| This article is about the transformed butterflies. You may be looking for the supervillains or the superpower. |
| “ | Fly away, my evil/little/mega/devilish akuma, and evilize him/her/them. | ” |
An Akuma is a magic butterfly responsible for transforming people into supervillains. An army of akumas is created and led by Hawk Moth/Shadow Moth, while Ladybug and Cat Noir are tasked with capturing and purifying them.[1]
In "Catalyst (Heroes' Day - Part 1)" and "Ladybug", Hawk Moth akumatizes Nathalie Sancoeur to Catalyst, a villain with the ability to boost superpowers. With Catalyst's boost, Hawk Moth is transformed into Scarlet Moth and gains the ability to release an unlimited amount of akumas at once.
In "Dearest Family", Shadow Moth figured out how to evolve his powers, allowing him to create a Megakuma, a stronger akuma that is capable of breaking through the shields of the Magical Charms.
Appearance
Before it is turned into an akuma by the Butterfly Miraculous owner, the butterfly is pure white.
However, once the butterfly becomes an akuma, it turns black with translucent purple highlights. a Megakuma looks the same as a regular akuma but slightly bigger.
In "Catalyst", when infused with extra power by Scarlet Moth, the akumas are crimson with bright red edges and white markings.
Creation and abilities
An akuma is an evilized butterfly. Its goal is to possess an important object of a person who feels strong emotions, forming a telepathic connection between the person and the Butterfly holder. They are supposed to be used for good purposes by transforming ordinary people into superheroes via positive emotions, but with Hawk Moth they are instead used to create villains by honing in on negative emotions.
Users of the Butterfly Miraculous don't have an endless supply of Akumas, so when they start to run out, the users can grow their own over time. Hawk Moth creates an akuma by charging a butterfly with magical energy.
Akumas have their own telepathic link to the Butterfly Miraculous owner, but if the Akuma goes too far away, the link is disconnected. They can squeeze through impossibly small spaces, even being able to move through the seal of a windowpane.
Once the deal is made, the person is enveloped in a magical dark-purple ether, stemming from the object containing the Akuma, that transforms the person into a superpowered champion.
A non-purified Akuma in the act of multiplying
If an Akuma is removed from one's object but goes uncaptured and unpurified, it will multiply before returning to the Butterfly Miraculous owner and entering the cane. The copies of the Akuma will subsequently fly around and indiscriminately seek out other people. Any person that makes contact with the Akuma clones will turn into exact physical copies of the original host's superpowered form and be frozen like statues in this state. Should the akuma's former host manage to regain the intense emotions that transformed them to begin with, the original akuma will leave the cane and return to transform them once again, and the aforementioned duplicates will awaken and be under the full control of the original, forming a massive clone army.
When multiple Akumas are in existence, they can be controlled by the Butterfly Miraculous owner, to the point of forming a giant swarm shaped like their head, which they can speak through.
In order to face the obstacle that Ladybug's Magical Charms represent to prevent his plans of reakumatizing the Parisians, Shadow Moth is able to boost his powers by focusing on his desire to get the Miraculous to grant his wish. This created a much more powerful akuma that Shadow Moth called Megakuma. This new akuma is able to break through the shields of the Magical Charm and destroy it.
Megakumas can also give their victims a great amount of stamina to achieve their goals as Froggy was akumatized into Risk at sunset in the titular episode and was able to ride his bicycle around Paris for almost 24 hours without getting tired.
Weaknesses
There are several ways to de-spell, reject or avoid the akuma and Akumatization:
- As per all of the episodes of the main series, the Akumatized object can be damaged, causing the Akuma to flee, and the target will return to normal.
- The Ladybug Miraculous can then be used to capture and purify the akuma back into a butterfly while it attempts to flee.
- As shown in "Despair Bear", "Gigantitan", "Chameleon", "Furious Fu", "Startrain", "Ikari Gozen" and "Crocoduel", if the emotions of the intended target weaken, an Akuma will wait and/or be attracted to the person in the area whose emotions are the strongest.
- As shown in "Riposte" and "Gigantitan", an Akuma can be seen before reaching its target and possibly stopped and purified beforehand.
- As shown in "Zombizou", the Akuma can be intercepted by another person, who is then possibly akumatized instead.
- As shown in "Catalyst", "Heart Hunter", and "Miraculous New York", the Akuma can be called back by the holder of the Butterfly Miraculous.
- Also shown in "Catalyst", the Butterfly Miraculous owner is limited to releasing only one akuma at a time. Hawk Moth circumvents this by creating an akumatized champion that gives him the power to release multiple akumas at once.
- As shown in "Chameleon", an akuma can be taken and used even without strong negative emotions.
- As shown in "Startrain", the akuma can stray too far from its owner and lose its telepathic contact with them, resulting in a rogue hero or villain if it possesses someone.
- As shown in "Miraculer" and "Gabriel Agreste", the target can reject and expel the akuma if they are strong-willed enough.
- As shown in "Cat Blanc", an akuma can be destroyed using Cataclysm before it can reach its target.
- As shown in "Gang of Secrets", "Rocketear", "Qilin" and "Penalteam", the target can reject and expel the akuma if the emotions that caused their transformation are lost or supplanted.
- In "Mr. Pigeon 72", Alya Césaire helps Marinette Dupain-Cheng learn the Ladybug Miraculous holder can create magical charms which repel akumas and protect those who wear it.
- As shown in "Furious Fu", the Order of the Guardians' monks are taught a chant to repel akumas, if the Butterfly miraculous is in the wrong hands.
Failure
Ladybug releasing a former Akuma that was reverted back into a butterfly
The Butterfly Miraculous owner can revoke the akuma, taking away their champion's powers and turning the akuma back into a normal butterfly.
An akuma will leave the object it inhabits after the object is broken. From there, the owner of the Ladybug Miraculous can catch it with the yo-yo in order to "de-evilize" it by removing the Butterfly Miraculous energy from it. Afterward, once the akuma reverts back to being a normal butterfly, the Ladybug Miraculous owner releases it, and the butterfly is free, possibly returning to the countryside rather than to Hawk Moth's lair.[2]
If an akuma is set free from a broken object without being purified, it will multiply into countless Akumas and possess any people they come across, turning them into physical duplicates of the akumatized champion. When the original is defeated and purified, its duplicates will vanish, returning the original champion and the other people affected back to normal.
However, it's unclear whether this process would still apply should an akuma be used with good intentions.
Sightings
Episodes
| Season 1 | ||||||||||||
| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "Stormy Weather": | Appears | 14. "Darkblade": | Appears | |||||||||
| 2. "The Evillustrator": | Appears | 15. "The Pharaoh": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "Lady Wifi": | Appears | 16. "Timebreaker": | Appears | |||||||||
| 4. "Princess Fragrance": | Appears | 17. "Horrificator": | Appears | |||||||||
| 5. "Dark Cupid": | Appears | 18. "The Puppeteer": | Appears | |||||||||
| 6. "Mr. Pigeon": | Appears | 19. "The Mime": | Appears | |||||||||
| 7. "Pixelator": | Appears | 20. "Guitar Villain": | Appears | |||||||||
| 8. "Copycat": | Appears | 21. "Reflekta": | Appears | |||||||||
| 9. "The Bubbler": | Appears | 22. "Ladybug & Cat Noir (Origins - Part 1)": | Appears | |||||||||
| 10. "Simon Says": | Appears | 23. "Stoneheart (Origins - Part 2)": | Appears | |||||||||
| 11. "Rogercop": | Appears | 24. "Antibug": | Appears | |||||||||
| 12. "Gamer": | Appears | 25. "Kung Food": | Appears | |||||||||
| 13. "Animan": | Appears | 26. "Volpina": | Appears | |||||||||
| Season 2 | ||||||||||||
| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "The Collector": | Appears | 14. "Syren": | Appears | |||||||||
| 2. "Prime Queen": | Appears | 15. "Zombizou": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "Glaciator": | Appears | 16. "Captain Hardrock": | Appears | |||||||||
| 4. "Despair Bear": | Appears | 17. "Frozer": | Appears | |||||||||
| 5. "Troublemaker": | Appears | 18. "Style Queen": | Appears | |||||||||
| 6. "Gigantitan": | Appears | 19. "Queen Wasp": | Appears | |||||||||
| 7. "Riposte": | Appears | 20. "Reverser": | Appears | |||||||||
| 8. "Befana": | Appears | 21. "Anansi": | Appears | |||||||||
| 9. "Frightningale": | Appears | 22. "Malediktator": | Appears | |||||||||
| 10. "Gorizilla": | Appears | 23. "Sandboy": | Appears | |||||||||
| 11. "Robostus": | Appears | 24. "Catalyst": | Appears | |||||||||
| 12. "Sapotis": | Appears | 25. "Mayura": | Appears | |||||||||
| 13. "The Dark Owl": | Appears | 26. "Santa Claws": | Appears | |||||||||
| Season 3 | ||||||||||||
| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "Chameleon": | Appears | 14. "Kwamibuster": | Appears | |||||||||
| 2. "Animaestro": | Appears | 15. "Feast": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "Bakerix": | Appears | 16. "Gamer 2.0": | Appears | |||||||||
| 4. "Backwarder": | Appears | 17. "Stormy Weather 2": | Appears | |||||||||
| 5. "Reflekdoll": | Appears | 18. "Ikari Gozen": | Appears | |||||||||
| 6. "Weredad": | Appears | 19. "Timetagger": | Appears | |||||||||
| 7. "Silencer": | Appears | 20. "Party Crasher": | Appears | |||||||||
| 8. "Oni-Chan": | Appears | 21. "The Puppeteer 2": | Appears | |||||||||
| 9. "Miraculer": | Appears | 22. "Cat Blanc": | Alternative Reality | |||||||||
| 10. "Oblivio": | Appears | 23. "Félix": | Appears | |||||||||
| 11. "Desperada": | Appears | 24. "Ladybug": | Appears | |||||||||
| 12. "Christmaster": | Appears | 25. "Heart Hunter": | Appears | |||||||||
| 13. "Startrain": | Appears | 26. "Miracle Queen": | Appears | |||||||||
| Season 4 | ||||||||||||
| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song: | Appears | |||||||||||
| 1. "Truth": | Appears | 14. "Sentibubbler": | Absent | |||||||||
| 2. "Lies": | Appears | 15. "Glaciator 2": | Appears | |||||||||
| 3. "Gang of Secrets": | Appears | 16. "Hack-San": | Appears | |||||||||
| 4. "Mr. Pigeon 72": | Appears | 17. "Rocketear": | Appears | |||||||||
| 5. "Psycomedian": | Appears | 18. "Wishmaker": | Appears | |||||||||
| 6. "Furious Fu": | Appears | 19. "Simpleman": | Appears | |||||||||
| 7. "Sole Crusher": | Appears | 20. "Qilin": | Appears | |||||||||
| 8. "Queen Banana": | Appears | 21. "Dearest Family": | Appears | |||||||||
| 9. "Gabriel Agreste": | Appears | 22. "Ephemeral": | Appears | |||||||||
| 10. "Mega Leech": | Appears | 23. "Kuro Neko": | Background | |||||||||
| 11. "Guiltrip": | Appears | 24. "Penalteam": | Appears | |||||||||
| 12. "Crocoduel": | Appears | 25. "Risk": | Appears | |||||||||
| 13. "Optigami": | Appears | 26. "Strikeback": | Appears | |||||||||
| Specials | ||||||||||||
| Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Theme Song: | Absent | |||||||||||
| "Miraculous New York": | Appears | "Miraculous Shanghai": | Appears | |||||||||
| "Miraculous Rio": | Unknown | "Miraculous Dakar": | Unknown | |||||||||
| "Miraculous London": | Unknown | "Miraculous Tokyo": | Unknown | |||||||||
| "Miraculous: One Night Mission": | Unknown | "Miraculous & Ghostforce crossover": | Unknown | |||||||||
| "Ladybug in Halloween": | Unknown | |||||||||||
| Movies | ||||||||||||
| Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie: | Will Appear | |||||||||||
| Miraculous ZAG Chibi | ||||||||||||
| 1. Rooftop Dinner: | Absent | 5. Cutest Cat Fight: | Absent | |||||||||
| 2. Catnip Fragrance: | Absent | 6. Fatal Posy: | Absent | |||||||||
| 3. The Chase: | Appears | 7. Scarybug: | Absent | |||||||||
| 4. Curiosity Kicked the Cat | Absent | ?. NeckRace: | Unknown | |||||||||
Comics and books
| Miraculous Adventures | ||||||||||||
| "Issue 1": | Appears | "Issue 5": | Unknown | |||||||||
| "Issue 2": | Appears | "Issue 6": | Will Appear | |||||||||
| "Issue 3": | Mentioned | "Issue 7": | Will Appear | |||||||||
| "Issue 4": | Absent | "Issue 8": | Unknown | |||||||||
| Other Comics & Books | ||||||||||||
| Ladybug Artbook: | Appears | Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug: | Unknown | |||||||||
| Miraculous (manga): | Absent | Miraculous: Tales of Cat Noir: | Unknown | |||||||||
| Tailor-Made Adventures: | Absent | Tales of Miraculous: | Unknown | |||||||||
Other
| Games | ||||||||||||
| Super Lady Luck: | Absent | Miraculous Mission Ladybug: | Absent | |||||||||
| Throwdown!: | Absent | Ladybug Contra os Vilões: | Appears | |||||||||
| Miraculous Ladybug & Cat Noir: | Appears | Miraculous Crush: | Appears | |||||||||
| Miraculous: Color by Numbers | Pictured | Miraculous RP: Quests of Ladybug & Cat Noir: | Appears | |||||||||
| ZAG World | Unknown | |||||||||||
Trivia
The butterfly's chibi design as seen in "The Chase".
- In Japanese, "akuma" (悪魔) means "demon" or "devil".
- In most Asian lore, butterflies symbolize change. However, they are a sign of bad luck when in large numbers.
- 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 aren't evil by nature. The black color just means they're charged with power.[3]
- The word "evilize" was created by Thomas Astruc.[4]
- In "Party Crasher", it is shown that akumas are produced by butterfly farming from Hawk Moth’s repository.
- As of this episode, an akuma is yet to be seen in its larvae stage, and it is also unknown what they eat when in that stage. Since they grow into white butterflies, it could be possible that they start out as white caterpillars.
- Akumas are similar to Kwamis, both being able to inhabit an object and transform a person into a super-being.
- In the Korean dub, they're simply called "Black Butterflies".
- Ironically, they are still called that in their scarlet forms, too.
- "Sentibubbler" is currently the only episode in which an akuma does not appear in any form, while "Mayura" is the only episode in which the default black-and-purple akuma does not make an appearance.
- When Cataclysm is used on an akuma, it will be destroyed like everything else, as seen in "Cat Blanc".
- As seen in "Simpleman", the user of the Butterfly Miraculous is not immune to the superpowers of their akumatized champions.
- An akuma can be seen in the thumbnail of every Season 4 trailer in the official YouTube channel.
Gallery
 Click here to view the gallery. |
References
