Gabriel Agreste

Hawk Moth (Le Papillon in the French version, which translates to "the Butterfly") is a villain who wants Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses and powers for himself. He creates and controls the akumas, evil creatures who transform normal people into supervillains.

Appearance
Hawk Moth is tall with light blue eyes.

He wears a dark purple dress shirt with a black vest, a light pink butterfly-shaped bow with a purple button in the center, and black dress pants. Over the majority of his face, he wears a silver mask. Whenever he is controlling someone with an akuma, a bright pink butterfly-shaped outline appears above his face and around his eyes. He also has a dark indigo cane with a round stone with black lines within a cylinder on top.

Personality
Hawk Moth is cold, cunning, and determined. His greatest desire is to claim Miraculouses to take over the world with, and nothing will stand in his way. His akumatized villains as his most powerful known weapon, he chooses his victims carefully and cleverly, giving them ideas if they're struggling to think up ones. He is a great deceiver, persuading people that he cares about their problems and give them powers, when in fact, he does it because of his ulterior motive to use them to get the Miraculous for him. If things aren't going his way, he easily loses his patience, threatening harm to Ladybug, Cat Noir, and even the villains he creates. After defeat, Hawk Moth vows revenge and, while stopping for a while afterwards, doesn't wait too long to try again with his akumas.

Ladybug
Hawk Moth wants nothing more than to defeat Ladybug, take her Miraculous, and make her suffer once he wins. While he despises both her and Cat Noir and wants both of their Miraculous, he seems to blame her more for their successes and feel more aggression towards her.

Cat Noir
Like with Ladybug, if to a slightly lesser extent, Hawk Moth despises him and intends to take his Miraculous.

Akumatized villains
The only purpose Hawk Moth creates akumatized villains is because he needs them to retrieve Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculous from them. He pretends to be a caring friend, promising to assist them with their dark desires by giving them powers, just as long as they return the favor with the Miraculouses. He often stays involved with what they're doing, and he'll give advice or plans to them in some situations. However, if an akumatized villain doesn't follow through with obtaining the Miraculous, Hawk Moth isn't pleased. He is frustrated by the Bubbler kicking a bubble that holds Ladybug and Cat Noir into the sky without their Miraculous, and when the Evillustrator avoids his responsibility by preparing for a date with Marinette, he temporarily controlled his body just to warn the Evillustrator if he didn't get his work for him done soon.

Abilities
Hawk Moth can energize butterflies with dark energy, which transforms them into akumas. He sends them out to possess the object of a vulnerable person, and then after they agree to serve him, he transforms them into supervillains, corrupting their personalities and granting them a wide variety of superpowers and abilities. To telepathically communicate with his creations, a pink butterfly-shaped frame of light appears in front of his and the villain's faces. He is able to feel negative emotions like an empath, and he can precisely pinpoint the person's identity and the reason why they're upset.

These powers do have their limitations however. He is only ever seen creating one akumatized villain at a time, only being able to make one villain over the course of an indeterminate amount of time. He needs to convince his victims to accept the powers that he grants, and the akumatized supervillains that he creates - while corrupted - do still have a will of their own and can either disobey or carry out his orders incompetently. For a brief amount of time however, he can control the villain's body, preventing them from doing anything.

It is currently unknown if he has any physical capabilities on his own.

Sightings

 * Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song

Season 1

 * Every episode of season 1

Other media

 * Ladybug PV

Trivia

 * Hawk Moth is also called Butterfly in other sources.
 * Hawk Moth's appearance is much different than his appearance in the Ladybug PV. In the PV, he doesn't wear a mask, has white hair and silver eyes, and wears a white dress suit with a pale tan vest and bow.
 * The Butterfly Miraculous that the pink kwami inhabits, as seen in the theme song, looks identical to the bow that Hawk Moth wears, likely meaning that he already has possession of at least one Miraculous.
 * Both the butterfly and the moth symbolize change or personal evolution. This is likely in connection with his ability to corrupt and transform others into his henchmen.
 * The design of Hawk Moth's mask is a reference to the supervillain Fantômas from the 1964 French film with the same name.
 * It's currently unknown what Hawk Moth's intentions are for getting Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, other than for more power.
 * Staff member WinnyGZ, when asked on Twitter if Hawk Moth is a metaphor for human ambivalence, responded, "Yes, you can say that. But his true nature and purpose will change your point of view."

Hawk Moth