Akuma

"Fly away, my evil akuma, and evilize him."

- Hawk Moth

An akuma is a black butterfly-like creature responsible for transforming people into supervillains. An army of them are created and led by Hawk Moth while Ladybug and Cat Noir are tasked to capture them.

Appearance
When a butterfly is turned into an akuma by Hawk Moth, it turns black with translucent purple spots. Before being turned into an akuma, it is pure white.

Creation and abilities
Hawk Moth creates an akuma by charging a butterfly with his dark energy. The purpose of an akuma is to possess an important object of a person, forming a link between the person and Hawk Moth. Once the deal is made, the akuma in the object releases black and purple smoke that transforms the person into a supervillain. They also can squeeze through incredibly small spaces, being able to get through the crack of a closed elevator door, which is impossible for normal butterflies.

If an akuma goes uncaptured and unpurified, it will duplicate itself exponentially. The copies of the akuma will subsequently fly around and indiscriminately seek out other humans. Any humans that make contact with the akuma clones will turn into exact physical copies of the original hosts villain form and be petrified in this state. Should the akuma's former host manage to regain the negative emotions that transformed them to begin with, the original akuma will return to corrupt them once again, and the aforementioned duplicates will awaken and be under their full control, becoming a massive clone army.

When multiple akumas are in existence, they can form a giant swarm shaped like Hawk Moth's head, which he can speak through.

Defeat
The akuma leaves the object it inhabits after it is destroyed. From there, Ladybug can catch it with her yo-yo in order to "de-evilize" it by removing the dark energy from it. Afterwards, with the akuma back to being a normal butterfly, she releases it. If the akuma is released without being purified, it will multiply and infect other people. But when it is defeated and purified, its duplicates will vanish, reverting the original victim and the other people affected back to normal.

Trivia

 * In Japanese, akuma (悪魔) means "demon" or "devil".
 * In most Asian lore, butterflies symbolize change, and are a sign of bad luck.
 * Also, in some animistic beliefs, the sight of butterflies or moths approaching or entering one's house means that an unexpected guest or intruder will arrive in the near future.
 * Akumas are similar to kwami, both being able to inhabit an object and transform a person into a superbeing.
 * The word "evilize" was created by Thomas Astruc.
 * As seen in "Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)", an akuma will not corrupt someone if that person loses their negative emotions, as Marinette manages to cheer Ivan up before Hawk Moth manages to akumatize him again.

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