Akuma

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

- Hawk Moth

An akuma is a black lepidopteran creature responsible for transforming people into supervillains. An army of akumas is created and led by Hawk Moth while Ladybug and Cat Noir are tasked with capturing and purifying them.

Appearance
Before it is turned into an akuma by Hawk Moth, the butterfly is pure white. However, once it becomes an akuma, it turns black with translucent purple highlights.

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 connection 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 is removed from one's object but goes uncaptured and unpurified, it will duplicate itself exponentially before returning to Hawk Moth and entering his cane. 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 host's 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 leave the cane and 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. Afterward, once the akuma reverts back to being a normal butterfly, she releases it, and the butterfly is free, not returning to Hawk Moth's lair. 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. The victim often has little to no memory of the event.

Trivia

 * In Japanese, "akuma" (悪魔) means "demon" or "devil."
 * Akumas are not evil by nature. The black color just means they're charged with power.
 * In most Asian lore, butterflies symbolize change, but they are a sign of bad luck when in large numbers.
 * 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 kwamis, 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 they recover from their negative emotions, as Marinette manages to cheer Ivan up before Hawk Moth manages to akumatize him when he gets upset again.
 * This occurrs again in "Despair Bear", when Hawk Moth tries to akumatize someone at Chloe's party.
 * Again in "Gigantitan", when Hawk Moth tries to akumatize Adrien's bodyguard he calms upon seeing Adrien, therefore becoming immune to akumatization.

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