WMG / Miraculous Ladybug Marinette And Adrien

Here are all theories from Miraculous Ladybug focusing on Marinette and Adrien.

Adrien and Marinette's Identities

Marinette/Ladybug

Cat Noir figured out Ladybug's identity in "Evillustrator"

• In the episode proper, he gets annoyed when Ladybug leaves him on protection duty since the person he's protecting is Chloé, and assigns him then to follow "Marinette" while she goes on a date with the titular villain. During said date Marinette gets Cat Noir and her out of a box with a Ladybug-like idea and shows no fear, which Adrien comments on the next day before class. He also asks Marinette what she thinks of Cat Noir and is surprised when she tells him that he is more awesome than Cat several times. Adrien also pats her shoulder, which is a step up from her Gibberish of Love in his presence. Bad luck or not, Adrien may have simply put the pieces together with Something Only They Would Say, Ladybug's appearance, and Marinette showing off that she is a Badass Normal.
• Adrien has also revealed that while he wants to know Ladybug's identity, he wants to respect her wishes for the Mutual Masquerade and thus doesn't know how to bring up the subject. The only solution for him is to get to know Marinette outside of Ladybug form, and convince her to loosen up.
• In subsequent episodes, Adrien goes out of his way to spend time with Marinette; in "Kung Food" he volunteers as a translator for her uncle, tells off Chloé for being a Politically Incorrect Villain, and in "The Gamer" suggests that they practice for the competition at her house. In the latter episode he drops his Stepford Smiler demeanor around her and admits that he doesn't think he's as cool as she is and pulls her out of the Gamer's line of fire the way Cat did in "Stormy Weather" and in Cat guise assures her that Adrien is safe.
  • It's also worth noting that Marinette is the only other person Cat Noir has ever flirted with that heavily, doing so in Evillustrator. I suspect he might know, subconsciously, who Ladybug really is and figured it out before he ever went to protect Marinette. It's more logical for Adrien to figure it out- Marinette's appearance changes a lot less than his does and her mask covers less. Plus, he's in love with the alter ego, and is curious about who she really is, unlike Marinette who is blinded by Adrien to not see how similar he and Cat Noir are, even when it's pointed out. It is also worth noting that after Evillustrator, Adrien, too, has dropped Cat Noir-like puns. Though, the weirdest thing in that episode might be Ladybug asking Cat Noir if he thinks Marinette is cute. For someone who doesn't believe Cat Noir is really in love with her, she sure wants him to think she's attractive.
• Jossed: in "Cat Blanc", Adrien figures out Ladybug's identity, the phrasing and tone strongly implying that this is at least the first time he is certain enough to act on it.

Jagged Stone suspects that Marinette is Ladybug.

At least in the French version, he's supposed to be American, and American comic books codified certain superhero tropes that are in full play on this show. When Chloé and Sabrina were LARPing Ladybug and Cat Noir in "Antibug", he's the only one to point out that "Ladybug"'s hair is the wrong length and color (when Adrien seems to initially buy it in "Lady Wifi"). Not to mention that he's worked extensively with both Ladybug and Marinette in "Guitar Villain" and "Pixelator"; in the latter she even brings him to her school as Ladybug.

Adrien will figure Ladybug's identity first

If only because Marinette has had two blatant clues and still refuses to entertain the idea. Adrien also wants to know who Ladybug is, but respects her desire to keep it a secret. With Plagg also wanting to know who Ladybug is, and his being more nosy and forward, Adrien might unintentionally find out. He might see it see it or he might figure it out. He tries to keep it to himself hat he knows, but slips up.

Adrien is almost certain Ladybug is Marinette

But it's not enough to make him treat Marinette all that differently, since he's not completely certain. As discussed above, he's very interested in what Marinette thinks of Cat Noir in "Evillustrator" and oddly isn't offended by her answer- he nods in thought, smiles, and walks off. But most interestingly, in "Horrificator", after Ladybug fearfully calls out for Adrien after not hearing his voice, Cat Noir gets a rather wicked grin on his face after responding as Adrien. He then asks, again as Adrien if you listen to the way he's speaking, about Marinette. Listen to the tone of his voice when he does it. His tone isn't worried. His tone is more like someone suggesting something. He doesn't sound exactly concerned in multiple dubs, even. It's more like he knows Marinette isn't going to respond. Ladybug responds that they have everyone, rather than pretending to be Marinette. Consider also that Ladybug is terrible at pretending to not know the people Marinette knows, something he sees her do often, while Cat Noir rarely refers to any of their classmates by name unless he's dealt with them as Cat Noir multiple times, like Chloé. When he slips up, he covers himself quickly and it was only their second akuma attack based on the mistakes they both make and the fact that this is the only time Adrien listens to Plagg about ignoring his duties ("Bubbler"). "Horrificator" would have given him some huge hints, too, both before and after finding the other students and Mr. Damocles. She knows who the akuma is based on something he knows Ladybug was not around for, and she knows what Mylène's special song is. She drops plenty of hints to him in just about every episode without meaning to. And that's not counting all the other episodes where she alludes to who she really is by how she talks about or to her classmates. She knows Adrien before Ladybug has actually met him. She, it seems, assumes Cat Noir does not attend her school.

Alya already knows Ladybug's secret identity.

As revealed in "Sapotis", she no longer buys the theory that Ladybug's the same one from Ancient Egypt. As that scenario's the only thing keeping Alya from being sure Ladybug is one of her schoolmates, there aren't many alternatives since Ladybug cannot be anyone who's ever been akumatized. She just decided to be a Secret Secret-Keeper.

Cat Noir will learn when Marinette is akumatized.

Plagg will tell Adrien, who will either come up with the idea of asking Rena Rouge or Chloé to become Ladybug for this story or ask Rena Rouge to create a Ladybug illusion. If the latter, Tikki will purify the akuma by herself.

Chloé started suspecting after Ladybug willingly trusted her with the Bee Miraculous.

At first, she didn't believe Alya about Ladybug being one of their classmates because she didn't believe Ladybug could be someone of her age group but changed her mind since Ladybug did trust a Miraculous to someone of said age group. As there aren't many other girls at school who haven't been akumatized... Any remaining doubts will be erased when/if Marinette ends up being akumatized.

Marinette will learn who Monarch is

Since Marinette doesn’t know that Monarch is Adrien’s father, who was originally Hawk Moth. She will likely have a Heel Realization, after finding out who Monarch is.

Marinette or someone else will expose Lila

Since Lila has so far never been exposed for her lies, it is likely near the end of Season 5 that Marinette or someone will expose Lila for the liar she really is.

Adrien/Cat Noir

The Gorilla knows Adrien is Cat Noir.

Still waters run deep, and you don't get anymore still than his type.

Without knowing, Adrien is/was training to be a superhero.

This is all banking on the theory that Mr. and Mrs. Agreste were secretly Miraculous holders, but, seriously, the boy does fencing, karate, and is almost fluent in the language most associated with the Miraculous? There has got to be more to read into here.

Adrien has mixed ancestry.

The fact that he's a dark-skinned blond makes this troper suspicious. It would probably be from Gabriel's side of the family, as they both have an olive undertone Mrs. Agreste lacks.

Gabriel knows his son is Cat Noir

• The reason he hasn't just taken the ring from Adrien is that he genuinely loves his son, and so he's trying to figure out a way to get the ring from Adrien, use it in conjunction with the earrings, and then return it to Adrien, all without Adrien ever realizing what happened.
• Somewhat Jossed in Gorizilla when Gabriel suspects Adrien of being Cat Noir, but loses his suspicion when Adrien does not transform while in the titular Akuma's clutches.

Adrien will learn that Monarch is his father

Since Adrien doesn’t know that Monarch is his father, Gabriel, who was originally Hawk Moth. He will likely have a Heel Realization, after finding out who Monarch is.

Both

The more Adrien and Marinette get to know each other, the more risk they have of being discovered.

• Eventually, Adrien or Marinette will end up getting caught in a lie and their identity will be revealed. And of course the only way that could happen is if one of them knows the other personally, so it won't take much work to figure out that identity.

The cycle of unrequited love is a result of Cat Noir's and Ladybug's bad/good luck powers.

Cat Noir is infatuated with Ladybug, but his bad luck makes it so that he can't recognize her without her costume, making her more inaccessible. Marinette is infatuated with this blonde guy at school - but his bad luck makes it so that he doesn't recognize her out of costume and just considers her annoying.^note Similar in concept to other "high school romance" stories. Her luck powers, however, compensate by making him infatuated with her in-costume - even if she's too besotted with the blonde guy at school to take notice. Basically, it's a cycle...sort of.

Adrien and Marinette will learn of each other's identities and get together.

Seriously, they might as well have a big sign over them saying "FOREGONE CONCLUSION".

• Not so much as you might think, all things considered they wouldn't actually make a good couple, Adrien is in love with Marinette's serious and no nonsense ladybug persona, he seems to like her for being presumably a more experienced hero, he's in love with an invented identity. On the flipside, Marinette is in love with Adrien, because he's a nice guy who is mature and polite; however, Adrien only lets his real personality out when acting as Cat Noir, with the mature and polite identity, being fake, so she, like him, is in love with an invented identity. If both of them realize that the object of their affections is simply a mask to deal with matters of circumstance, won't the become disillusioned with the world around them?
  • Following from the above, the second season could pull a reversed love scenario. To explain, after spending time with the "person" who they not in love with, Adrien and Marinette will gradually fall in love with Marinette and Cat Noir, respectively. It would serve as a bit of ironic humor and allow them to get to know the other's true self.
• Well, Ladybug isn't really a fake personality in the way Adrien is for Cat Noir. Marinette, when away from Adrien (except in The Gamer), doesn't act much different from Ladybug. Not like how Adrien and Cat Noir are, although Adrien does slip up sometimes. I'm pretty sure Adrien made a Cat Noir-like pun at one point. And we (now) know that Cat Noir actually took to his powers like a duck to water, where Ladybug didn't. Based on the phrasing of the second comment, I'm guessing that was posted before the Origins two-parter, where we learn Adrien and Marinette got their powers on the same day. Cat Noir fell in love with her after seeing her find her footing as a superhero and stand up to Hawk Moth- something he seems to want to do to his father. Marinette isn't good at faking or lying, you just have to watch Evillustrator to see that. Ladybug is very much her real personality, too.

Not everything about their identities will be revealed to Marinette and Adrien in one go.

Specifically, Marinette will figure out that Adrien is Cat Noir and/or Adrien will figure out Marinette is Ladybug, but they won't tell the other that they know. This dynamic will of course keep things fresh for a new season.

Both Marinette and Adrien will get a Secret-Keeper in Season 2

Most obvious would be Alya becoming Marinette's Secret-Keeper and Nino becoming Adrien's, resulting in the two of them covering for the heroes' absences. An interesting variation to the theme would be Nino becoming Marinette's Secret Keeper and Alya Adrien's which would also require them to make excuses to their best friends. A final possibility would be Alya discovering both Marinette's and Adrien's secret identity resulting in hijinks while she tries to polish Ladybug's opinion of Cat Noir and improve Adrien's feelings for Marinette.

• Another variation of this theory is Alya and Chloé learning one or the other's identities, which would lead into them receiving the fox and bee miraculouses, as has been confirmed for Season 2.
• Jossed. Both heroes make it through Season 2 with their identities intact. (Unless you count the kwami, but they were already in on the whole thing.)

Someone will figure out their identities from the fact Marinette and Adrien are the only kids at school that have never been akumatized.

It'll start with the character deciding to ask Marinette when her turn comes.

• Mireille hasn't been akumatised yet, either.

No one recognizes Adrien or Marinette because the Miraculouses affect people's ability to recognize them.

Our two heroes are incapable of recognizing one another but they recognize akumatized victims fairly easily so being a full-powered miraculous wielder must have additional benefits in comparison to one merely bestowed abilities.

• Well, Alya can see that Adrien and Cat Noir look a lot alike, so that may not be the case. Marinette is too in love with Adrien to even consider that he could be Cat Noir- she's got more evidence than he does as to who his real identity is, since Alya showed her a picture of Adrien dressed like Cat Noir and they both have the exact same allergy. Adrien might not know who she is simply because of the attitude difference, but he also may know, subconsciously, who Ladybug is. There's only two characters he's flirted with- Ladybug and Marinette.
  • Maybe Alya just made her Will save that day. And maybe the glamour only keeps people from consciously recognizing the wielders.
    • What Will?
    • Sorry, it's a DnD term. It means Alya was just excited or obsessed enough with finding out their secret identities that her willpower allowed her to temporarily resist the glamour's effect that one time.
• Confirmed in the New York special. Uncanny Valley says there is a quantum masking effect that makes it hard for humans to recognize Miraculous holders; however, it doesn't work on robots like Uncanny Valley.

Building off the above idea, the Miraculouses' glamour effect requires that Ladybug and Cat Noir don't know each other's identities.

Maybe the magical effect that keeps people from recognizing the Miraculous wielders requires a "sacrifice" of sorts, in that the wielders can't know each other's identities in order for it to work. This would explain why Tikki, Plagg, and Master Fu have been so insistent on secrecy up until now, even if it seems needless. There may be a future episode where Marinette and Adrien learn each other's identities, and subsequently find themselves experiencing Glamour Failure at an inopportune time.

There will be a significant amount of time between when Marinette or Adrien figure out the other's identity and when the reverse happens.

Specifically, there will be anywhere between 10 minutes and 6 episodes between when one knows and when both know. The writers would be insane not to milk out the "knows his/her identity" drama but doing it for too long would get old quickly.

• There's no way in hell that Marinette will figure it out any time soon- she's had two blatant clues (the fact that Adrien looks like Cat Noir and their exact same allergy to feathers) and still can't figure it out. Or rather, she doesn't want to believe Adrien is Cat Noir, so she's unlikely to figure it out. Adrien, though, is a different story. I suspect Adrien will figure it out sometime in Season 2 or 3, but Marinette won't figure it out for at least another season past that or more. Adrien, though, likes Marinette as a person and doesn't find her obnoxious like Marinette finds Cat Noir. He's thus more likely to accept it. Marinette would have to start seeing Cat Noir in a different light before she can figure it out.

Prior to learning each other's identities, there will be an Unrequited Love Switcheroo

Marinette will start to fall for Cat Noir (despite what seem to be her best efforts), and Adrien will start to fall for Marinette. This might be a partial result of Marinette apparently thinking Adrien is Hawk Moth in "The Collector", since she pictures herself and Hawk Moth on a Twilight-like poster leaving her to start to fall for Cat Noir. As she becomes more normal around Adrien, he begins to fall for her. Although, this might be impossible if Adrien does indeed know who Ladybug is, since she's not exactly subtle around him of who she is.

Master Fu won't tell reveal Ladybug and Cat Noir's identities to each other.

Despite knowing who they both are. Because what fun would that be?

• Confirmed, but Played for Drama. After passing on the guardianship of the Miracle Box to Ladybug at the end of Season 3, he lost all knowledge of the Miraculous and most of his adult life. This is confirmed by Wayzz to specifically be to protect the identity of any Miraculous holders.

Marinette and Adrien will either figure out or stumble upon the other's identities, but won't know the other knows.

• A fan asked the creators if Marinette and Adrien will find out, and requested that the question be answered "Yes or No". Word of God replied, "Yes or No." While this could be the work of a Trolling Creator, what better way for the Character Development to go on while keeping the main premise of the show?

Hawk Moth will reveal the identities.

At some point, he'll figure out how "Marinette" acts all nervous around "Adrien". Once he figures out Ladybug doesn't know Adrien is Cat Noir, he'll start thinking of a way to let her know so she'll be too nervous to properly fight the next akuma alongside her crush.

There is no glamour. Everyone is just stupid.

Alya has shown the ability to recognize Nino/Carapace based on his personality. Eventually, when the reveal is dropped, Alya will claim "there must be some magic in place to prevent the heroes' friends from recognizing them!" Tikki nods, and in a Two-Faced Aside, mutters to Marinette that there's no such thing.

• While I agree there's no glamour, I think it's a little unfair to call everyone "stupid". What tips Alya off about Carapace is Nino's very unique personality, manner of speaking, and attitude being the same as Carapace and Nino. He wasn't doing a good job of hiding it at all. This doesn't apply for Adrien/Cat Noir and Marinette/Ladybug. Alya does notice Adrien looks like Cat Noir, and they don't at the time know him enough to see if he ever acts like Cat Noir. Sure she LOOKS like Ladybug, but Ladybug is cool under pressure and very graceful. It's like how the Flash's idea of hiding his identity is to simply be late to everything. Nobody would think the FLASH of all people would be late all the time. Same with Marinette, really, except she doesn't do it on purpose.
  • Jossed: Uncanny Valley reveals that there is a form of glamour (by revealing that she's immune to it).

Chloé will piece together the heroes' identities

If she remembers the events of Miracle Queen (she may or may not; most akumatized people don't, but after being de-akumatized, she still refers to Ladybug's "stupid friends"), she's in a unique position. Hawk Moth has showed a complete lack of interest in discovering Ladybug's identity (he's spent more time pondering Cat Noir's, and only because he noticed evidence it could be Adrien), but Chloé has what she treats as a personal grudge against Ladybug. And if she remembers the identities of the other Miraculous holders, she must realize that four of them are in her class and a fifth goes to her school and knows Adrien. Should she learn that Luka is Juleka's brother, that would tell her that all of them are at most one step away from her classmates. From there, all it would take is looking up which classmates have and haven't been akumatized (or, more likely, forcing Sabrina to do it) and noticing the two that haven't (in any way she'd be aware of.)

The sudden "give up your Miraculous if you know each other's identities" rule was added by Master Fu after a visit from Bunnyx.

For a long time, the only reason why Ladybug insisted on keeping each other's identities secret was to protect their civil identities and loved ones.Then halfway season 3, there suddenly was mention that both Marinette and Adrien would have to give up their Miraculous if they were to know each other's identity.This is the result of Bunnyx having traveled back in time after the events of "Cat Blanc" to warn Master Fu what would happen if both would know each other's identities too soon.

The Hypothetical Akumatizations of Marinette and Adrien

Both

The class has a betting pool on whether Marinette or Adrien will be akumatized first.

Everyone else has been akumatized, so they all wonder whether the Plucky Girl or the Lonely Rich Kid will be the last man standing.

Laser-Guided Amnesia will be used for plot convenience.

It will be used as a contrived method to get their akumatizations over with without revealing their secret identities.

Alternatively, it will happen while trying to retrieve their Miraculous.

After something happens that separates them from their Miraculous they will frantically try to retrieve them and after one too long Humiliation Conga, they'll get akumatized (perhaps accidentally, like Gigantitan), but conveniently leave out the fact that they always had the Miraculous from Hawk Moth.

Marinette

What happened in "Zombizou" will happen again, only worse.

After someone hurts her friends and/or family and is Off on a Technicality, it will be her sense of justice that will make her susceptible again.

Marinette is more likely to be akumatized than Adrien

Aside from Word of God saying that where Marinette's optimism protects her from Akumatization, which we've now seen isn't infallible, while Adrien's defense being that he's so used to being disappointed that he doesn't loose his temper too much, Gabriel/Hawk Moth does, in some way, care about Adrien and so is unlikely to want to directly Akumatize him. He'd have no such qualms with Marinette. It'd also balance the books from every time Adrien's been brainwashed or otherwise affected by the Akumas, while Marinette usually avoids it.

• Technically this is true- Gabriel and Lila have spent all of S3 trying to make Marinette angry or sad enough she could be akumatised. She very nearly was in three different episodes- "Chameleon", "Zombizou", and the absolute closest in "Ladybug". Lila was deliberately setting Marinette up to be akumatisable. However, despite the fact Marinette has been set up several times to be akumatised, it's ultimately Cat Noir who gets fully akumatised first between the two of them.

When Marinette is akumatized, we will discover that there are other ways to neutralize akuma than Ladybug's purification.

Because it makes little sense for only Ladybug to be able to deal with the akuma.

• The other way will be Tikki doing the purification by herself and it'll be revealed to have some sort of setback just like there are setbacks when Plagg uses Cataclysm.
  • Or Marinette is simply not wearing her earrings at the time.
• Maybe it'll be another bug-themed Miraculous, like a dragonfly.
• Technically confirmed as of the end of season 3: when she was finally akumatized, neutralization happened via withdrawal of the akuma. Granted, this was initiated on Gabriel's end due to a sudden emergency, with no action on the heroes' part, but it leaves an opening for someone to coerce whoever is using the Butterfly Miraculous.

Ladybug will get akumatized into a new Antibug.

So far, akumatized Miraculous holders just become evil versions of their normal superhero selves (Queen Wasp, Rena Rage, Shell Shock), so there's no reason to think the pattern won't hold true for Ladybug herself.

Marinette/Ladybug will force the akuma out of her body through sheer willpower.

She'll rampage as expected, but the encouragement of her friends to fight Hawk Moth's control will push Marinette/Ladybug to reject the akuma on her own power, after which she can purify the insect as normal.

Marinette will get akumatized because of Lila.

It almost became canon in "Chameleon". This time, though, Marinette won't see the butterfly coming.

• It kind of became canon in "Ladybug", but she never got akumatised, she was just connected with Hawk Moth.

Marinette will be akumatised when she isn't wearing the Ladybug Miraculous

We know from certain spoilers that Marinette won't wear the Ladybug all the time in Season 3. Not only did she take the Miraculous off on "Reflekdoll", which ended up with her becoming Lady Noir, but we also know she wears the Mouse Miraculous AND the Mouse with the Fox at one point. So there's two, maybe even three, times in Season 3 where Marinette is not wearing the Ladybug Miraculous. This means she might not wear it all the time in Season 4, too. Marinette being akumatised will probably bring back Mister Bug as well.

• The trailer for "Kwamibuster" shows Marinette trying on some of the other Miraculous before choosing the use the Mouse; it's likely that she is doing so because Tikki got captured by the villain, so she is probably still wearing her earrings but can't transform into Ladybug without Tikki.

Adrien

Adrien's grief about his mother will reach its peak.

Even if he is used to disappointment, the topic is so sore to him that it basically screams 'volcano that is about to erupt', especially if some paparazzi get involved, given that she is the wife of one of the most wealthy and most famous denizens of Paris (who rarely interacts with the public), mother of one the most popular adolescent models in Paris. And that's not even getting into her own heavily implied career of acting and working with the wealthy and controversial Bourgeois family.

Adrien's akumatization will turn him into a anthropomorphic manticore.

Scorpions, while being sinister in most narratives, also symbolize death and rebirth (making them very similar to snakes) - not to mention that lions are heavily symbolic of family - as in Adrien finally having a catharsis regarding his personal issues, like some 98% of the other akumatized victims.

Adrien's akumatization will turn him into something similar to the Scorpion from the Spider-Man franchise.

Adrien's akumatization will be caused by his entitlement issues concerning Ladybug.

For example, maybe he pulls another stunt like Copycat, causing someone (possibly Ladybug, Plagg, or maybe Luka) to blow their shit at him and tell him the world doesn't revolve around him and he isn't going to get Ladybug just because he wants her. Despondent, Hawk Moth decides to bite the bullet and akumatize him.

Adrien's akumatization will cost the heroes his own identity and Master Fu's.

"Backwarder" shows that Hawk Moth can compel his victims to give up information regarding the Miraculous holders and the Guardian if they possess it. He would have to fly right past stupidity into full-blown suspension-of-disbelief-breaking plot contrivance not to take advantage of the Holy Grail of akumas and wring every drop of knowledge he can out of Cat. Given what Cat is shown to know, he would thus tell Hawk Moth that he is Adrien Agreste and that the Guardian is going by the alias of Mr. Chan (although he doesn't know where Fu lives or who Ladybug is under the mask).

• Well, first off, Backwarder started talking without prompting. But that's not the point. Most likely what will happen is he decides he'll not bother asking because he figures he'll find out when Cat Noir hands the Miraculous over. Hawk Moth has never been very smart about how he uses Cat Noir when he does have control over him, so it's unlikely he'll start now. He also doesn't seem to care too much about their identities, oddly enough. He sees them untransformed as weak and vulnerable, but he doesn't seem to care who they are.

• Arguably jossed in Cat Blanc. It cost the lives of (at least) everyone in Paris, but Hawk Moth already knew his identity (which led to his akumatization) and never learned Master Fu's identity before dying. Said death happened mere seconds (if not milliseconds) before the wave of destruction reached Master Fu's probable location, but it still technically counts.

The Reveal

In order for The Reveal to stick, all four corners of the love square have to be acknowledged.

Many episodes have had moments that could have lead to The Reveal of Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Cat Noir's identities to each other, but often one of the two missed a tiny detail that would have made it click.SPOILERS BELOW, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

• In most episodes, only one or two of the four ships are acknowledged, usually Adrinette or Lady Noir. Hence, most often Adrien or Marinette are blind to who is behind the other mask.
• A few episodes shake this up, such as "Gorizilla" which acknowledges Adrinette and Ladrien, with a small nod to Lady Noir, but not Mari Cat, and after Ladybug rescues Adrien from falling off of the building, he nearly gives away who he is.
• In the two episodes that a temporary reveal happens, "Oblivio" and "Cat Blanc", three of the four are acknowledged. Oblivio has no mention or showing of Mari Cat and "Cat Blanc" has no mention of Ladrien (when Adrien realizes Marinette and Ladybug are the same person, he even has thoughts about Mari Cat, Lady Noir and Adrinette, but no Ladrien). Both episodes also prove that once the two heroes know who is behind the other mask, they will become a couple. Once she knows Adrien is Cat Noir in "Oblivio", Ladybug has no denial of her love for Cat. When Adrien realizes in "Cat Blanc" that Marinette is Ladybug, he mentions that he always felt she was more than just a friend, but could not figure out why he did.
• Master Fu states in "Stoneheart" that the two are made for each other, and this show has placed a lot of emphasis on metaphysical phenomena, hence why, despite not knowing at the time that Cat's flirting was more than banter, why Ladybug's kiss freed Cat from Dark Cupid's Hate Plague. They do love each other, but they don't know it for certain because they're both in love with one side of the other. In order for The Reveal to happen and stick, Adrien must see why he loves Marinette like he does Ladybug and Marinette must see that she loves Cat Noir, not just Adrien.

Marinette's and Adrien's Mundane Side

Their catchphrase is not "pound it" but "pwned it".

"Pound" is not a past-tense verb; that would be "pounded". "Pwned" is normally pronounced as "owned" with a "p" in front, but a lighter or heroic accent and intent - changing "own" to "oun" - might sound like "pound". The root word "pwn" comes from gamer culture; both Marinette and Adrien are shown to be highly skilled gamers, and so might be independently familiar with that word. Everyone else who says it with them, may have seen them say it on TV after prior victories, and know it as their catchphrase regardless of whether they know what the word means.

• The above is for the English dub only, until some troper knowledgeable about the other language versions updates it with info about said other versions.
  • In french dub, they say "Bien joué" (Good Job!) and most dubs (the spanish dub, and the portuguese one) keep the meaning.

General

There were several instances where Parisian security cameras recorded Marinette and Adrien transforming/de-transforming.

But considering their young age and the importance of keeping their identity secret, the government decided to put Ladybug and Cat Noir's identity under "Secret Défense"/Official Secrecy, which means anyone who tries to reveal their identity could face a severe prison sentence.

• We've seen them transform several times in the Metro, and it's pretty much impossible to have a spot in the Parisian Metro that isn't camera'd. (Over 9500 cameras.)
• Probably not, as the setting appears to be an alternate universe utopian Paris where security cameras either aren't necessary or are easily avoidable.
• It's confirmed in Season 3 that the Kwamis can't be detected by any electronic means, and the New York special confirms that the Miraculous Holders have a 'quantum field' that messes with human minds' perception, so their transformations are pretty much undetectable unless someone is right there to watch it in person.
  • They do not need to record the kwami: even if the cameras do not directly record them transforming ^{That is to say}  They see Adrien or Marinette head to a blind spot and then Cat Noir / Ladybug comes out or viceversa. , the guards will do 2+2 and assume their secret identity.
• Well... the entire parisian security force is utterly HELPLESS. We never see any cop, any firemen nor ambulances helping people. It's all up to Ladybug and Cat Noir. Maybe the entire parisian security had just given up. They won't put any detective work about finding Hawk Moth, and they won't find two teenagers.

Ladybug will develop a crush on Cat Noir, and Adrien develops a crush on Marinette, but they still don't know each other's identities.

The annoying Love Square is taken to the next level!

• Ladybug already flirts with Cat Noir, no matter how much she denies it, and "Despair Bear" made it obvious that Adrien has a romantic interest in Marinette. And they still have no clue about each other's identities.

There will possibly be an episode where either Ladybug or Cat Noir can't change back.

Most likely Cat Noir, since he's prone to taking hits for Ladybug and has "bad luck" as a trait, but there's always a chance it'll be Ladybug's turn. The cause will be because of the most recent akuma nailing the Miraculous with their attack, causing Cat Noir or Ladybug (or both) to be completely unable to detransform OR use their special attack again. Nor can they remove their Miraculouses to force the detransformation (but the akuma can). It would provide a hefty clue for the other into who Cat Noir/Ladybug truly is, since obviously they can't go to school or lessons in their superhero identity. Meaning their civilian selves would disappear for a while. On the one hand, Adrien's sudden disappearance would upset Marinette and he'd may have to make excuses for Nathalie and to a lesser degree his father, but on the other hand, Marinette would definitely have to outright hide from her parents and friends, lie to them, and her sudden absence while Ladybug can't change back might clue Adrien in on who Ladybug really is. Cat Noir and Ladybug might confide in the other if they can't change back, though it's a little easier to see Ladybug telling Cat Noir somehow. While it could, in theory, happen to both of them, it's more likely that it'll happen to only one of them. Unless it's meant to provide Ship Tease between Ladybug and Cat Noir.

There will possibly be an episode where Adrien or Marinette can't transform.

Another staple of a series with transformation is one where the Transformation Trinket won't work for one reason or another. Considering that Ladybug is vital for taking out akumas, she's the most likely candidate. Again, this will probably be a result of the most recent akuma power, and Marinette (or Adrien) will have to get around it somehow.

• Confirmed, sorta, and already happened in season 1. In "Princess Fragance" Marinette and Tikki get separated and Marinette can't trasnform, and in "Rogercop" Plagg gets a bracelet stuck in his head, and while Adrien could technically still transform, Plagg advices against this, as the bracelet would go inside the ring too and affect Cat Noir powers.

Marinette and Adrien will have four children.

In the series finale, an epilogue will be shown of the two having four children, quadruplets, consisting of two boy and two girls. This will be a subtle Shout-Out of the Love Square between them.

The reality of why Adrien is oblivious to Marinette's crush on him.

Because all Marinette is lacking to be more obvious is a giant flashing neon sign over her head that says 'Has a Crush on Adrien Agreste'.

• One of the common fanfic themes is that Adrien thinks she's still mad at him over the misunderstanding in Origins.
  • Very unlikely. You wouldn't get someone a Christmas present if you were mad at them.
• An alternative to that is that, instead of thinking she's still mad, Adrien thinks she's embarrassed and ashamed of making such an incorrect assumption about him and that her blushing tongue-tied antics are her trying to think of a way to apologize and/or make it up to him. Even though he's long since forgiven her and considers it water under the bridge, he doesn't want to further embarrass her by bringing up the whole issue again.
• Or the simple explanation: Adrien is a socially awkward and moderately famous model. His experience with girls crushing on him is along the lines of Chloé's antics — i.e. hanging off of him, loudly declaring affection, and being overly forward. He doesn't really have any previous frame of reference to actually get the awkward blushing and stammering kind of crush that Marinette has on him.
• It's also possible that he thinks his fame makes Marinette nervous, or else that his father's fame makes her nervous.
  • Highly unlikely, if not outright Jossed by how she treats him pre-crush in the Origins two-parter.
    • Mmm, not if he thinks (correctly) she didn't recognize him on sight and found out later.
• Or it's possible he simply just thinks Marinette is easily very flustered by little things. He personally hasn't seen much else from her.
• It's also possible that he knows Marinette has a crush on him, but is pretending not to in the hopes that she will eventually get over it.
  • Or he doesn't take the idea seriously, since he knows that Marienette hates liars, and the few times he has teased or asked directly if she liked him, she has denied it and he took her at her word.
• Or he's in denial about it. He knows that Marinette has a crush on him (c'mon, it's obvious to anyone with a single braincell), but because she shares so many qualities with Ladybug and his heart belongs to Ladybug he doesn't want to think about "betraying" Ladybug.

Ladybug and Cat will somehow make Hawk Moth and Mayura will forget the allies identities, which will allow them to return to being heroes.

Given their presence in merchandise material and advertisements, it’d be very strange to set up a bunch of superheroes only to stop using them altogether because of one traitor revealing them. It’s possible that somehow the duo will force Hawk Moth and Mayura to forget, which will allow the heroes (sans Chloé whose superhero form is public knowledge), to return to their positions. Also, knowing the class and friend connections of the allied heroes would make it very easy for Hawk Moth to guess the identities of the two main heroes.

• Simultaneously jossed and confirmed. The exposed heroes returned in season 4 even though Gabriel and Nathalie retained the memories of their identities and attempted to use it against them a couple of times.

Marinette and/or Adrien will begin to suffer a Sanity Slippage throughout Season 4.

Word of God states things are going to be like "Cat Blanc", meaning things will get more serious.

In "Kwamibuster", Marinette was able to wear all of the miraculouses and use multiple ones at the same time. Master Fu remarks that using more than one miraculous at a time puts a heavy strain on the wearer and can cause madness, Marinette being able to use so many being the mark of a strong will. However, the odds of her doing this a second time in "Miracle Queen" without beginning to feel the effects or that Adrien was left unscathed when he used the cat and snake miraculouses is highly unlikely. With Master Fu gone, it is likely that the increasing threat that Hawk Moth, Mayura and Lila pose will force the dynamic duo to pull riskier gambits and they just might be forced to use more miraculous.

The symptoms of degradation will add a sense of overarching doom to the story, with mood swings, hallucinations, insomnia, etc. Without Master Fu's help, Marinette will have just herself and Tikki to figure out how to reverse what is happening. In Adrien's case, it would probably be much worse as he has far less emotional support to fall back on and his Extreme Doormat tendencies will force him to weather through it without help.

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