Nathaniel Kurtzberg

"You? You're Marinette! You're beautiful and sweet and... you're perfect and I could never hurt you!"

- Evillustrator

, also called Nathan or Nath, is a student in Miss Bustier's class at Collège Françoise Dupont. In "The Evillustrator", when Chloé mocks his art and his crush on Marinette, he is infected with an akuma by Hawk Moth and becomes the Evillustrator, an artistic supervillain whose drawings become real.

Physical appearance
Nathaniel is fairly short with turquoise eyes and messy red orange hair. He has long bangs that are brushed to the left side of his face.

Civilian attire
He wears a red t-shirt with a black design on the front. Over his shirt, he wears a gray dress jacket with a folded collar, folded sleeves, and side pockets. He wears purple jeans that are rolled up at the bottom, and his shoes are gray with white lace and a white section where his toes would be.

As the Evillustrator
The Evillustrator's skin is light purple, and his hair is brushed back while colored orange with purple tips. On his head he has a dark purple beret, and on his face, he has a dark purple butterfly-shaped mask. He wears a white suit with dark purple stripes and solid dark purple legs that become red halfway down his lower legs. On his chest, there is a black circle with smaller red, yellow, and blue circles inside. His collar is swan-necked, with a red collar underneath. A black drawing tablet is attached to the back of his right forearm. His pen is silver towards the tip, with the end being black with a red stripe in the middle.

Personality


Nathaniel is imaginative and artistic. An introverted soul, he is quiet and shy in class, and seems to be quite easily lost in his fantasies, such as when he is daydreaming about his crush, Marinette. In his drawings, he creates "Super Nathan", a courageous superhero version of himself, as a way to imagine himself as being more brash and outgoing. Nathaniel can be rather observant about details around him, including goo left by Horrificator in the episode of the same name and the details of Chloé's bracelet in "Rogercop". Afraid of being judged, he prefers to be secretive about his art, and if he is accused of something, he becomes nervous, and, if the accusations are true, deeply embarrassed. He is easily terrified in some scary or stressful situations, as in "Horrificator", but in other situations, he is willing to stand up for himself, such as when others accuse him of stealing Chloé's bracelet.

In "Reverser", Nathaniel has a bit of a habit of jumping to conclusions when he assumed the book Marinette gave him came from Ladybug, when it actually came from Marc, without giving him the chance to explain. Similar to Cat Noir he is sensitive of his feelings towards the heroine.

As the Evillustrator, who is based on "Super Nathan," he is more confident and direct, such as when he literally barged into Marinette's bedroom and asked her out to celebrate his birthday with him. Even when akumatized, he still genuinely cares for her, promising her that he would stop attacking Chloé and even defying Hawk Moth for a while when his date was at stake. However, he is furious when humiliated or tricked and he can be short-tempered and reckless - his response to Marinette betraying him was accusing her of being just like Chloé.

As a civilian
Nathaniel is an artist, skilled in drawing pictures with pencil, pen, and marker, and creating digital arts on his tablet. He is good at drawing still life, such as Chloé's bracelet, and drawing comics with human figures and costume designs. In "Zombizou", Nathaniel is also shown to be talented in painting, as he made a one for Caline Bustier for her birthday.

In his titular episode, Nathaniel as Evillustrator is shown "drawing" musical notes to create a melody, suggesting he has some musical knowledge or talent as well.

As the Evillustrator
The Evillustrator has the power to draw whatever he wants onto his drawing tablet to make it appear and exist in real life. The objects he creates can levitate and move freely in the air. He can also erase objects, both real-life objects or previous drawings, such as erasing a hole into a wall. However, in order to draw, the Evillustrator needs light, so in darkness, he is unable to use his powers.

Additionally, the Evillustrator is supernaturally agile, being able to leap high and far distances.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug
Nathaniel has a secret crush on Marinette, drawing comics in his sketchbook of him saving her from villains. When he becomes the Evillustrator, he has the confidence to act on his feelings, asking Marinette if she would go out on a date with him for his birthday. When Marinette betrays him by leading Cat Noir to him, it hurts him deeply, and he angrily announces she is just like Chloé. It is not explicitly stated, but rather implied by the crossed-out image of his comic featuring Marinette, that by the end of the episode, Nathaniel no longer has romantic feelings for her. Outside of "The Evillustrator", Nathaniel treats Marinette politely and respectfully, such as asking her about her campaign in "Darkblade". However, he does not appreciate it when she points him out as a suspect for stealing Chloé's bracelet without stronger evidence in "Rogercop". In "Befana", Nathaniel works with his friends to protect Marinette from Befana.

In "Reverser", Nathaniel becomes upset with Marinette when he mistakenly thought she was using Marc to tease him but after everything was cleared up he still continues his friendship with her and dedicates his first comic to her.

Nathaniel is relieved to know that Ladybug is around to save the day. After his time as the Evillustrator, in his sketchbook, he has drawn a comic book cover that features Ladybug with hearts drawn in red at the bottom of the page, possibly implying he now has romantic feelings for her. Which is confirmed in "Reverser", when commented by Chloé that Ladybug is all he draws and when he assumed the "Dairy of Ladybug" was written by the actual Ladybug.

Chloé Bourgeois
Like most people, Nathaniel dislikes Chloé for being a self-absorbed, mean-spirited person. He is horrified when she grabs his sketchbook from the floor, and, seeing his drawing of himself and Marinette, reveals his crush on her to the entire class. He also doesn't like how Chloé bothers Marinette; so as Evillustrator, he draws a giant hairdryer to blow her away. At first promising Marinette that he wouldn't attack Chloé again, he changes his mind after Marinette breaks his heart, and goes to destroy Chloé after all.

Alix Kubdel
Alix appears to be close friends with Nathaniel. He approaches her for comfort and advice during Reverser.

Marc Anciel
While initially angry, believing he tricked him, after the misunderstanding was cleared, they began a project together using Marc's stories and Nathaniel's art skills to create a comic book, forming a friendship at the same time. They continue working together on comic books as seen in "Frozer" and "Mayura".

Trivia

 * Nathaniel's name is an homage to Nathanaël Bronn, the chief art director of the show.
 * A Miraculous promotional French document from TF1PRO released on September 23, 2015 spelled his name as Nathanaël, but Thomas Astruc later confirmed the correct spelling of his name to be Nathaniel when he released multiple characters' full names on July 18, 2016.
 * His last name Kurtzberg is a reference to the famous American comic book artist Jack Kirby, who was born as Jacob Kurtzberg.
 * Nathaniel is Jewish, as supported by Thomas Astruc, as Jack Kirby was also Jewish.
 * In the French dub of the show, the Evillustrator's name is Le Dessinateur, meaning "the illustrator," "the cartoonist," or "the designer."
 * The Evillustrator tries to avoid following Hawk Moth's orders to get the Miraculouses. As punishment, Hawk Moth briefly controls his body and almost prevents him from preparing for his date with Marinette.
 * This is one of two times Hawk Moth has used this ability, the other time being in "Pixelator".TPT (922).png
 * Nathaniel seems to be ambidextrous to some extent:
 * When he wakes up at the beginning of "The Evillustrator", he is holding a pencil with his right hand and can be using his right hand in the background of many episodes and other media artworks.
 * He is left-handed when he's the Evillustrator, as his drawing pad is on his right arm and he draws with his left hand.
 * In "Robostus", Nathaniel is notably shown drawing a sketch of Markov with his left hand.
 * His shirt symbol is based on the French rock band Magma. Both Thomas Astruc and Nathanaël Bronn are fans of the band.
 * Nathaniel sits behind Ivan in class to draw without being noticed.
 * He and Ivan are the only students in the class to not share their desks with another student.
 * Nathaniel becomes the Evillustrator a second time when the Puppeteer transforms him using a doll in the episode "The Puppeteer".
 * Nathaniel's drawing of Ladybug is actually an edited version of the issue #10 cover of The Mini Menace Ladybug, a series of fake comic covers drawn by Thomas Astruc.
 * Since Nathaniel is Jewish and he is about 13-15 years old, he must have already done his Bar Mitzvah.
 * In "Reverser", Nathaniel is a part of the school's Art Club along with Juleka, Rose, Alix and Marinette.

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