Marinette Dupain-Cheng (2024)

Marinette Dupain-Cheng is one of the main protagonists of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. She is a student in Miss Bustier's class at Collège Françoise Dupont in Paris, France and a budding fashion designer who wants to have her own brand one day. 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. She is the leader of the French Miraculous superhero team.

In "Kwamibuster", after Tikki is captured by the titular villain, Marinette wears multiple Miraculous but activates the Mouse Miraculous to become Multimouse, a mouse-themed superhero. In the same episode, Multimouse's various copies transform with the Mouse Miraculous combined with the Ladybug, Cat and Fox Miraculous to become Multibug, Multinoir and Multifox respectively.

In "Feast", after defeating the sentimonster that was controlled by Hawk Moth and Mayura, Master Fu began to train Marinette in order to pass his title to her as the New Guardian of the Miraculouses.

In “Reflekdoll”, Marinette obtains the Cat Miraculous, which when inhabited by Plagg, will be able to transform her into Lady Noir, gaining the power of destruction.

In “Ladybug”, after being expelled from school, she is nearly akumatized by Scarlet Moth into Princess Justice. However, her akumatization is interrupted because of Nathalie Sancoeur's illness and it is never fully completed.

In "Miracle Queen," after Miracle Queen brainwashes the temporary Miraculous holders to be her slaves, Marinette wears the Dragon Miraculous combined with the Ladybug Miraculous she already owns, to become Dragon Bug. Since then, Marinette becomes the new Guardian of the Miraculouses after Master Fu relinquishes his role as Guardian and passes it to her.

Appearance[]

Physical appearance[]

Marinette is a half French (by her father's side) and half Chinese (by her mother's side) slender teenage girl of average height with medium-length black hair with blue reflections that is always seen tied back in two pigtails, bluebell colored eyes , light freckles on both sides and the bridge of her nose.

In "Heart Hunter", when Marinette loses her hairbands, the full length of her hair reaches down to her shoulders.

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[]

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 antenas or a ladybug flying when she's moving.

As Lady Noir[]

The costume of Lady Noir is very similar to Cat Noir; she wears a black catsuit with fluorescent green accents on her knees, forearms, waist, and neck. She has black gloves on her forearms with claws and a fluorescent green band that goes down a bit and a black ball, her black collar is a little open at the neck and has a fluorescent green band that goes down to the poitrine and a black ball in the lower part of the neck. Around the waist, a black belt with a fluorescent green band in the middle at the right leg a black button with a fluo-green cat and fluorescent green son with a black ball hanging. Her black fluo-green boots go all the way up to the knee, a small flowing green band in the heel and end with small black wedges. She has floor-length jet-black hair that is styled in a single braid, which makes it look like a tail that are supported by a black two-wire ball fluo green at the end of each a black feather, cat ears on her head (like Cat Noir) with fluorescent green accents, her eyes become green and feline with green sclerae where she has lighter green irises with oblong pupils and a black mask. Like her yo-yo, Lady Noir keeps her staff attached to her hip when not in use.

As Multimouse[]

Multimouse wears a grey, pink and black suit. She wears her hair in Odango-style twin buns which resembles mouse ears. She also wears her Miraculous, a necklace, around her neck. Her mask is gray at the top and pink with a black border at the bottom. She wears black gloves that are a little above her elbows and have a thick pink horizontal stripe at the end. She also wears black boots that are above knee-level with a thick pink horizontal stripe.

As Multifox[]

Multifox essentially looks the same as Multimouse, but all the pink accents on Multimouse become orange and she has a white section on her chest similar to Rena Rouge as a result of the Fox Miraculous influence. The pink section of her mask also becomes orange.

As Multibug[]

Multibug essentially looks the same as Multimouse, but her suit gains black spots on the grey part and all the pink accents on Multimouse become red as a result of the Ladybug Miraculous influence. Her mask also gets five black spots that are in a symmetrical design and the pink section becomes red.

As Multinoir[]

Multinoir essentially looks the same as Multimouse, but all the pink accents on Multimouse become black (in a darker shade than the black of the Multimouse suit) as a result of the Cat Miraculous influence. The pink section of her mask also becomes black.

As Dragon Bug[]

Dragon Bug wears a suit that possesses traits from both the Ladybug and Dragon Miraculouses in asymmetric disposition. The right side is essentially red with black spots with a yellow outline with a black line with a yellow outline wrapping around the leg and the forearm and ending on the foot and the hand, respectively. The left side is essentially black with red spots with a yellow outline, but with the leg and the forearm being red with the same line, but ending on the ankle and wrist, respectively. She has a black collar/turtleneck with a yellow edge (where she has the Dragon Miraculous) and on her chest, over a black spot, she has the images that represent the three elements she controls: lightning, air and water. On the back of her head, she has four red dragon-like horns (two pairs of conjoined horns on each side) with black tips with a thick yellow outlining and, on her back, she has a holder for her sword. On her face, she wears a red mask around her eyes with three spots and a yellow and black outline at the base of the sides.

Personality[]

Marinette is a sweet, outgoing and joyful girl who loves fashion, her friends, family and Adrien Agreste (Marinette's crush) where Adrien describes her as honest, kind, fair and the type not to cheat. She is very helpful as she was 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. According to Clara Nightingale, Marinette has a pure heart. She 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 when she gets irritated with Chloé Bourgeois to the point that she refuses to continue guarding her against the Evillustrator as Ladybug.

Despite her outgoing and empathetic personality, Marinette struggles with self-confidence and self-esteem. She used to be even more very nervous and didn't oppose others, but her confidence grew considerably since she became Ladybug. In a situation, she deems urgent, she becomes very nervous, clumsy, a bit awkward, and quick to panic. These situations include approaching her crush, trouble-choosing between her love interests, when in contact with a really big celebrity if she thinks others do greater success compared to herself or losing something that will expose her secret identity. Thanks to her confidence as Ladybug though, Marinette has gotten more calm and comfortable around Adrien as herself, as seen when she helps him get away from a swarm of fans and talks to him more fluently.

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 is willing to do several risky tasks in order to protect her image, like stealing Adrien's phone to erase an embarrassing message she accidentally left on it. 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 or forget to destransform in the first place. However, Marinette tends to learn from her mistakes and become a more open-minded, understanding person. She also takes advice from others very well, whether it is family or friends as seen throughout the series. According to Marinette in "Family", as her civilian self personality wise she takes after her father as well as having her great uncle's creative side.

As Ladybug, Marinette retains many of her alter ego's characteristics, but she is much stronger. Her confidence and bravery come out more prominently. According to Cat Noir, she can be stubborn at times, especially when she isn't easily convinced. While almost all of Ladybug's plans are effective, they tend to be complex and rather bizarre. She is more cautious and careful than Cat Noir, sometimes needing to restrain or stop him from doing hasty acts seen in several episodes. Only during rare occasions, she can act hasty, especially if she is in a rush to do something or multiple things at one time. She usually follows her head, saying that a great superhero always listens to her head, meaning that she isn't easily fooled or swayed by deceptions and lies.

As Ladybug, Marinette strives to rescue everyone, including those akumatized by Hawk Moth. She usually tries to persuade the supervillains to calm down and stop their rampage when she is able to do so. Ladybug is aware that there is a line between justice and revenge. She thinks that honesty and justice don't mean anything if you're pressured into doing it like as she didn't pressure Bob to tell the truth about him stealing everything from Kitty Section, but waited until he admitted everything himself across the TV. Ladybug acknowledges that good things come by doing good actions and that not all problems can be solved by wishing them away like Hawk Moth hopes, especially at the expense of hurting the innocent. She also values the lives of others more than material possessions.

Marinette takes her image and Miraculous powers as Ladybug very seriously. She has a more serious side when fighting against Hawk Moth's villains, as opposed to Cat Noir's laid back and goofy personality. She got angry at Chloé as Ladybug for using her powers to create a fake accident, which could have led to a serious one. Given these traits, Adrien claims that her civilian form is funnier than Ladybug. Marinette can be sensitive about her image, getting annoyed at Chloé playing her alter ego in Clara Nightingale’s music video, becoming a little angered when Nora doubted her abilities, or even attacking impulsively to Sabrina Raincomprix (as Miraculer) after the latter tauntingly mimicked her. Although she can get exasperated to Cat Noir if he jokes too much, she handles joking calmly at times and enjoys teasing him or others. Similar to Cat Noir, she is clever with her words and occasionally enjoys making puns. According to Marinette in "Family", as her alter ego personality wise she takes after her mother along with her grandmother Gina's adventurous spirit.

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. Still, she aims to be honest with others in other ways, like her honesty with Cat Noir about not having romantic feelings for him and seeking advice from others. No matter the difficulty of her tasks, Marinette does everything in her power to set things right as Ladybug while keeping up with her everyday responsibilities, like studying, designing something, babysitting or working in the bakery. There are exceptions to the rule as well, such as when she mixed her duties to her former Master and her personal plans, like her letter to Adrien. She also has occasional problems at inventing excuses about her absences to her friends, teachers, and parents.

Despite enjoying being Ladybug as allowed her to meet Tikki and save people, Marinette admits that she is growing tired and stressed about keeping her lives separate and having to lie to everyone she loves, causing her to break down and cries to Luka about her problems. While on occasion, it is rare that she breaks down as Ladybug, she often voices her doubts and mistakes to Cat Noir during their hardest times.

While working with other Miraculous holders as team leader, Ladybug doesn't see them as sidekicks but as friends and extremely values their support and help. She is also great at giving advice to others when they need it. Thus, Ladybug is saddened that she has to suspend those who do a great job but at the cost of having their identities revealed to Hawk Moth like Chloé and Kagami, but she does it in a caring and considerate way letting them know she does it to protect them and their loved ones. When she is off duty like Cat Noir, Ladybug had learned to relax and have fun. As a leader, she learned to take suggestions, ideas and to follow the lead of others when the situation calls for it.

As Lady Noir, Marinette retains most of her personality as Ladybug like her cautiousness and creativity. She takes after her partner's sense of humor, cunning, and charm, with Mister Bug believing that she is the one wearing the clown suit.

Like Adrien when he was Aspik as Multimouse, while trying to protect her identity as Ladybug, Marinette is trustworthy, faithful and clever but also a bit klutzy as she pretended to unveil herself as Multimouse.

As her adult alterego, not much is known about her personality except according to Bunnyx, Marinette will grow into a wise, calm, strong and confident leader meaning that she isn't impulsive and irrational. Such as when she comforted Bunnyx telling her that their fight wasn't over easily figuring out she had a message from younger self and after Timetagger's defeat she confidently told her younger self that they'll always be able to save the day.

Abilities[]

As a civilian[]

For a list of things made by Marinette, see the List of Marinette's creations.

Marinette has an exceptional talent in fashion design, able to sketch ideas in a notebook after getting inspired by her surroundings, and sewing by hand or with a machine. She usually wears her own creations and makes clothing for others. She also can create graphic designs using a computer, such as albums covers. Her skills in this field are exceptional for an amateur, such as when her pigeon-styled derby hat was good enough to be recognized by the famous professional designer, Gabriel Agreste, despite the fact that she had never made one before. According to Audrey Bourgeois, the harshest fashion critic, she didn't see other talents as great as Gabriel Agreste until she met Marinette.

Since "Reflekdoll", Marinette is working on a website to show off her designs.

Although she is absent-minded, Marinette is clever and quick-thinking, as shown when she hid her signature in her hat when Chloé stole her design, which exposed her. Many of her friends describe "she is always able to come up with the right plan at the right time". Despite being amnesiac from the effects of Oblivio's powers, she outsmarted the villain while they were looking for her and Adrien. Ladybug's resourcefulness is more obvious when she is figuring out how to utilize her Lucky Charm, most of her plans being outside the box, yet risky and complicated.

She also managed to trick Cat Noir into believing she isn't Marinette. According to Alya, Marinette always gets a high score on the school tests. Ms. Bustier said that she had answered each question on the last test correctly.

Even in her civilian form, Marinette has high stamina, endurance, and agility, running long distances without stopping in several episodes. She is naturally flexible, being even more flexible as Ladybug because of her enhanced physical abilities. She is also quite stealthy, frequently sneaking up on Adrien and other people without being noticed. Marinette is very good at sports, being quite good at ice-skating and dancing. She has good reflexes, being on par with Adrien despite fencing for the first time. With practicing from Kagami, Marinette has the potential to be a good fencer.

In "Kwamibuster", due to her high stamina, endurance, and mental resistance, Marinette was able to handle the strain and/or use of multiple Miraculous at one time with minor fatigue.

From Master Wang Fu, Marinette learned the history of the kwamis and their Miraculouses. Her knowledge extends to the spells such as the incantation needed for the wish-granting power of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses. However, as Fu's understanding is limited, Marinette's training might be incomplete.

Marinette is very skilled at video games, easily beating Max at Ultimate Mecha Strike III and getting the highest score in the entire school. As complemented by Adrien, Marinette is an excellent baker. She knows both approaches, modern and traditional, on baking, as well as how to handle cooking facilities. She makes "magicroons" for Tikki, containing all the power-ups from Miraculous spellbook. In "The Puppeteer", it is revealed that Marinette can whistle. Not as good as Lila, she is adequate at acting or deceiving people especially akumatized villains as apart of her plans to defeat and save them.

She is also working on learning Mandarin Chinese with her mother's help. She is learning how to play the guitar with Luka's help.

As Ladybug[]

Ladybug has much more enhanced physical skills, such as speed and agility. These abilities allow her to run on walls and react to and evade light-based attacks, as well as jump and leap several times her height and length. Similar to a real ladybug, she can climb up surfaces without her yo-yo. Her increased strength allows her to do things such as using her yo-yo to pull a large robot onto the ground, as well as break Cat Noir's nearly unbreakable staff and an oyster's pearl using only her fingers. Her near-invulnerability and great durability to physical damage allows her to jump off of 2 story buildings and land without issue and survive to fall off of one, as well as seemingly survive to fall at a height of at least several stories. She can even handle temperatures as severe as absolute 0. Ladybug is skilled in hand-to-hand combat when fighting villains or Cat Noir when he ends up being controlled by one. Even out of "Aqua Mode", she is a good swimmer.

Ladybug has remarkable talent with wielding her yo-yo, like using it as a grappling hook, a rope to restrain others, a projectile, a slicer even against solid materials, and a shield if she spins it fast enough. Her yo-yo also can work as a breathing apparatus for those who can't breathe underwater like herself. After an akuma or amok is released from its corrupted object, Ladybug can open her yo-yo, to catch it, and remove the energy-charged it with, releasing it as its original form. In other episodes, she can fight exceptionally well with other weapons besides her yo-yo and is good at dual wielding despite having little to no training.

Her special power, Lucky Charm, creates an object that helps her to achieve her goal, 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. 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 to an enormous swarm of ladybugs and fix all of the damage done since the villain appeared.

Aqua Form[]

When accessing her aqua powers, Ladybug has the ability to breathe underwater and has enhanced swimming capabilities due to the fins on her feet.

Ice Form[]

When accessing her ice powers, Ladybug has the ability to handle extremely low temperatures, as well as move freely and quickly on the ice with her ice skates.

As Lady Noir[]

Lady Noir has the same abilities as her partner, such as more enhanced skills; like speed, agility, and strength that she is almost invulnerable to physical damage. She has enhanced senses such as hearing, smell, night vision, and super stealth like a cat.

Like Cat Noir, Lady Noir can use her staff efficiently, wielding it as a sword, being able to spin it at high speeds to form a shield, and taking advantage of its length-changing features. To travel long distances, she uses her staff and its variety in length to vault over obstacles.

Her special power, Cataclysm, allows her to negatively affect anything that she touches with her ring hand. However, using Cataclysm drains her Miraculous' power, causing her to revert back to Marinette five minutes afterwards, so she has to use it wisely.

As Multimouse[]

Multimouse has much more enhanced skills, such as speed, agility, and strength, and she is almost invulnerable to physical damage.

Her special power, Multitude, allows her to turn into a number of tiny clones of herself. The clones are small, a lot smaller compared to the Kwamis. In order to activate her power, Multimouse takes several jumps using her jump rope (her tool), which makes her bottom section of her legs shine and, her tiny clones were created and starts to appear. As the original size starts to shrink down and decrease, Multimouse has the ability to divide herself into smaller clones. All of them have the same costume, including the miraculous, but the original one wore all of the miraculouses, creating a difference between the rest of them.

As Multifox[]

Besides the powers she has as Multimouse, Multifox possesses the power Mirage. She divided herself into tiny clones and gave the fox miraculous to one of the clones. By playing her flute, she produces an orange ball of energy at the far end of it and then throws it to create a hyper-realistic illusion. This illusion can disappear when touched or when Multifox undoes it by shouting out "Reality".

As Multinoir[]

Besides the powers she has as Multimouse, Multinoir possesses the power Cataclysm. As Cat Noir gave her the miraculous, she wore it around her waist. It allows her to negatively affect anything that she touches with her ring hand. While it is usually used to destroy objects, it can be used for a variety of different effects.

As Multibug[]

Besides the powers she has as Multimouse, Multibug possesses the power Lucky Charm. Still wearing her earrings after being set free, she used her powers to trap the akuma and purify it.

As Dragon Bug[]

Besides the powers she has as Ladybug, Dragon Bug possesses the powers of the Dragon Miraculous Superpower. It allows her to use the power of the Water, Wind and Lightning elements and even combine them with her yo-yo to make a shield.