Based on the famous French cartoon,
Ladybug and Cat Noir are ready to show off their movies in their first-ever big
screen debut. While the movie may only be getting a Netflix release here in the US,
we’re still ready to see how these animal-themed heroes and villains stack up against each other.
I’m Kifinosi with WickedBinge, and this is Ladybug and Cat Noir: The Movie characters- Good to Evil.
Just a quick heads up, major spoilers ahead! Although,
since they’re two different continuities, we’re only going to be talking about the
movie and won’t be mentioning the show at all. With that all being said, let’s get started!
As always, we’re starting with our most heroic and pure-hearted
characters before working our way down. These characters are The Good.
For our Gold Medal of Good, we’re giving it to Alya Césaire.
She may not be a superhero (at least, not in this continuity) but she’s certainly the best friend
that someone like Marinette could ask for. The two of them first meet when Alya protects Marinette
from Chloe’s wrath. A self-proclaimed reporter and ‘fly on the wall’, she uses her phone-camera
to get Chloe to back off, preventing her from hurting Marinette. Additionally,
Alya is shown not seeing Marinette’s clumsiness as a bad thing, instead choosing to be encouraging
and supporting as she pushes Marinette to be more confident in herself. She’s nice, but she is also
able to be honest and genuine, further making her come off as a great friend. Alya is also a great
ally in the sense that she is likely Ladybug’s biggest fan outside of Adrien, with her being
the first one to call Ladybug a hero after reporting on her and Cat Noir’s first fight.
Moving onto our Silver Medal of Good, we have Tikki. As the Kwami of Creation,
Tikki is an excitable tiny genie whose main focus is saving the world, coming
off as one of the most pure-hearted kwamis. Her duties are always her first priority,
and Tikki will do whatever she needs to in order to assure that the world has a
Ladybug to protect it. This, unfortunately, means that Tikki can be just a bit pushy at
times. We see in the film that she refuses to allow Marinette to quit being Ladybug,
eventually getting annoyed and impatient before eventually just forcing the role onto her. But
as pushy as Tikki can be, she can also be one of Marinette’s greatest sources of support,
giving her the guidance needed to find her inner hero. And speaking of that hero…
Our Bronze Medal of Good is going to none other than Marinette Dupain-Cheng AKA Ladybug. Marinette
is an incredibly shy and self-conscious girl. Although she has her own talents,
like art and fashion, she isn’t very confident in herself and struggles to make friends. The fact
that she’s pretty clumsy doesn’t exactly help much… But for all her faults, Marinette does
indeed have what it takes to be a true hero, even if she ends up outright rejecting the Ladybug role
multiple times. But while she may be reluctant to be a hero, it’s more out of a lack of belief that
she COULD be a hero rather than a lack of desire to do good. This is further demonstrated multiple
times throughout the film where she’s shown pushing through her fears and being brave - such
as when she saves Master Fu from getting hit by a car, which is what earns her the Miraculous in the
first place, or when she saves Cat Noir’s life when he’s stuck on the train tracks or nearly
drowns in the river. Speaking of Cat, it’s nice to see that she’s willing to be equal partners with
him in spite of the two of them not having the best first impression. What truly makes Marinette
a heroic character however is the fact that she ultimately cares more about protecting people
than giving into her own fears, to the point where she jumps in to protect Cat Noir even without her
powers. This, in turn, is what gives Gabriel the chance to see the truth about his son, resulting
in his choice to give up being Hawkmoth. We also see Marinette, after getting her miraculous back,
use her power of creation to rebuild Paris. Though some may be frustrated with her reluctance or
self-confidence issues at times, it’s really no surprise why she was chosen to be Ladybug.
Moving on, next is Master Wang Fu. Master Fu is the keeper of the Miraculous,
and as such it is his responsibility to look after the Kwami and help them choose the heroes
that will keep France - and the rest of the world - safe. He’s very friendly to the kwami,
almost acting as a parental figure to them. When Tikki and Plagg choose Marinette and Adrien to be
the next Ladybug and Cat Noir respectively, Master Fu tries to give them both guidance and encourage
them to work together instead of trying to take on Hawkmoth’s villains alone. If he has any real
flaws, it’s that he never really does much more than act as the ‘wise master’, which can only do
so much in terms of helping out. He also doesn’t have much tact, as seen when he freaks Marinette
out after she rescues him. Considering he was worried about the safety of the world at that
moment though, we can’t necessarily blame him for wanting to find a new hero as soon as possible.
Following him are Marinette’s parents, Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng. While they
may not play a huge role in the film, they are still seen as pretty good parents both by the
audience and by Marinette herself. Her mother especially is shown to be incredibly supportive,
trusting Marinette to be able to take care of herself. Sabine also gives her daughter
good advice, telling Marinette to listen to her heart and believe in herself. As for Tom,
while he’s a super caring dad and is shown making her favorite bakery treats, he can also sometimes
be pretty protective - such as when he goes after Marinette when he hears there could be
trouble at the funfair. He can also be pretty embarrassing, such as when he ruins the moment
Marinette and Adrien have while at the funfair. But even with this, you understand that he means
well. Although Marinette may sometimes be a bit frustrated, she loves both her dad and her mom a
ton - as shown at the end of the film when both her parents drop her off at the Winter Ball.
We’ve finally come to our other masked hero, Adrien AKA Cat Noir. Much like Marinette,
Adrien has two different sides to him. When he’s in civilian mode, Adrien is a bit on the quiet
side but can still be kind and helpful, like when he’s being concerned about Marinette when he sees
her crying or falling over a library book-cart. Regarding his father, Adrien also tries to be
patient and understanding of his dad’s grief even while dealing with his own - although,
understandably, even Adrien has his limits. His true personality comes out though when he becomes
Cat Noir, who is introduced as someone who is playful, somewhat cocky and pretty obnoxious
given all his cringy puns. He’s also shown looking down on Ladybug at first, calling
her a sidekick instead of his partner. His first real fight doesn’t go too well either, with him
not showing too much concern about property damage during the Notre Dame fight against the akumatized
gargoyle. But hey, his kwami IS the miraculous of destruction so it isn’t too surprising,
we suppose. Still, Adrien really isn’t a bad kid. He really just wants to have some fun and find a
purpose, something he felt he lost after his mom died. After the funfair fight, we see Cat become
much more humble towards Ladybug, allowing the two of them to have a better relationship and
work together more easily. Unfortunately, he does briefly fall back into his old self when
we see him briefly disregard his hero duties after getting rejected by Ladybug. Even when he pushes
himself to join the fight when he sees how much danger there is, Adrien is still a bit ‘catty’
(pardon the pun) towards Ladybug and unfortunately doesn’t get a big hero moment like she does during
the finale. Still, it’s nice to see him be willing to forgive his dad for all the trouble he caused,
wanting nothing more than to help Gabriel and for the two of them to be a family again.
Finishing off the good, we have Nino. Nino is pretty much to Adrien as Alya is to Marianette.
He’s supportive and encouraging towards Adrian, wanting to help him have fun so he
can get his mind off both his mother’s death and his father’s neglect. He’s a nice kid,
but he can still be a bit of a nuisance with that skateboard of his. It’s this clumsiness
that partially causes the inciting incident between Marinette and Chloe, after all,
and we see him bump into several other students too. He also doesn’t always give good advice,
like when he tells Adrien to be ‘mysterious’ as a way to win his crush over. But for what
it’s worth, Nino is still a caring friend that’s able to help Adrien out in his own way.
Moving on, these characters manage to land right
in-between Good and Evil. Welcome to the Grey Area!
We only have two characters in this tier, starting with the other main kwami of the film,
Plagg. While he may be the miraculous of destruction,
it may be more apt to call him the miraculous of grossness. Constantly burping and farting,
Plagg is pretty crude and obnoxious. Though he occasionally tries to give Adrien advice,
he isn’t very good at it and overall comes off as not nearly as supportive as Tikki can be. Still,
as callous as Plagg can be, he still cares somewhat about his new Cat Noir. He’s also
shown being concerned with his ‘save the world’ duties like how Tikki is,
being the one to push Adrien into being a hero again instead of just wallowing in heartache.
For our final Grey character, we have Nathalie. She’s the assistant to Gabriel and,
in all honesty, tends to blend into the background during the majority of the film.
In the moments where she does speak up, she’s shown being concerned about the relationship
between her boss and his son. She tries to encourage Gabriel to spend time with Adrien,
and she even goes out of her way to check up on Adrien herself later on. But while she may
care for the boy, the two of them aren’t that close and she isn’t seen offering any direct
non-passive support. What truly lands her in this spot though is the film’s epilogue scene,
where we see her with the body of Emilie. This could hint at some possible nefarious plans from
her, but as for what these plans could be, guess we’ll just have to wait for a sequel.
We’ve finally arrived at the cruel and the wicked. These characters are the Bad to Evil.
For our Bronze Medal of Evil, we have the Magician and the Mime.
These two are two movie-exclusive villains that, while not all that interesting in terms
of personality, certainly leave an impression with their powers. They’re apparently the two
most wanted thieves in Paris, and after getting a power-boost from Hawkmoth’s akuma, they’re given
the means to be destructive and cause a ton of chaos at both the funfair and throughout the rest
of the city. Using their magic tricks and miming, they not only destroy a good chunk of Paris,
but they are also shown being willing to kill Marianette and Adrien, as well as innocent
civilians, in order to get their hands on Ladybug and Cat’s miraculous charms. In all honesty,
they’re probably the most ‘pure evil’ villains of the film, given that we know nothing of their
motivations, but there are still two other villains who top them in terms of scope.
Moving onto our Silver Medal of Evil, it’s going to Chloe. For as much as she may seem
like your typical popular girl, she certainly takes bullying to a whole new level. Her one
and only goal in the film is to get revenge on Marinette after she accidentally ‘ruins’ her
expensive sweater. Chloe actively threatens Marinette multiple times to the point of not
just chasing after her in school and out in public but also threatening to strangle her. Yeesh… When
physical threats don’t work, we see Chloe play into Marinette’s insecurities, lying and saying
that she’s the ‘someone else’ that Adrien mentions when he turns down Marinette’s dance request.
Beyond her high school vendetta, Chloe is just bossy, manipulative and callous in general,
with even Sabrina, her only friend/assistant, being someone who she still treats like dirt.
We do see Chloe be on somewhat friendly terms with Marinette at the Winter Ball,
but this doesn’t stop her from promising Marinette to still be a
bully to her when school starts up again. Guess we shouldn’t have expected anything different.
But while our final villain DOES indeed get an actual redemption,
his crimes still overshadow any good intentions or moments he might have had.
So, unsurprisingly, our Gold Medal of Evil goes to Gabriel Agreste AKA Hawkmoth
Really, even before he becomes a supervillain, he’s seen being cold and callous towards everyone
he interacts with - from his seamstresses to his assistant and even his own son, always putting his
work above spending time with Adrien or sharing a meal with him. But while Gabriel may come off
as heartless, he’s really just heartbroken after the death of his wife. Although he’s hesitant at
first, Gabriel eventually disregards the moth kwami’s warnings, being willing to do whatever
he needs to in order to even have a chance at bringing his wife back to life. While he later
claims that he’s doing it for the sake of Adrien, it’s pretty obvious that there’s some selfishness
in there too, as once he fully taps into the moth kwami’s power he gets corrupted pretty quickly.
He also doesn’t seem to care if the chaos he causes hurts or even kills others,
so long as the people HE cares about are fine. To his credit, Gabriel does try to
warn Adrien to stay away from the funfair, not wanting him to get caught in the crosshairs,
but given that Gabriel still launches the attack anyway, it’s still another case of
just not caring enough to stop and do the right thing instead of continuing to search for easy
answers. It’s only when he learns that Adrien is Cat Noir and that he could have killed his own son
that Gabriel gives up the mantle of Hawkmoth for good, apologizing for everything. Again,
it just feels a bit hollow in the sense that he still nearly burned Paris to the ground
out of frustration and grief, and it’s why we’re unable to rank him any higher in spite
of ‘technically’ being more redeemable than Chloe or the Magician and Mime duo.