Miraculous is a French media franchise created by writer and director Thomas Astruc and owned by Miraculous Corp., a joint venture of Mediawan and ZAG Entertainment. The franchise follows two Parisian teenagers, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste, who use magical jewels (two earrings and a ring) known as Miraculous to transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir. The powers of these jewels are granted by the Kwamis, ancient magical creatures that personify abstract concepts such as creation, luck, destruction, and curiosity. In addition to the two main heroes, other teenagers in the city also receive their own Miraculous to transform and help protect Paris, this group became known as "The Miraculers." Together, they defend the French capital against attacks by supervillains created from negative emotions, known as akumatized villains. The franchise began with the main animated series Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (2015–present), it consists web series, TV movies, animated films, video games, comic books, stage adaptations, manga editions and an extensive line of merchandising.
History
Origins
The original concept for Ladybug emerged around 2005, conceived by French illustrator and screenwriter Thomas Astruc. The idea was born spontaneously, after meeting a co-worker wearing a ladybug-print t-shirt, he began sketching the character's design on a sticky note. Seeing the potential of his creation, Astruc developed new designs—including fictional comic book covers titled The Mini Menace Ladybug—and built an entire universe around the protagonist, inspired by superhero universes like Marvel's. The project gained momentum when he joined forces with Jeremy Zag, producer of ZAGTOON (now ZAG Entertainment), which allowed for further refinement of the concept. Astruc drew inspiration from various sources, especially Japanese animation and comics, elements of superheroes similar to Spider-Man, and Franco-Belgian comics. The main character was created following the characteristics of the magical girl genre, like Sailor Moon, while the tone and romantic atmosphere of Paris were especially influenced by the character from the French film Amélie Poulain. Cat Noir was designed as a symbolic counterpart to Ladybug, based on the Chinese philosophical concept of Yin and Yang. Since ladybugs are traditionally associated with good luck, Astruc created a black cat hero representing bad luck and destruction. His look was inspired by the DC Comics character Catwoman, with a black suit, agility, and the ability to act unnoticed. In terms of personality, he symbolizes freedom: in his ordinary life, Adrien is reserved and limited by his father's rules, while as a superhero he becomes playful, fearless, and expressive. In the early versions of the project, the character was called Félix and had a colder, more distant temperament. During development, in partnership with Jeremy Zag, the concept was reformulated, Adrien Agreste was then created, and the name Félix was kept to create the character's cousin, Félix Fathom. This change made the relationship between the protagonists more empathetic and accessible to the audience. When Nathanaël Bronn presented the project to Jeremy Zag, he immediately fell in love with the idea: a superhero story set in Paris, combining action, adventure, and romance, with universal values capable of appealing to a global audience. To transform the vision into reality, Zag sought out Aton Soumache of Method Animation, and together they decided to develop the production in an international partnership. The goal was to create a European animation that combined the essence of Western comics, the characteristic French touch, and the dynamism of Japanese animation, as Zag explained: "American-style superheroes, with stories and powers in the Japanese format." When the project began, there were very few superheroines as protagonists—a scenario that would change drastically just five years later. The producers took a risk: with the exception of the Japanese market, almost no one had ventured to create a heroine of this type as the main character. Experience showed that a female protagonist did not alienate the male audience, as long as there was comedy, adventure and action, in addition to memorable male characters like Cat Noir. The main challenge was to also win over the female audience: the team maintained elements that referred to the universe considered "feminine," but added attributes and powers previously reserved for heroes of the genre. The proposal was exactly that: a series made for girls, but that would also win over boys. This initiative also arose from a change in the profile of female characters in entertainment, before, they were generally represented as fairies or princesses in search of their prince charming. Starting with productions like The Snow Queen, Rapunzel and The Hunger Games, characters with power, autonomy, and the capacity for action began to be shown, and Miraculous came to consolidate this new approach. As the creator of the character and the mastermind behind the concept, Astruc also assumed the role of writer and director of the series. Initially, he explored various approaches, but many proved difficult to implement, especially due to the number of partners involved. To reconcile all these points, he worked closely with Sébastien Thibaudeau, the script director, who acted as a link between the parties. The pair defended the original essence of the story while making adjustments to meet the needs of the partners, without distorting the initial idea. One of the biggest challenges during production was finding screenwriters who understood the language and structure of superhero stories. Astruc worked alongside Thibaudeau to guide the team, as many had a tendency to separate comedic moments from action scenes, instead of naturally weaving them into the narrative.
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