Adrien Agreste

Adrien Agreste is one of the two titular main protagonists (alongside Marinette Dupain-Cheng) of *Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir.*

He is a student in Miss Bustier's class at Collège Françoise Dupont in Paris, France.

He is also a former fashion model for his father's brand.

With the Cat Miraculous, when inhabited by Plagg, Adrien transforms into the black cat-themed superhero **Cat Noir** ("**Chat Noir**" in the French version), gaining the power of destruction to stop Hawk Moth/Shadow Moth/Monarch and his akumatized villains.

He is the second-in-command of the French Miraculous superhero team before upgrading to leader after Ladybug became a member of Team Protectors.

## Appearance

Adrien is a handsome and fair-skinned teenage boy with brushed-back blond hair that is swept to the right.

He also has emerald-green eyes and has a rosy tint on his cheeks, nose, and the tips of his ears.

He is about half a head taller than Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

### Civilian

Adrien wears a white button-down jacket with an upturned collar and sleeves rolled up above his elbow, which he keeps unbuttoned.

Underneath, he wears a black t-shirt with five horizontal stripes around the chest, which are colored, from top to bottom, yellow, brown, bright green, navy blue, and purple.

He wears blue jeans and orange sneakers with white laces, and a logo of a black butterfly in a circle on the sides.

On the ring finger of his right hand, he wears the Cat Miraculous, which is silver when he's not transformed.

He sometimes carries the lucky charm bracelet in his pocket.

### Cat Noir

Cat Noir has cat eyes with green sclerae, dark green irises, and slitted pupils.

His hair becomes longer and untamed, and it covers his normal ears.

Cat Noir wears a textured black skin-tight catsuit with metal details.

He wears matching gloves that have claws on the fingertips and boots with a hidden wedge, silver toes, and paw-shaped treads.

He has a golden bell on his neck, connected to a zipper on the front of his costume, and a long belt that wraps around his waist and hangs out from the back like a tail.

He wears black cat ears and a black mask to cover his face.

When transformed, his ring turns black and gains a bright green paw print on its face.

He keeps his staff attached to his lower back.

## Personality

Adrien is a dreamer and charismatic but is also often shy, a bit reserved, and considerably innocent and naive — particularly due to his unfamiliarity with much of the world beyond his father's reach.

According to Nino, because of it, he resembled a baby bird afraid to come out of his shell.

Due to his kind heart, Adrien always tries to see the best in others, to those that have mean or cruel intentions, like Lila and Chloé, he's willing to give second chances believing that with patience and time, anyone can change.

His patience does have limits though, as he ended his friendship with Chloé after she refused to apologize for her actions in "Queen Banana", even though they reconciled in the next episode.

As his patience ended with Chloe when he found out her actions in "Derision", ending their friendship.

However in "Revelation", he saw the difference of those who mean well and those who don't.

It is seen that he reaches his limit of patience with those who manipulate such as Chloe and Lila.

This is demonstrated as he becomes blunt to Lila, and ends his friendship with Chloe.

Despite that, he can be oblivious at times to the darkness or mischief in the hearts of others, like his father or his cousin Félix.

Also extending to the situations of others like in the Season 4 finale if he thought more clearly and remembered as Cat Walker that it is possible he could be akumatized like Ladybug and everyone else when she mentioned it was her greatest fear and tried to protect him.

Possibly oblivious of his own actions such as when he asked to take on some of his partner's responsibilities to prevent Ladybug's akumatization.

His reaction in "Rocketear", when Nino told Adrien of him and Alya knowing their identities through Ladybug as she did it in an emergency the same way he found loopholes in his father's rules he wouldn't have reacted with that much shock or anger.

Even though he is not very openly emotional to most people, he is friendly, empathetic, understanding, supportive, and encouraging to others in hard times and will defend his friends against those who would do them harm.

His will for exposure, change and making friends definitely complements his personality, although it is a bit of a struggle for Adrien due to his busy schedule.

Adrien's shyer and gentler characteristics can be observed in awkward, uncomfortable situations or scenarios with particular people.

This was shown when he nervously asked Marinette to sign his copy of Jagged Stone's new album, shyly greeted Ladybug in "Simon Says", posed with Marinette as their alter-egos in Clara Nightingale's music video and tried to make Marinette more comfortable around him, but froze up and instead played a joke during "The Puppeteer 2".

While liking to have fun, Adrien is more serious, obedient, somewhat insecure, and less lively due to his strict upbringing.

He is sensitive and perceptive; he was the only one who thought it was rude to party when Chloé told everyone she was 'leaving Paris'.

He gets his feelings hurt and cries easily-- mention of his mother is enough to make his eyes tear up-- however he is used to disappointment and is able to manage these feelings to avoid attracting akumas.

When in public, he usually tries to downplay his feelings on it, like his relationship with his father.

He has an easier time letting his feelings show to those whom he is close to.

However, Adrien will act on impulse if emotional enough, like lying to Théo Barbot out of jealousy about his relationship with Ladybug and sneaking out into the night while unhappy on Christmas, missing his mother.

He feels that his father is overprotective, causing him to occasionally act rebelliously, like going places with his friends or alone without informing his family and taking things that don't belong to him, though the former case was caused by his father's over-protection.

His desire to be loved makes him vulnerable whenever disappointed by those he cares for, as seen when Ladybug didn't show up for their date in "Glaciator". Family-related issues also strike him emotionally, even in the simple situation when his father doesn't show up to spend dinner with him.

Or when Mayura's deception leads him into trouble, meaning that he follows his heart at the most inconvenient times.

To the point where he admits as Cat Noir that his love impulses are hard to control due to his father showing him a lack of love and inability to share it due to his lack of contact with others.

Even moreso it makes him sad and angry when he finally has the love he desires just to have it be taken from him as seen in "Oblivio" and "Cat Blanc".

Reaching for a critical point in "Jubilation", when the power of Gift forced him to live his greatest desire about having Ladybug's love, her hand in marriage and a family with her.

Only to be tearfully told the truth by Ladybug that it wasn't real and upon waking up he reacted violently even to the point of almost using his cataclysm on an akumatized villain.

To the point where he was so desperate for love that he stepped on boundary lines such as he relentlessly and romantically chased after Ladybug despite knowing she was after someone else.

But through love he learned what it means to have patience, slow down and to let someone go but can still be close to them such as in "Passion", "Elation", "Perfection".

Reaching a critical point in growth following "Migration" and "Derision", where he took his time in learning about Marinette especially when it came to her love trauma during their relationship.

Adrien usually thinks reasonably and will express distress and frustration when someone is difficult or something is going wrong, especially in Plagg's case.

However, according to Gabriel, he is very similar to his mother, describing them as "dramatic" and "headstrong when it comes to other people's safety".

He can be rather reckless with or without the mask, insisting on fighting Riposte with a sprained ankle in order to protect his crime-fighting partner.

Then, seen again to a more dangerous extent when his ribs were broken as a result of his Cataclysm being used against him.

On the verge of dying, he insisted on continuing to fight, showing his will and determination to help even if restrained.

On certain occasions, Adrien (as Cat Noir) can be hasty sometimes, evidently when rushing to face certain akumatized villains without a plan.

Due to this rashness, he often needs to be restrained or stopped by Ladybug or Master Fu.

At times, Adrien can be persistent and curious about his Miraculous powers or when wanting to figure something out, as seen when he continuously bribed Plagg with cheese until he spilled the truth about what Ladybug was hiding.

This trait is highly apparent in his romantic pursuit of her, to the point where both Marinette (referring to Cat Noir) and Kagami believe that he is stubborn.

However, like Alya Césaire, he places extreme values on the mutual trust he has with Ladybug, respecting her decision to keep her identity secret and eventually her secrets with the guardian and when Ladybug became one.

To where he held a great fear of losing it and disappointing Ladybug to where he tried to hide the truth from her, evident in "Miraculous New York".

According to Ladybug, Cat Noir does annoy her a lot, but he has never lied to her.

Per her wishes, he is secretive to others about his personal life, such as his love towards her, partially telling his true feelings to her aforementioned friends.

Adrien is also unaware that his mother is still alive but in a comatose state due to the Peacock Miraculous.

He believes that his mother is dead, which is why he told his father it was fine with him if his father wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with Nathalie.

Showing that he has more fortitude than his father as Adrien despite being in the dark accepted her passing and it didn't lead him down a dark path like his father.

Similar to Chloé, it's also understandable as to why Adrien hates secrets because of his father and possibly mother as he had to live his whole life as one big secret as he was home schooled meaning he was unable to interact with anyone else beside Chloé.

Extending to the point to where no one else knew the real him, only the image his father made up of him and as a model.

Not only that because of his parents mistake he felt excluded from them as well even mentioning himself that he took up modeling just to get close to his father.

When he dons the mask of Cat Noir Adrien is free to express his inner self, but is bound by his secret identity and ends up becoming a liar himself as seen in "Lies".

However his understanding is bit more refined than Chloé; as he accepts the secrets of his father and Ladybug and trusts that they have good intentions.

Which also shows his strong desire to be included to point of being impatient as it takes time for people to trust others.

During the alternative timeline in "Ephemeral", after Adrien revealed his secret identity to Ladybug, both side traits merged, with him showing traits of one when he is the other, as he no longer needed to hide who he really is from her.

Because of his father planning every detail of his life Adrien was unsure of what to do about the future. More so about who he truly is at first starting to accept Cat Noir as his true self but as time went on he wasn't sure.

In "Kuro Neko", Adrien believed if he reinvented himself as Cat Walker things would change.

But seeing how much Ladybug cared for his old alterego and after the sentimonster's defeat from Plagg he started to accept that he is both Adrien and Cat Noir.

Unknowingly from his father, Adrien learned what happens when one gives into their own desires through desperation and/or not thinking things through as he let his cousin play on his desire for freedom but it led to the opposite of what he wanted as he got put deeper inside his cage along with everyone else.

After their defeat, Adrien learns that his friends were right as he should've fought for what he wanted and doing so he found it wasn't that hard.

As Cat Noir, Adrien has the freedom to act however he desires outside of his normal life, letting his wilder side come out.

More optimistic and open, he says whatever comes to his mind and has a habit of cracking cat-related jokes and puns.

As he said in "Plagg", being Cat Noir is the only time Adrien can be himself.

Much of his exaggerated personality, especially his flirtatious behavior with Ladybug, stems from entertainment such as anime, television, and movies due to his lack of experience with people his age beyond Chloé.

According to Plagg, Adrien often takes after him and is one of his most irresponsible owners in 5000 years, though the latter might have exaggerated since he also considered him the best "Cat Noir".

It is rare for Cat Noir to reveal his vulnerable side, but it does come through at times.

Examples of this are when he quietly comments that not all parents are loving, tries in vain to tell Ladybug about his love for her before their transformations wore off, and opens up to Marinette about his struggles in the love department.

Since he became Cat Noir, like Marinette, Adrien has grown in confidence and developed characteristically.

This is seen when he lashed out at his father and courageously asked Nathalie if he could bring his friends with him to the wax museum.

In "Multiplication", when Su-Han confronted him and Ladybug about losing the Miraculous he stood up to the Grandmaster about their progress and his lack of help.

In his attempts to get Ladybug's attention, as well as interacting with certain other people, he acts cocky and brags, liking to boast about himself in a comedic way.

In "Cat Noir as seen by Marinette", he was described by Ladybug in the same way.

His perspective of people slowly begins to change at first through his fights as Cat Noir; Adrien naively believed that people are only dangerous when akumatized, but in "Oni-Chan" through Lila, he learned that people could become dangerous even without superpowers.

Horrified that her hatred of Ladybug is so deep, she was willing to leave the heroine and, by extension, everyone else in great danger just to have her revenge.

However, Cat Noir occasionally shows insecurity when comparing his abilities to Ladybug or their new partners.

He displayed his biggest sense of insecurity when he failed to save those he cares about, leading to the fear of losing them seen in "Desperada", when his romantic feelings towards Ladybug caused him to take the snake miraculous despite knowing she also needed him as Cat Noir.

As Aspik, he tried for months before coming to the realization that he wasn't the right choice.

These traits also often spark his instincts to protect Ladybug before himself, sacrificing himself numerous times always with a confidence she'll find a way when he can't.

In "Furious Fu", realizing that if Ladybug had gave up the Miracle Box and her memories she'd forget about him.

Finding the memories they share so precious, refusing to lose her and their duty too important to pass onto someone else Cat Noir bravely defied Su-Han.

To where he impulsively attacked Scarabella with his Cataclysm fearing that something happened to Ladybug in "Hack-San".

During the "New York special", he grew aware of the destructive capabilities of the Cat Miraculous as he accidentally struck Uncanny Valley, knowing that if she weren't an android the outcome would've been different, in contrast to Stoneheart in "Origins".

Because of this for a time Adrien felt unworthy of his powers and renounced them showing his growing discipline, restraint and caring side.

However like Ladybug, he too is aware of Hawk Moth's increasing sneaky nature and because of his archenemy behavior Cat Noir slowly accepting that they can't treat everything with "kid gloves" as he attempted to use his powers on their enemies on multiple occasions but as a last resort when there is nothing else to try.

He still shows his self control when using his Cataclysm on someone shown in "Destruction" doing it only as a means of intimidation.

Even refusing to use it on his archenemy knowing that he didn't want to hurt Monarch despite all the pain he caused.

Knowing he is still a person underneath but became shocked and horrified when Monarch forced him to do it.

Despite all these traits, Adrien's change to his superhero status doesn't diminish his kindness and concern for others, among his other personality traits, such as his reasonable character and reckless behavior.

He usually tries to persuade the supervillains to calm down and stop their rampage before fighting them when able to do so.

While more prone to goofing off, Cat Noir gets serious when it is a lethal situation.

He understands that it takes more than just superpowers to be a hero or useful, using his wits to help Ladybug out of a tight spot even without them.

Even understanding that it's a hero's duty to rescue everyone especially those that cause trouble holding onto hope by setting an example for them that it will help others change seen in "Félix".

Underneath his hero exterior, Cat Noir never forgets that he and Ladybug are still human with their own problems.

He also knows how to cheer up his partner during their hardest times and encourages her to try to fight again.

Deeply loyal and determined to help others and save the day, he really cherishes being uninhibited by his civilian life as a superhero.

Due to his lifestyle and yet unlike his father he isn't tempted by power because he understands depending on how a person uses it won't get them what they need the most.

Even though, Adrien cherishes his freedom he knows it shouldn't by done carelessly as he said in "Emotion", that he couldn't enjoy it not without those he loved.

Although, he does desire his freedom Adrien wishes for it to be gained on his own terms as didn't he didn't approve of his cousin's method.

Cat Noir is welcoming and friendly when it comes to accepting new additions to the team, having open arms for Lila in "Volpina" and Rena Rouge in "Sapotis".

He is also open to accepting help from others like Alix and Nathaniel during battles, as shown during the time he was reversed from "puss to wuss", becoming a complete coward, contrasting to his brave and confident nature.

Like Ladybug, he is good at providing advice to others when they need it.

As Cat Noir, Adrien has the people's loyalty, respect, trust, and help when he needs it.

Through spending time with his other allies, Cat Noir, like Ladybug, also values their support and help.

Thanks to his time as his alter ego and daringly wanting to see the outside world, Adrien got to experience something his father may have forgotten: The love of others.

Starting to feel that Ladybug and the team are like his second family.

As well as valuing the support, companionship, and help of his friends.

Due to Shadow Moth's power and desire ever growing like Ladybug, Cat Noir is thankful for the help of their old and new allies but due to them constantly showing up he felt left out and started to believe that there will be a day when Ladybug won't need him.

This suggests he has little sense of his own worth due to his home-life.

By "Kuro Neko", his feelings of being left out by Ladybug and the others then makes him so depressed that Adrien didn't bother going on missions, temporarily giving up his ring and would not do anything else.

But seeing how Ladybug felt about his old hero alter ego he showed remorse for his earlier behavior understanding that he was just as valuable as the other team members and that unlike Chloé as well as his father, Adrien can't use force, intimidation nor status to make others give him what he wants.

Understanding what it truly meant in "Multiplication", as he also let Felix unintentionally play on his desire to be included by Ladybug but he felt guilty on how he got it as he believed that the other's didn't deserve to be depowered because of him and yet he was happy to know that even without their powers Adrien still had their support.

While Ladybug was away in "Hack-San", Cat Noir takes over as leader of the team taking after the heroine's cautiousness and seriousness acting like a stern older brother and mentor as he did with Scarabella.

After Ladybug was struck by Psycomedian becoming very angry he took after her calm and coolness aware in her state that she was reckless and kept her close.

## Skills & Abilities

### Civilian

Studious and formerly home-schooled, Adrien is the top student in his class, with his lowest grade being an A- in Math.

He is especially good at physics.

Having many extra lessons, Adrien can speak fluent Chinese and Japanese and can even understand Morse code.

He is also very skilled at playing the piano and enjoys sharing musical joy with others.

Adrien is able to fight on equal grounds with his fencing teacher and fend off most of his students effortlessly, with the exception of Kagami, showing great reflexes and skill for offensive or defensive movements.

Other than fencing, Adrien does *Karate* and *Kung Fu*, which enables him to fight in hand-to-hand combat and briefly fight his akuma-controlled bodyguard.

Furthermore, Adrien takes basketball lessons.

He took an interest in video games as well, being able to beat Max Kanté in *Ultimate Mecha Strike III* and achieve one of the top scores in the entire school (despite being surpassed by Marinette later).

It is shown in "Mr. Pigeon" that he can whistle.

Like Marinette, to a possibly lesser extent, Adrien has great stamina and endurance as he was able to outrun a fan mob and was able to handle both the physical and mental strain of wielding two Miraculous together without struggle.

Though often looked down on compared to Ladybug and being more simple, straightforward-minded, Adrien is very intelligent and capable.

He is able to look for loopholes in his father's rules, which his friends considered "sneaky".

Though restless and reckless, Cat Noir is observant, noticing where the akumas are hidden several times and finding ways to save his Miraculous even when captured.

He tricked Ladybug (and indirectly the suspicious Hawk Moth) into believing he wasn't Adrien.

He further demonstrated his wits in his use with the Snake Miraculous as Snake Noir.

He also suspected that Marinette was Ladybug after discovering that her kwami was in school and considering her regular disappearances (although he was tricked by her in the end).

From his lessons with Master Fu, Adrien has received the same knowledge about the history of the kwamis and the Miraculouses as Marinette, though likely to a lesser extent, as he wasn't prepared to become a guardian.

### Cat Noir

Cat Noir has enhanced physical skills such as superhuman speed, agility, and near-invulnerability.

He is fast enough to outrun a pair of panthers, being capable of running at least between 35-50 mph.

His increased strength allows him to do things such as being able to over shoulder throw his own bodyguard into an elevator, use his staff as a lever to knock over a city bus, roundhouse kick, punch and stomp vending machines and kitchen appliances with just one strike.

His increased stamina, durability, and endurance allow him to survive being smashed into a series of cars, a face-plant into a traffic pole, falling several stories, being flung by Gigantitan, and take a crash landing through André's ice cream stand without being dazed or injured.

He has even survived attacks from Ikari Gozen and Bakerix, both of whom are akumatized villains who are strong enough to lift and throw around entire city buses.

He also has good hand-to-hand combat skills when needed.

Even out of "Aqua Mode," Cat Noir is a good swimmer.

He can even handle temperatures as severe as absolute 0.

Like a cat, Cat Noir has enhanced senses such as hearing, smell, night vision, and super stealth, which he sometimes uses to find opponents.

Also, like a cat, Cat Noir can use his claws to climb up surfaces or use them to cut through things.

Cat Noir uses his staff efficiently, wielding it as a sword, throwing it with great precision, and having it be deflected back to him.

He is able to spin it at high speeds to form a shield or take advantage of its duplication and length-changing features.

To travel long distances, he uses his staff and its variety in length to vault over obstacles.

In and out of "Aqua Mode", he can also use his staff as a breathing apparatus for those who can't breathe underwater.

His special power, Cataclysm, allows him to negatively affect and essentially destroy anything that he touches with his ring hand.

While it is usually used for object destruction, it can be used for a variety of different effects, for example, causing a bus's controls to go haywire and creating a platform in a structure.

However, like other superheroes, using Cataclysm drains his Miraculous power, causing him to revert back to Adrien five minutes afterward.

## Family

* Gabriel Agreste (Father)
* Emilie Agreste (Mother)
* Amelie Graham De Vanily (Aunt)
* Félix Fathom (Cousin)