The Dark Owl

"" is an upcoming episode of the second season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir. It first premiered worldwide in Spain on December 5, 2017.

Synopsis
Mr. Damocles, the school principal, gets akumatized into Dark Owl when Paris finds out that he has been attempting to become a new superhero. He fights Ladybug and Cat Noir. Will the duo succeed?

Plot
Click here to see spoilers for an unaired episode plot.

At the end of the school day, Mr. Damocles hurriedly rushes Marinette, Alya, Nino and Adrien out of the building, before closing the door behind them. Mr. Damocles then tip-toes into his office, making sure nobody is watching him, and boots up his computer program, Albert. He attempts to get Albert to open up the secret compartment behind his painting, however, after several failed attempts, Damocles is forced to open it manually, revealing several framed comics, a figurine, a grappling hook, a boomerang and a custom-made Knightowl costume. Dawning the (somewhat ill-fitting) suit, Damocles takes up the identity of the Owl and heads out to patrol Paris.

Outside, Damocles attempts to help a mother and son rescue a cat from a tree, although all his attempts to do so fail, resulting in Cat Noir and Ladybug arriving to save him and the cat from falling. Ladybug and Cat Noir establish that this is the fifth time they've had to save Owl from himself, and advise him to not attempt to be a superhero and endanger himself. TVi reporters arrive on the scene and Clara Contard interviews the Owl. The Owl claims that he will try to do better next time, being ignorant to what Ladybug and Cat Noir had told him, before running off, not realizing that the camera was following him the entire time, leaving Ladybug and Cat Noir to deal with the press. Both Ladybug and Cat Noir advise the children of Paris to not act like the Owl and try to be superheroes like him, as it is dangerous. At the end of her broadcast, Nadja Chamack asks the question of who the Owl's real identity is.

That evening, Ladybug and Cat Noir converse about Mr. Damocles' superhero antics on a rooftop, and decide to create a plan to make him feel like a real hero for at least one day, so that his dream will be fufilled and he'll stop acting like a superhero. Through the night, Marinette creates fake copies of her and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, and a fake supervillain costume. After school ends and Damocles yet again takes up his Owl persona, Ladybug and Cat Noir convince Alya to pretend to be a villain named "Cardboard Girl" who is holding them hostage. Alya calls Damocles and "reveals" that she had captured Ladybug and Cat Noir, and that he is the only one who can save them. At the park, Owl arrives as Cardboard Girl is taking Ladybug and Cat Noir's fake Miraculous. Owl fires his grappling hook at Cardboard Girl, only for it to end up snagging onto a moving garbage truck, which drags him into the fence. Ladybug apologizes for what happened and slips up, revealing Owl's identity of Mr. Damocles while people are snapping pictures of him. Owl runs off, crying with Ladybug, Cat Noir and Alya are left hoping that nobody has heard about what has happened.

Back in his office, Mr. Damocles is on the internet, where the news has revealed his identity to Paris and Alec Cataldi is mocking him. Meanwhile, Hawk Moth senses Mr. Damocles' sadness, and sends an Akuma after him. The akuma enters Damocles' computer, and Hawk Moth offers Damocles real powers and weapons in exchange for Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. Damocles accepts Hawk Moth's offer and is transformed into Dark Owl.

Later that evening, Marinette is sewing in her room while Tikki watches a music video on her computer. Dark Owl then hijacks the television broadcasts through out Paris, to the disbelief and horror of Marinette and Tikki, as well as Adrien and Plagg. Dark Owl announces that he has kidnapped a multitude of zoo animals, locked them in a bus dangling off the Eiffel Tower, and, with the press of a button, can drop them all on a helpless kitten, and if anyone tries to save them, liquid nitrogen bombs will freeze and shatter the tower's structure, destroying them anyway. Dark Owl then demands Ladybug and Cat Noir to hand over their Miraculouses to him, also telling them to follow his Owl-Signal to find him before ending the transmission. Marinette and Adrien then immediately transform into their respective superhero identities. At the same time, Dark Owl gets Alvin to activate the Owl-Signal.

Ladybug and Cat Noir meet on a rooftop, coming up with the plan of letting Cat Noir distract Dark Owl while Ladybug sneaks up on him from behind. At the Parc des Princes, Cat Noir, as per the plan, distracts Dark Owl by talking while Ladybug scouts the villain from the back, guessing that the akuma mist be in one of his weapons. Ladybug attacks Dark Owl and manages to knock his detonator to Cat Noir, only to be flung away onto her partner by Dark Owl's grappling hook. Dark Owl tells the heroes that they have one last chance to surrender their Miraculous, however, they still refuse. Dark Owl ensnares the two using his grappling hook and they are forced to roll away as Dark Owl attempts to pounce on them. Cat Noir uses his Cataclysm on the ropes to escape and Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm soon afterwards, receiving a pen. Ladybug and Cat Noir incapacitate Dark Owl long enough for them to get a hold of the detonator on top of a shipping crate, only to find that it the countdown will not stop. Dark Owl then has Albert trap the two inside the crate, revealing that the animals and bombs were nothing but holograms.

At that moment, the crate begins to fill up with melted whip cream, which Dark Owl claims will drown the two heroes if they refuse to give up their Miraculouses. Using her Lucky Vision, Ladybug spots the speaker at the top of the crate, Cat Noir's ring, and the pen. She then squirts the pen ink over the television screen inside the crate so that Dark Owl can't watch them, although the latter is unphased by this. Cat Noir fails to break down the crate's walls, deeming their situation hopeless, however, Ladybug instead decides to give up and hand over their Miraculouses, telling Cat Noir that they must close their eyes when they detransform.

Both Tikki and Plagg see each other’s Miraculous wielder, but don’t say anything. Marinette is about to take Adrien’s ring, but then remembers she still has the fake Miraculous she had made, and gives those to Dark Owl, who gives them to Hawk Moth. He finds out they are fake, but by then both kwamis have been able to recharge and they transform. Then, Dark Owl fires his boomerangs at them while the heroes still don't know where the akuma is asking Cat Noir to cover her Ladybug uses her Lucky Charm and receives a KnightOwl Comic Book. Upon reading it, she figures out as the real KnightOwl has a sidekick Dark Owl must have one too, just as Cat Noir manages to restrain him she realizes the akuma is back at the school and goes to Principal Damocles’ office and tries to destroy the akumatized computer with Cat Noir and Dark Owl closer behind her, but Dark Owl gets there too. Using her lucky vision she kicks the rolled up comic book to a statue figurine but the villain is able to remove one earring, almost detransforming Marinette, but as the chain reaction knocks over the monitor she retrieves her earring and purifies the akuma. Hawk Moth is once again defeated but vows to get revenge. Afterwards, Ladybug and Cat Noir help Mr. Damocles become a superhero on a smaller scale by doing good deeds.

Now that Cat Noir and Ladybug have more free time, Cat Noir tries to ask her if she'll go the movies with him. She politely turns down his offer, saying that she made a promise to hang out with someone else and tells him he'll see her soon as she swings away, leaving Cat Noir smiling. At Alya's house, Marinette is playing a video game with Alya. As Alya explains her latest adventure with Ladybug and Cat Noir, Marinette wins the game. Surprised, Alya calls it unfair because she wasn't looking and tickles Marinette, leaving the two laughing. Tikki quietly laughs before the ending card appears.

Major characters

 * Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
 * Adrien Agreste/Cat Noir
 * Hawk Moth
 * Tikki
 * Plagg
 * Akuma
 * Mr. Damocles/Dark Owl

Minor characters

 * Alya Césaire
 * Nino Lahiffe
 * Nadja Chamack
 * Clara Contard
 * Alec Cataldi
 * Fire captain
 * Majestia (pictured)
 * Knightowl (pictured)
 * Birdy (pictured)
 * Laura Marano (TV only)
 * Alix Kubdel
 * Max Kanté
 * Lê Chiến Kim
 * Juleka Couffaine (background)
 * Rose Lavillant (background)
 * Nathaniel Kurtzberg (pictured)
 * Chloé Bourgeois (pictured)
 * Sabrina Raincomprix (pictured)
 * Mylène Haprèle (pictured)
 * Ivan Bruel (pictured)
 * Albert
 * Civilians

Trivia

 * In the French version, the episode is called "Le Hibou Noir".
 * This episode was first released in Spain.
 * Jun Violet, co-director for the episode, makes a cameo in it as the face of the akumatized version of Albert, Mr. Damocles' computer program assistant.
 * This episode was first revealed in a promotional poster for Season 2 released by TFOU on October 16, 2017.
 * It was first announced it would be released on November 26, 2017, in France, but it was later confirmed to not be planned for that date anymore, "Gigantitan" airing instead.
 * Nearly the entire episode is a homage to the 1960's Batman series.
 * This marks the first time Plagg and Tikki interact together onscreen.
 * Tikki and Plagg find out who is the other's Miraculous holder.
 * This is second episode where Tikki and Plagg don't have any speaking roles.
 * Plagg is shown recharging after eating a macaroon instead of his regular camembert.
 * This episode shows more things Ladybug’s yo-yo and Cat Noir’s baton are capable of doing and containing, like a communication earpiece set they own and Ladybug’s yo-yo having a camera.
 * This episode marks the first time Ladybug and Cat Noir detransformed in front of each other.
 * The first time Adrien gives up his Miraculous willingly and the second time for Marinette since "Volpina".
 * Adrien removes his Miraculous willingly with the intent of giving it away, yet Plagg does not disappear. This could be because Adrien gave up the Miraculous reluctantly. He did not want to lose it.
 * This episode marks the first instance where an akumatized villain manages to take a Miraculous, although only one of Ladybug's earrings was taken.
 * This episode shows that Ladybug needs both earrings to maintain her transformation.
 * While Ladybug's suit slowly disappears, her yo-yo remains.
 * The animation for Cataclysm is not shown despite the ability being used twice.
 * This is the third instance in which Cat Noir uses Cataclysm twice since "A Christmas Special" and "Copycat".
 * This is the second episode where the animation for Cataclysm isn't shown following "Despair Bear".
 * This is the fourth instance in which Ladybug has summoned two Lucky Charm items in the same episode, which had previously occurred in "The Bubbler", "Timebreaker" and "Antibug".
 * This episode is the second time a Lucky Charm item (the pen) is not used to stop the akumatized villain or help the victim. The first was the record in "The Bubbler".
 * Laura Marano was seen in a music video on Marinette's computer.
 * This episode shows that an akumatized villain does not need to be in constant possession of the akumatized item to retain his or her powers.
 * The picture Nadja Chamack shows of Mr. Damocles is actually Miss Bustier's class photo that was taken in "Reflekta".
 * This episode reveals that Hawk Moth wishes to change a certain happening from the past.
 * This episode marks the first time Alya's bedroom is shown.
 * This episode also reveals that Ladybug and Cat Noir have in-universe action figures.

Errors

 * The fake Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses switch places in Hawk Moth's hand.
 * When Dark Owl releases Ladybug and jump to catch Albert, Ladybug is shown with her full suit and mask before retrieving her earring.
 * The whipped cream was rising at a rate that would've at least reached their shoulders or above by the time it stopped and drained, however, it remained at only their waist the whole time.

Búho Negro Le Hibou Noir Le Hibou Noir pt-br:A Coruja Negra