Marinette Dupain-Cheng

**Marinette Dupain-Cheng** is the character protagonist in Miraculous Ladybug (being she is one of main titular protagonists, the other is Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir). She is the new Miraculous guardian. Her superheroine identity is **Ladybug**. Her best friend is Alya Césaire.

## 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.

## Trivia

* Thomas Astruc created Ladybug around 2005 when he was exchanging drawings on post-it notes with another worker and made one with the superheroine.[68][69]
* The name **Marinette** means "little Mary" (formed from the modified *Marion* + the French diminutive suffix *-ette*) in French, which is likely a reference to the ladybug's common name, as well as its name across many cultures, originating from the Biblical character Mary, also known as "Our Lady."
	+ 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 "marred" is used.
* In The Mini Menace Ladybug, her original 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 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" (成) or "sincere, honest, true" (诚).
				+ However, **Cheng** is usually written as "陈" when used as a surname in Chinese.
		- 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 long 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 Agreste without 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 bluish-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.[70]
					- 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.
						* 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."[71]
						* Thomas confirmed that at some point in the future, Marinette will be seen with her hair down.[72] It first appeared in "Cat Blanc".
						* Marinette's hair color is a homage to old comic books that would use blue highlights on black hair.[73]
						* 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.
						* More of Marinette's Chinese heritage will be seen in the future.[74]
						* Marinette has stolen both Adrien's, Alya's, and Chloé's phones during the series. Ironically, however, both thefts were unintentional and involved her trying to hide a fact from the respective owners.
						* Thomas revealed on Twitter that Marinette and Adrien will be seen as a "real couple" at some point in the show.[75]
						* In "Gorizilla", she was referred to as Adrien's girlfriend, though in that case, it was due to public misperception.
						* During "Oblivio", through their amnesic state Marinette and Adrien briefly become a couple until their memories were restored.
						* In "Cat Blanc" they were in a romantic relationship in an alternative future.
* Thomas noted that Marinette would be hard to akumatize, as she is an optimistic person.[76]
* She was almost akumatized in "Zombizou", but her negative emotions faded away before the akuma could infect an object of hers. This is seen again in "Chameleon".
* However, in "Ladybug (episode)" she was infected with a Scarlet Akuma but the akumatization stopped to Catalyst's (Nathalie's) sickness from the Peacock Miraculous.
* Marinette was almost akumatized in an alternate future seen in "Cat Blanc", but Cat Noir used Cataclysm on the akuma.
* Following Kagami, Marinette is the only other person that knows that Adrien has a crush on another girl. But like Kagami she is unaware that Adrien is in love with Ladybug, who is her alter ego.
* In "Cat Blanc", in an alternative timeline, Marinette and all of Earth's inhabitants are cataclysmed and killed by the titular villain's Cataclysm Sphere.
* This fact is erased from reality after Ladybug goes back in time to stop her past self from writing her name on the letter that led Adrien to discover her secret identity.
* Her responsibilities as a superhero not only include fighting akumatized villains but also patrolling and many other things.[77]
* 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 Piáo Chóng.
* During a Q&A on January 15, 2019, Jeremy Zag confirmed Ladybug and Cat Noir will reveal their identities and that it is already written.[78]
* This is done in "Oblivio", however, they were under the case of amnesia from the villain and had forgotten about the reveal once Ladybug restored everything with Miraculous Ladybug.
* In an alternative future seen in "Cat Blanc" Adrien discovered her identity and revealed his to her later.
* According to Santa Claus in "Christmaster", as her alter ego Ladybug, Marinette is the most well-behaved kid in the world.
* In "Backwarder", Marinette was chosen by Master Wang Fu to become the next guardian of the Miracle Box if something happens to him.
* She, as Ladybug, has told Cat Noir numerous times that she is in love with another boy, but she refuses to tell his name to Cat Noir, claiming that their identities must remain secret.
* Marinette is right-handed, but this changes depending on animation errors. During "Guitar Villain" for example:
* 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 "Mr. Pigeon", Marinette's secret place of inspiration is the Trocadéro.
* In the webisode "Marinette in Paris", Marinette says that her favorite monument is the Eiffel Tower.
* 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.
* Marinette is naturally flexible, being even more flexible as Ladybug because of her enhanced physical abilities.[79]
* Marinette sleeps with her pigtails on as seen in the opening of "The Bubbler" and the ending of "The Pharaoh".
* In "Reverser", Marinette attends art club along with Rose Lavillant, Alix Kubdel, Juleka Couffaine, Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel.
* In "Oblivio" Marinette's ID number is revealed to be 01234567890.
* This is probably a place holder number.
* In "Sandboy", Marinette's greatest fears is Adrien being in love with Chloé and losing her powers as Ladybug, rendering her as a useless superhero, thus, being unable to save the day.
* Marinette has her own official Instagram account. You can find her under the username @marinettedesigned.[80]
* In one of her Instagram pictures according to Marinette, she drew her first fashion design ever when she was 5 or 6 years old.[81]
* In another one she mentions that she used to have a fear of getting lost in the Metro when she was younger.[82]
* She used to do dance lessons with her father.[83]
* In another picture Marinette mentions that she occasional takes part in taste testing her father's recipes.
* She sometimes meditates in the morning with her mother.
* She also created her signature flower design years ago.
* She always keeps a sewing kit in her school bag.[84]
* As mentioned in "Ikari Gozen," Marinette's Chinese Zodiac sign is a Snake.
* With Marinette's Chinese Zodiac sign as the snake, while Kagami says that she is a dragon. This could mean that Kagami is a year older than Marinette and Adrien. The most recent years of the snake are 2001 and 2013, while the recent years of the dragon have been 2000 and 2012; hinting that Marinette was born in 2001.
* This may also be a nod to the fact, that both of her love interests (Luka Couffaine and Adrien Agreste) will wield/wielded the Snake Miraculous which is revealed in "Desperada".
* In the French Dub, the line was changed to mentioned her Western zodiac sign, Leo.
* As of Season 3, Marinette holds the record for the most miraculous used on one person being the Ladybug, Cat, Dragon, Mouse, and Fox Miraculouses.
* She holds the record for the most fusion forms with Dragon Bug, Multifox, Multicat, and Multibug.
* As of the "Battle of the Miraculous", her current Ladybug form, her Lady Noir form in "Reflekdoll", her Multimouse and fusion forms in "Kwamibuster" and her Dragon Bug form all of Marinette's future forms are revealed.
* Lady Noir was first revealed in concept art shown at the 2018 Comic-Con Experience panel on December 6, 2018.[57]
* Marinette's role as the future holder of the Cat Miraculous was foreshadowed in the second opening. In which she was shown with cat ears, snout, whiskers and tail.
* She is the first known female character to wield the Cat Miraculous.
* She is also the second person of Chinese origins to wield the Cat Miraculous succeeding Hei Mao.
* She is also the second person of French origins to wield the Cat Miraculous succeeding her partner.
* She is also the second person of Chinese origins to wield the the Dragon Miraculous succeeding Hua Mulan.
* Lady Noir's nickname "She-Cat Noir" given by Reflekta is a reference to She-Hulk from Marvel Comics.
* Lady Noir's name translates to "Black Lady".
* Multimouse was first revealed in concept art shown at the 2018 Comic-Con Experience panel on December 6, 2018, in Brazil.[57]
* According to Marinette/Ladybug in "Kwamibuster", if her secret identity would be revealed, she would have to give up Tikki and her Ladybug Miraculous. Also, as seen in the mirage of Multimouse and Ladybug, if someone else reveals their secret identity in front of anyone who is not Ladybug and/or Master Fu, Ladybug would not be able to give them the Miraculous they use again.
* According to Master Fu, Marinette is the first person in history to be able to mentally and physically handle wearing sixteen Miraculouses at once, something that even makes Wayzz recognizes that she is special.
* Marinette is the first person to become a guardian in almost 200 years.
* She is the second known person to become a Miraculous holder and a Guardian following Master Fu.
* Multifox was first revealed in concept art shown at the 2018 Comic-Con Experience panel on December 6, 2018.[57]
* Dragon Bug was first revealed in concept art shown at the 2018 Comic-Con Experience panel on December 6, 2018.[57]
* She is 15 years old.