Hawk Moth

"This is just the beginning, Ladybug. You and Cat Noir may have won this battle, but I will win the war. I will get your Miraculouses. I will get the absolute power! And then my secret dream will come true!"

- Hawk Moth.

"Ladybug, Cat Noir, you almost managed to find out who I am, but now I am more above suspicion than i've ever been! As of today, nothing will prevent me from getting your Miraculouses and making my greatest wish come true! All I need to do now is wait for my next prey..."

- Hawk Moth "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him/her."

- Hawk Moth's typical quote.

Hawk Moth (Le Papillon in the French version, which translates to "The Butterfly") is the main antagonist of ''Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. ''He is a malicious supervillain who desires to take Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses and obtain ultimate power, although his motivation is yet to be revealed. He creates and leads the akumas; white butterflies corrupted with evil who can transform normal people into supervillains under Hawk Moth's control. In "The Collector", it is revealed that he is actually Gabriel Agreste, the father of Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir.

He is voiced by Antoine Tone in the original French version and Keith Silverstein in the English dub, who also voiced Captain Gantu in the Stitch! anime.

Season 1
In "Ladybug and Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)", a man listens as his newly acquired kwami, Nooroo, explains the story of the Miraculouses and how they have granted people superpowers and created superheroes for centuries, stating that the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses are the most powerful of all and whoever wields both will have absolute power. The man states that he wants that power and, against Nooroo's wishes, decides to use the Moth Miraculous' power of creating superheroes to create supervillains instead in order to lure out the users of the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses. The man then forces Nooroo into his brooch and takes the identity of Hawk Moth. Master Fu's kwami, Wayzz, senses Nooroo's negative energy and tells Master Fu about it. Being too old to stop Hawk Moth himself, Fu decides to choose new people to wield the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous and stop Hawk Moth, eventually settling on Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste.

Meanwhile, Hawk Moth finds the perfect subject to test his new powers on; Ivan Bruel, a student who gets angry after being mocked by Lê Chiến Kim over not having the courage to tell Mylène Haprèle about how he feels about her. Hawk Moth then sends an Akuma to attach itself to the note Kim gave Ivan, and offers to give him the power to take revenge on the ones who hurt him, which he eagerly accepts, turning himself into the first Akumatized villain; Stoneheart. After Ivan is defeated and returned to normal by the newly created Ladybug and Cat Noir, Hawk Moth is last seen laughing evilly, as they didn't capture his Akuma, causing it to multiply and create multiple dormant Stonehearts throughout Paris that would eventually come to life when Ivan became reakumatized.

In "Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)", Hawk Moth attempts to Akumatize Ivan again after he is bullied by Chloé Bourgeois (ironically about his previous Akumatization), however, he fails after Marinette comforts him and inspires him to write a song to tell Mylène about how he feels. After his attempt at this fails, Hawk Moth succeeds in giving Ivan his powers back and, with the army of Stonehearts at his command, Hawk Moth tells Stoneheart to take revenge and to get the Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Later, Hawk Moth pulls Stoneheart's Akuma out of his body, rendering him unconscious, and uses it to create a giant hologram of himself over the city, revealing himself as the mastermind behind Stoneheart's rampage. Hawk Moth then orders Ladybug and Cat Noir to surrender their Miraculouses to him, stating that they have done enough to damage Paris. However, Ladybug tells him not to confuse who the villain is in their situation and uses her powers to purify the Akumas composing the hologram. Enraged at Ladybug, Hawk Moth tells Stoneheart (who is unaware of what Hawk Moth had done to him) to destroy Ladybug and Cat Noir. After Stoneheart is defeated, Hawk Moth swears vengeance on the two superheroes and vows to steal their Miraculouses one day in order to complete his secret goal.

For the rest of the season, Hawk Moth would continually turn people with negative emotions into supervillains in order to help complete his goals, but would always fail in the end.

Season 2
In "The Collector", after learning that whoever owned the Miraculous Book also likely owns the Moth and Butterfly Miraculouses as well from Master Fu, Marinette begins to speculate that, to her immense disappointment, the Adrien might be Hawk Moth. However, Marinette later suspects Adrien's father Gabriel of being Hawk Moth instead upon realizing that Adrien had taken the Miraculous Book from him.

A short while later, Hawk Moth senses Gabriel Agreste's frustration after loosing the Miraculous Book and creates an Akuma, which he tells to stay close. Hawk Moth then detransforms, revealing that he is actually Gabriel Agreste. Nooroo questions why his Master would do so, and Gabriel explains that he has to become someone else in order to lead Ladybug and Cat Noir away from discovering his identity, temporarily renouncing the Moth Miraculous as well. Gabriel then grabs his Sketch Book and allows the Akuma to enter it, transforming himself into the Collector.

Collector subsequently goes on a rampage across Paris, trapping dozens of people and historical monuments as sketches inside his book. Collector then encounters Ladybug and Cat Noir when they arrive at the Agreste Mansion and fights them. During the fight, as Gabriel intended, Ladybug and Cat Noir abandon the idea that Gabriel is actually Hawk Moth, due to him being Akumatized. Ladybug and Cat Noir soon defeat Collector by filling all the pages in his book and de-akumatize him. Gabriel thanks Ladybug and Cat Noir for their help, although, as soon as they leave, he says that they will be seeing him very soon.

Later on, Marinette successfully returns the Miraculous Book to Gabriel in order to get him to unground Adrien, which he does. When asked by Marinette, Gabriel states that he found the Miraculous Book while overseas with his wife, and later tells Adrien that the Book was the last thing his mother gave to him before she disappeared. Afterwards, Gabriel looks over a technological copy of the Book. Nathalie questions why Gabriel needed to get the book back if he already had a copy, and he states that he did so to protect his secret. Gabriel then renters his lair and transforms back into Hawk Moth, laughing about how he prevented Ladybug and Cat Noir from discovering his identity.

Appearance
Hawk Moth is tall with blue eyes. He wears a dark purple dress shirt with a black vest, a light pink butterfly-shaped bow with a purple button in the center, and black dress pants. Over his head, he wears a gray mask. He also has the Moth Miraculous brooch pinned to his chest.

Whenever he is controlling someone with an Akuma, a bright pink butterfly-shaped outline appears above his face and around his eyes.

Personality
Hawk Moth is cold, cunning, and determined. His greatest desire is to claim the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous for himself to obtain absolute power, and nothing will stand in his way. His Akumatized villains are his most powerful known weapon. He chooses his victims carefully and cleverly, giving them ideas if they're struggling to think up ones. He is a great deceiver, persuading people that he cares about their problems and gives them powers, when in fact, he does it because of his ulterior motive to use them to get the Miraculous for him. If things aren't going his way, he easily loses his patience, threatening harm to Ladybug, Cat Noir, and even the villains he creates. After defeat, Hawk Moth vows revenge and, while stopping for a while afterwards, doesn't wait too long to try again with his akumas.

As Hawk Moth

 * Akumatization: As stated before, Hawk Moth has the ability to turn a citizen with potent negative emotions into a supervillain through the use of his Akumas. The powers Hawk Moth give always directly or metaphorically relate to the reason behind their distress (ex: Max Kanté lost the chance to play in a video game competition and gained the ability to play as the game's robot character in real life, Chloé Bourgeois pretended Sabrina Rainconprix was invisible, causing her to gain the powers of invisibility, etc). It is currently unknown weather Hawk Moth determines what powers his minions will receive or if their powers depend on why they are distressed (meaning that a completely different person could receive the same powers as another if their circumstances are virtually the same).
 * Control Over Akumatized Villains: As shown in "The Evillustrator" Hawk Moth can cause pain to or remove the powers of anyone he Akumatizes in order to force them to obey him should the ever become disloyal. In "Pixelator", after Pixelator becomes too distracted with trying to capture Jagged Stone, Hawk Moth directly controls his body and strangles him in order force him to stay on task. In both "Dark Cupid" and "Reflekta", he threatens to remove the powers of the titular characters should they not get him Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses.
 * Negative Emotion Sensing: Hawk Moth can scan Paris in search of people who are perfect for his Akumatization.
 * Telepathy: Using the powers granted to him by his Miraculous, Hawk Moth can communicate with the people he Akumatizes, forming a moth shaped emblem around the faces of himself and his minion, which is how he instructs them to help him complete his goal.
 * Hologram Projection: Hawk Moth can pull the Akuma out of any villain he creates, putting them into a coma-like state, and multiply it to create a hologram of himself that he can use to communicate with a large group of people.
 * Other Possible Abilities: While not confirmed, it is likely that, like other Miraculous users, Hawk Moth receives heightened physical capabilities, such as increased strength and durability. Interestingly, in concept art for a future appearance, Hawk Moth appears to be wearing battle armor, implying that he actually does have physical capabilities of his own.

As Collector

 * High Combat Proficiency: Collector is a very skilled fighter, being able to keep up with both Ladybug and Cat Noir for an extended period of time.
 * Sketch Book: Collector can throw his Sketch Book like a boomerang, and what ever it's pages touch will be trapped inside of it.

Weaknesses

 * Miraculous: Although it provides all of his powers, Hawk Moth's Miraculous is also his greatest weakness; if it were to be removed, Hawk Moth would be rendered completely powerless and could be easily defeated. It can also be assumed that, much like Ladybug and Cat Noir, Hawk Moth can only use his powers for a limited time before Nooroo needs to come out of the brooch and refuel himself, although this has yet to be shown.
 * Minions: While a great help towards his goals, Hawk Moth's minions are also the greatest problem with almost all of his plans. In most instances (typically in the case of the teenagers he Akumatizes) his minions will often directly disobey his orders in order to pursue their own goals, often preventing the Miraculouses from being taken (as is the case with Timebreaker and Reflekta) or even trying to outright kill Ladybug and Cat Noir without taking their Miraculouses (as was the case with Bubbler).
 * Akumatization Limitations: For unknown reasons, Hawk Moth can only create one villain a day, although he has occasionally created two. This is seen as incredibly strange, as there is no logical reason why Hawk Moth wouldn't create dozens of villains a day. A possible explanation for this is that he has a limited amount of dark energy to use to create Akumas. Another explanation is that he can create more than one villain a day, but can only do so if they will end up having very simplistic powers, rather than the complex abilities he normally gives to his minions (ex: In "Princess Fragrance", Hawk Moth created both Magician of Misfortune, who's only power was to make objects disappear, and later the titular Princess Fragrance, who had the more complex abilities he usually gives out.) It is also possible that Hawk Moth only Akumatizes people who he knows will help in his goals and will receive powers that would help fight Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Season 1

 * The Bubbler/Nino Lahiffe: Able to fly short distances and create semi-indestructible bubbles with varying effects.
 * Mr. Pigeon/Xavier Ramier: Can control/communicate with pigeons.
 * Stormy Weather/Aurore Beauréal: Can fly and manipulate the weather.
 * Timebreaker/Alix Kubdel: Can steal energy from people (essentially killing them) and time travel when given enough energy.
 * Copycat/Théo Barbot: Can turn himself into an exact replica of Cat Noir with identical powers.
 * The Pharaoh/Jalil Kubdel: Can summon the powers of various Egyptian Gods.
 * Lady WiFi/Alya Césaire: Can use her phone for various attacks and abilities (hover boarding, freezing, locking people to surfaces) and can transport herself through phones.
 * The Evillustrator/Nathaniel Kurtzberg: Can bring his drawings to life and erase existing objects.
 * Rogercop/Roger Rainconprix: Can shoot unbreakable laser handcuffs that force others to do what he says and drives an extremely advanced police car.
 * Dark Cupid/Lê Chiến Kim: Can fly and shoot arrows that replace love and affection with hatred.
 * Horrificator/Mylène Haprèle: Can shoot sticky purple goo and grows bigger by absorbing fear.
 * Darkblade/Armand D'Argencourt: Can stun people and "knight" them, turning them into loyal knights.
 * The Mime/Fred Haprèle: Can pantomime objects into existence.
 * Magician of Misfortune/Jean Duparc: Can make objects magically disappear.
 * Princess Fragrance/Rose Laviliant: Can spray different fragrances with different effects, such as mind control or making a person produce a horrible smell. Can also use "fly" by using her perfume gun to propel herself into the air.
 * Stoneheart/Ivan Bruel: Has super strength and grows when struck.
 * Animan/Otis Césaire: Can shape-shift into various animals, including extinct ones.
 * Simon Says/Simon Grimault: Can throw cards that force others to do what he says, as well as making them adopt the traits and abilities of anything he tells them to act like.
 * Pixelator/Vincent Aza: Can transport people into an infinite white void by taking their picture, or pixelate/remove a part of their body if he catches only one part.
 * Guitar Villain/Jagged Stone: Can shoot various beams with different effects (mind control, powerful concussive blasts, intense seismic waves, etc) by playing different chords on his guitar.
 * Kung Food/Wang Chen: Can mind control people who drink his soup and summon food weapons.
 * Gamer/Max Kanté: Controls a giant robot that turns people into "Experience Points" in order to upgrade it and can also summon another robot by "saving" it if the first is destroyed.
 * Reflekta/Juleka Couffaine: Can turn people into complete physical copies of herself, and by extension, can remove their powers.
 * The Puppeteer/Manon Chamack: Can hover and control a person if she has a puppet of them, and, if she has a puppet of a person's Akumatized form, she can make them become said form again.
 * Vanisher/Sabrina Rainconprix: Can turn invisible.
 * Antibug/Chloé Bourgeois: Has the same powers as Ladybug, but summons more offensive objects with 'Anti-Charm' (weapons such as swords instead of random objects)
 * Volpina/Lila Rossi: Can create realistic, intangible illusions.
 * Santa Claws/Santa Claus: Rides an extremely fast flying sleigh that can phase though walls and gives out exploding presents that can contain spiders, bats, cockroaches or weapons for him to use.

Season 2

 * The Collector/Gabriel Agreste: Can trap anything or anyone inside of his book, which he can use as a projectile.
 * Doudou Villain/Butler: Controls the minds of people he hangs onto.
 * Audimatrix: Abilities currently unknown.
 * The Befana/Marinette's gandmother: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Robustus: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Riposte: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Troublemaker/Penny Rolling: Can make her body completely intangible.
 * Queen Wasp: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Style Queen: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Malediktor: Abilities currently unknown.
 * Prime Queen/Nadja Chamack: Abilities currently unknown.

Comics

 * Replay/Adam: Can manipulate time around him by shooting energy blasts out of his watch.
 * Silurus/Fisherman: Can control both water and catfish.

Quotes
"I want that absolute power, Nooroo. I must have those Miraculous."

- Hawk Moth upon hearing about the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses "I found you, though, my little Nooroo. Your Miraculous, remind me of its powers again […] And when it comes to luring superheroes, what could be better than creating supervillains? […] I must have this absolute power! Your Miraculous is in my control! I am your master now, and you must obey me!"

- Hawk Moth forcing Nooroo to use his powers for evil "Nooroo, dark wings, rise! From this day on, I shall be known as... Hawk Moth!"

- Hawk Moth taking up his identity "Negative emotions. This is perfect. Just what I need. Anger, sadness... Burn a hole into his heart, my horrible akuma."

- Hawk Moth sensing Ivan Bruel's distress "Everything's going to plan. Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous have been activated. Here they come to save the day, and now my super villain will destroy them."

- Hawk Moth upon realizing that Ladybug and Cat Noir have appeared "Ivan has a sensitive heart. It won't be long before anger and sadness strike again, and he and the stone beings will come alive. Then, we'll see how long you will remain hidden, Ladybug and Cat Noir. Once I have your Miraculous, you will be powerless against me. Everyone will be powerless against me! I will have absolute power! Mwahahahaha!"

- Hawk Moth gloating after Ladybug and Cat Noir fail to capture his Akuma "Yes...Feel the burn of those words. Lose your temper, Ivan! Your akuma awaits you."

- Hawk Moth sensing Ivan's distress for the second time "Negative emotions... they're fading! Ugh..."

- Hawk Moth after Marinette comforts Ivan "This is your second chance, Stoneheart, and this time you have extra help. No one will stop you from capturing the love of your life. Just remember I'll need something in return."

- Hawk Moth offering to give Ivan his powers back "People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawk Moth. Ladybug, Cat Noir, give me the ladybug earrings and the cat ring now. You've done enough damage to these innocent people!"

- Hawk Moth revealing himself to Paris "Agh! That's the problem with superheroes. They're too...heroic!"

- Hawk Moth frustrated at Ladybug for destroying his hologram

"It won't be long before Ladybug and Cat Noir show up to meet their doom! Mwahahahahahahaha!"

- Hawk Moth confident about his plan "The time has come for us to find our next victim, my wicked little akumas, and to prey upon Ladybug and Cat Noir. Their Miraculouses must be mine!"

- Hawk Moth beginning to search for ideal victims in "Mr. Pigeon" "So correct you are. You should have won, yes. […] Stormy Weather, I am Hawk Moth. I give you the power to seek revenge on them as my weather girl. All you have to do is bring me the Miraculous, can you do that? […] That's my weather girl. Show the world who the best weather girl really is!"

- Hawk Moth turning Aurore Beauréal into Stormy Weather "Such disappointment, frustration, and negativity...Oh, how it fills my heart with exhilaration."

- Hawk Moth sensing Alix Kubdel's distress. "Copycat, stop the small talk and get me Cat Noir's Miraculous!"

- Hawk Moth ordering Copycat to stop gloating and focus on their goals "You might have gotten away this time, but I assure you, Ladybug, some day, wherever you are, I will have your Miraculous, and you'll be nothing! Nothing at all!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "The Pharaoh" "Noooo! The Miraculous were practically mine! And they will be. Once I have them all in my grasp, I shall rule the world!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "The Evillustrator" "Mime, I am Hawk Moth. I'm giving you the power to make whatever you gesture come to life. Destroy this premiere performance! You may be a mime, but they can't silence you! However, in return, you must bring me back Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. So, shall we get on with the show?"

- Hawk Moth turning Fred Haprèle into The Mime

"Ooh, now there's a brokenhearted princess if ever I saw one. Every rose has its thorns."

- Hawk Moth sensing Rose Laviliant's distress "You ruined everything, Ladybug. This is not how it was supposed to end! But I promise you, one day it will be me at the top of the food chain, and you'll be nothing!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "Animan" "The Challenge... what an interesting concept. A TV show with such potential with negative emotions. Oh, the destructive mayhem we could cause..."

- Hawk Moth realizing the potential The Challenge has to create negative emotions "Next time, I assure you it won't be a photo finish! I won't stop, Ladybug! I'll destroy you!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "Pixelator" "Dahhh! Don't do your victory dance just yet, because one day, I'll play you my favorite music: the anthem of your defeat, Ladybug and Cat Noir!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "Guitar Villain" "This evil dinner was almost perfect! Revenge is a dish that is best served cold, so watch yourself — I'll be ready to strike again!"

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "Kung Food" "Such pitiful insolence! The moment you challenge me is the moment you seal your fate! This battle is not yet over..."

- Hawk Moth's defeat in "Gamer" "Reflekta, I am Hawk Moth. From now on, you will be the only one people see. No one will ever ignore you again. However, you must do me a favor in return, when the time comes."

- Hawk Moth turning Juleka into Reflekta "Ah, what could be more pure than an innocent child's emotions, especially anger? I love it!"

- Hawk Moth sensing Manon Chamack's distress "A betrayed Ladybug worshiper? Just what I need to swiftly recover from the defeat of Vanisher. This is perfect."

- Hawk Moth sensing Chloé Bourgeois' distress "Ah... Jealousy, deceit, and the desire to be a superhero. This young lady is my perfect prey."

- Hawk Moth sensing Lila Rossi's distress "She's still angry. You're not done with Volpina yet, Ladybug. You haven't seen the last of her."

- Hawk Moth realizing that Lila is still angry with Ladybug "Santa Claws, I am Hawk Moth. They wrongly accused you of being a super villain so that's what you'll get to be from now on. In exchange, since I've been good enough all year round, I'm going to ask you for two gifts. Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous!"

- Hawk Moth transforming Santa Clause into Santa Claws

Trivia

 * Hawk Moth is named after the Sphingidae; a family of moths that are generally referred to as "Hawk Moths" because of their swift flight patterns.
 * Hawk Moth surrounding himself with darkness may also be a reference to these moths, as most types are nocturnal.
 * It has been confirmed that Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrian Agreste (Ladybug and Cat Noir's civilian identities) would be extremely hard for Hawk Moth to corrupt, as Marinette always has an extremely positive attitude and Adrian is too used to being disappointed and upset for anything to truly aggravate him.
 * As confirmed by the show-runners, in Season 3 and onwards, a new villain called The Peacock will take over as the main antagonist and demote Hawk Moth to secondary antagonist due to her being so evil that she, quote on quote, "makes Hawk Moth look like a baby in comparison."
 * Despite being the main villain of the series, Hawk Moth makes very little appearances in the Miraculous Secrets webisodes and makes no appearances in the Tales From Paris spin-off.
 * In Season 2, Hawk Moth's backstory and how he discovered Nooroo shall be expanded on.
 * Hawk Moth's true motivation for wanting the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses has yet to be revealed, and there have been many speculations as to why he wants them. The most obvious reason why Hawk Moth would desire such power would be to simply increase his own power and turn himself invincible, as he stated in both "The Evillustrator" and "Rogercop" that he wants to take over the world. Another theory suggests that he wants to use the power to revive Mrs. Agreste, assuming that she is deceased, which supports the theory that Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste.
 * As stated by Wilfried Pain, when asked on Twitter if Hawk Moth is a metaphor for human ambivalence, he responded, "Yes, you can say that. But his true nature and purpose will change your point of view." This may suggest that Hawk Moth's real motivations aren't out of a desire for power, but rather a more just cause, possibly supporting the theory that he wants to revive Mrs. Agreste.
 * According to a summary by both Le Figaro and Adala News, Hawk Moth has a "terrible, evil plan" that he "has prepared for a very long time and intends to put to execution". Whether this plan is what he intends to do with the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses or an different plan entirely is unknown.
 * Hawk Moth has named every villain that he has Akumatized, with the only exceptions being Horrificator, Darkblade and Volpina (the latter two because they were named after real people).
 * It is unconfirmed as to whether Hawk Moth shall appear in the special episodes entitled The Chinese Legend and Ladybug in New York, as they take place outside of Paris. In the case of Ladybug in New York, since the special will be a crossover between Pixie Girl and Ghostforce, the episode will likely feature Ladybug and Cat Noir fighting the villains from those series' instead of Hawk Moth.