Talk:Catalyst (Heroes' Day - Part 1)/@comment-36218983-20181021191601/@comment-36313397-20181022173659

I think the reason is what some other people mentioned: that Hawk Moth is really good at using his Miraculous, and Ladybug and Cat Noir are still learning. Also, power isn't just on a single scale.

We've seen that Cataclysm has the potential to be much more powerful when Plagg uses it alone. It's reasonable to think that there's a lot of power there waiting for Adrien to figure out how to use it.

But also:

- Hawk Moth is (I believe) totally dependent on the personality of the person he akumatizes. He's not guaranteed a useful power at all. Nathalie had a very good power. Gigantitan was a little meh.

- He's reliant on having a useful villain in the appropriate emotional state. Caught off guard, he'd be in a tough spot. That's part of why he's so reliant on secrecy.

- He's not guaranteed any skill in the people he akumatizes! Part of the reason Anansi got the better of Cat Noir was that she was good at fighting before being akumatized, even though her actual powers were not that impressive. By contrast, Malediktator was shown to be pretty easily confused, despite having very useful powers.

- Hawk Moth can't control the people he akumatizes! He's reliant on their being evil and his ability to take away their powers to get what he wants. They can even turn on him, like Robostus did. That's a big weakness. I imagine he always has to be afraid that they'll decide to keep the ultimate power for themselves, once they have it.

- Ladybug's power is rather more impressive than it seems. Lucky Charm always gives her precisely what she needs to defeat the villain, with the only limitation being her own ability to figure out how to use it (and it could be that her power assists her there, too, with the flashing black-and-red spots on things) and her physical ability to put her plan into place. Let's not underestimate how useful knowledge is. Also, once she defeats the akumatized villain, she can use her powers to undo almost everything that Hawk Moth has done, no matter how nasty.

- Adrien's power, Cataclysm, is actually much more useful than it appears. We know it can destroy Miraculouses, which is already unique. But more important, I am fairly sure that he could actually use Cataclysm on the villains themselves, if he didn't have moral compunctions against doing so. Just think of all those times that Cat Noir or Ladybug land a hit on the villain that doesn't do much? All the effort they have to go to in order to separate the villains from their akumatized object in order to destroy it.... This seems to me like an example of evil in itself having an advantage because of fewer limitations.