field are exceptional for an amateur, such as when her pigeon-styled derby hat that she made was good enough to be recognized by the famous professional designer, Gabriel Agreste, despite the fact she had never made one before. Marinette is also very skilled at video games, easily beating Max Kanté at Ultimate Mecha Strike III and getting the highest score in the entire school. Marinette has high stamina, endurance, and agility, even in her civilian form, as displayed in "Timebreaker". Marinette can also run long distances without stopping, as seen in several episodes. She is also quite stealthy, as she frequently sneaks up on Adrien and other people without being noticed. As complemented by Adrien in "Despair Bear ", Marinette is an excellent dancer and baker. In "Riposte ", Marinette has good reflexes, being on par with Adrien despite fencing for the first time. In "Syren", she makes "magicroons" for Tikki containing all the power ups from Miraculous spellbook.

As Ladybug
Ladybug has much more enhanced skills; speed, agility and strength that she is almost invulnerable to physical damage. She has remarkable talent with wielding her yo-yo, like using it as a grappling hook, a rope to restrain others, a projectile, and even a shield if she spins it fast enough. After an evil akuma is released from its corrupted object, she can open her yo-yo, throw it to grab it, and remove the energy charged it with, releasing it as a normal butterfly. She is skilled in hand to hand combat when fighting villains or Cat Noir when he ends up being controlled by one. She can climb up surfaces without her yo-yo since in "Stormy Weather", "Zombizou" and "Frightningale". Her yo-yo can also work as a breathing apparatus for those who can't breathe underwater like herself in "Reverser". Even out of "Aqua Mode", Marinette is a good swimmer.

Her special power, Lucky Charm, helps her by summoning an object that she uses to achieve her objective, it often being to stop a villain. Though usually confused at first, her creativity and cleverness help enable her to perceive where the object can be used to help her achieve her goal, thinking up ideas and plans on her own. However, Lucky Charm drains her power and reverts her back to Marinette shortly afterward, so she has to use it wisely. Once the villain is dealt with, Ladybug can throw her Lucky Charm object into the air and use the Miraculous Ladybug, which will make it revert back to energy and fix all of the damage done since the villain was created.

Aqua Form
When accessing her aqua powers, Ladybug has the ability to breathe underwater and enhanced swimming capabilities. In and out of "Aqua Mode", the yo-yo can also work as a breathing apparatus for those who can't breathe underwater like Lê Chiến Kim in "Syren", Ladybug herself in "Queen Wasp", "Reverser" and Otis Césairein "Mayura".

Ice Form
When accessing her ice powers, Ladybug has the ability to move freely and quickly on the ice with her ice skates.

Trivia

 * The name Marinette means "The one who rises" and/or "brings up" (Hebrew) and "the good of people" (French).
 * Marinette's surnames Dupain & Cheng each have meanings to it.
 * The French surname Dupain means "of the bread" or "bread" (a reference to her father's job as a baker).
 * The Chinese surname Cheng means "completed, finished, succeeded" or it can also mean 诚 (chéng) "sincere, honest, true".
 * In the English version, the pronunciation of the name Marinette with "mar" as in "marinade" is used, and in French, and other countries, the pronunciation with "mar" as in "master" is used.
 * In "Guitar Villain", it could be possible that Marinette is ambidextrous:
 * She is seen designing Jagged Stone's new album with her right hand.
 * Near the end of the episode, when Adrien Agreste asks Marinette to sign Jagged Stone's new album, she is seen writing with her left hand.
 * In "Dark Cupid", Alya Césaire mentions that Ladybugs are known to be symbols of good luck, especially in regards to love.
 * Thomas Astruc created Ladybug around 2005 when he was exchanging drawings on post-it notes with another worker and made one with the superheroine.
 * In the fake comic book covers of The Mini Menace Ladybug, Marinette's name was Marietta.
 * In Befana, Gina Dupain (Marinette's paternal grandma) calls Marinette Marinetta, a possible nod to the fake comic book covers.
 * Marinette's design has changed over time from the original Ladybug PV version.
 * Her anime design included jean shorts,
 * As Ladybug, she had a red-orange face mask without black spots and two long red-orange ribbons attached to each pigtail. She also had longer hair and lacked freckles.
 * In the PV, Marinette's earrings were always red with five spots, no matter if she was Ladybug or Marinette. She only wore them as a civilian when needing to transform, not having them in public.
 * PV Ladybug's costume differs from the CGI Ladybug as well, with PV Ladybug's spots being found only on her torso (her legs and feet were completely red) and wearing a ladybug-themed bag instead of having the yo-yo. PV Ladybug's hair and hair ribbons are also significantly longer than the current version of Ladybug, and she has an ahoge, which means "foolish hair" in Japanese.
 * The yo-yo didn't exist; PV Ladybug fought using hand-to-hand combat.
 * PV Ladybug was less shy around her crush, as she's able to be very close to Félix Agrestewithout panicking or being nervous. She even asks him out while slightly blushing and looking right at him, although Félix coldly refuses.


 * Marinette's CGI design seems to have gone through a change as well. Earlier footage and images of Marinette included dark blueish-black hair, red tips of hair at the end of her pigtails, and gray eyes
 * In a placeholder animation, Ladybug was seen wielding a sword. Whether or not this was to be used as a new weapon or a Lucky Charm object is unknown.
 * During the earlier stages of development, Ladybug wasn't allowed to abuse her powers of good luck, or else something bad would happen to her. As of now, it is unknown if Ladybug still has this issue, since, as seen in "The Bubbler", all that happens when she selfishly uses Lucky Charm is that she runs out of power and loses her transformation.
 * Both prototype versions of Marinette have her mask be the last piece of her costume to materialize during her transformation. In the final cartoon, her mask is instead the first piece to materialize.


 * Her responsibilities as a superhero not only include fighting akumatized villains but also patrolling and many other things.
 * In "Stormy Weather", Marinette's infatuation with Adrien is revealed to even include plans for a family. The names of their supposed children are Hugo, Emma, and Louis—all traditional French names. Aside from these, she also appears fond of dogs and especially hamsters.
 * She briefly considers a black cat as well, but she rejects the idea.
 * Although not having any romantic feelings towards Cat Noir, in the webisode "Cat Noir as seen by Marinette", Marinette reveals that she's aware he may have a crush on her and she admits she might have given him a chance if Adrien hadn't been around.
 * In "Mr. Pigeon", Marinette's secret place of inspiration is the Trocadéro.
 * In the Korean and French dubs of "The Pharaoh", Alya says that Ladybug might be a 9th grader, while in the English dub of the episode she says she might be a 10th grader.
 * In "The Pharaoh", it is revealed that Ladybug's legacy is over 5,000 years old.
 * Marinette is the third known person of French origins to wield the Ladybug Miraculous, succeeding her predecessors, Jeanne d'Arc and La Coccinelle.
 * Also, Marinette is the second person of Chinese origins to wield the Ladybug Miraculous, succeeding her predecessor Ancient Chinese Ladybug Miraculous holder.
 * Marinette is right-handed, but this changes depending on animation errors.
 * Marinette is naturally flexible, being even more flexible as Ladybug because of her enhanced physical abilities.
 * Marinette has stolen both Adrien's and Alya's phones during the series. Ironically, however, both thefts were unintentional and involved her trying to hide a fact from the respective owners.
 * She has also stolen and returned Chloé's phone.
 * Marinette sleeps with her pigtails on as seen in the opening of "The Bubbler" and the ending of "The Pharaoh".
 * In "Troublemaker", her identity was nearly revealed in front of Cat Noir by the titular character.
 * More of Marinette's Chinese heritage will be seen in the future.
 * Thomas revealed on Twitter that Marinette and Adrien will be seen as a "real couple" at some point in the show.
 * In "Gorizilla", she was referred to as Adrien's girlfriend, though in that case, it was due to public misperception.


 * In "The Puppeteer", it's revealed that Marinette can whistle.
 * A fan asked Thomas why he gave Marinette ballet shoes, to which he jokingly responded with: "Because with ski boots, you end up with stinking feet, and in addition it scratches the floor."
 * Thomas confirmed that at some point in the future, Marinette will be seen with her hair down.
 * The way she throws her yo-yo in some episodes is similar to a baseball pitcher.
 * Marinette's hair color is a homage to old comic books that would use blue highlights on black hair.
 * In "Gorizilla", Marinette reveals she hates horror movies.
 * Thomas noted that Marinette would be hard to akumatize, as she is an optimistic person.
 * She was almost akumatized in "Zombizou", but her negative emotions faded away before the akuma could infect an object of hers.


 * In "Reverser", Marinette attends art club along with Rose Lavillant, Alix Kubdel, Juleka Couffaine, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel.
 * In "Sandboy", Marinette's greatest fears is Adrien Agreste being in love with Chloé Bourgeois and losing her powers as Ladybug, which is rendering her as a useless superhero who is unable to save the day.
 * In the webisode "Marinette in Paris", Marinette says that her favorite monument is the Eiffel Tower.