30 Best Miraculous Ladybug Episodes Ranked

An international production split between studios in France, Japan, and South Korea, "Miraculous Ladybug" – also known as "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir" – struggled a bit to find a broadcast home in the United States. It first launched on Nickelodeon, then moved to the short-lived KidsClick programming block, and was finally picked up by Disney who put it on the Disney Channel (per Business Wire). However, the series has since found its fanbase through streaming services, first on Netflix and later on Disney+, with Disney seeing fit to purchase the global rights for much of the world beginning with Season 4 (per Licensing International). 

The series follows two teenagers named Marinette and Adrien, whose alter egos are the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively. Marinette and Adrien are friends and Ladybug and Cat Noir work together, but Marinette doesn't know Adrien is Cat Noir and vice versa. This is further complicated by the fact that Marinette has feelings for Adrien and Adrien has feelings for Ladybug, but those feelings are reciprocated the other way around. 

This dynamic, in addition to the various bad guys that pop up as well as new allies that join the fray, serves as the primary catalyst for the show that is primarily aimed at tweens but can be – and has been – enjoyed by fans of all ages for its gorgeous animation, fun storylines, impressive action, and a great cast of characters. Here are the best 30 episodes of "Miraculous Ladybug," ranked.

Other than the various evils that must be defeated by Ladybug, Cat Noir, and friends, the primary conflict throughout much of "Miraculous Ladybug" is the love square between Marinette, Adrien, Ladybug, and Cat Noir. Often times it is manifested by way of a lot of sulking and pining, but there are episodes where one or more of the various members of the entanglement decide to try and divert their affections to someone else.

In the Season 2 episode "Frozer," that attempt results in a double date that involves Marinette and Luka, who are accompanied by Adrien and Kagami. This naturally spills over into the creation of the episode's titular villain when the manager of the ice rink that the foursome are at is akumatized into a bad guy called Frozer. 

After a successful battle, Marinette and Adrien return to their normal selves and their respective dates, with both realizing that the attempt to forget about their unrequited feelings for their crushes via the ice rink date was ultimately unsuccessful.  

The majority of villains in "Miraculous Ladybug" are created and then defeated within a single episode, but there are a few who have made multiple appearances — and those are the ones who really make an impact. One such villain that was too good at being bad to be limited to just one episode is Dark Owl, who returned in the Season 5 episode "Jubilation" after having previously been seen way back in a Season 2 episode named after him.

In "Jubilation," Mr. Damocles is once again akumatized by Monarch (Gabriel Agreste's evolution at this point in the series) – only this time, Mr. Damocles is a much more powerful version of Dark Owl with one of the most devastating abilities in the entire series. Sharing its name with the title of the episode, the Jubilation ability allows Dark Owl to learn what his foe wants most in the whole world and trick them into thinking they have received it, making them extremely vulnerable to attack or manipulation. Dark Owl is considered one of the most dangerous supervillains in "Miraculous Ladybug" history, and his abilities in this episode are a big part of the reason why.

Not all villains in "Miraculous Ladybug" were created by Gabriel Agreste or were even akumatized at all. In Season 3's "Feast," the titular baddie is actually something called a sentimonster – meaning that it was created via the Peacock Miraculous brooch, a magical item that manifests someone's emotions. In this case, that someone is Master Wang, who created Feast many years ago. Master Wang, of course, is the person who gifted Marinette and Adrien with the ability to become Ladybug and Cat Noir.

Not only does this episode dive a bit more into Master Wang's past, but it also gives fans one of the rare opportunities to see Marinette and Adrien have to do battle as themselves without the help of their Miraculouses — at least at first. The episode seems to be a farewell to Master Wang, and while it doesn't end up being the case, it's still a heartstring-tugging moment when it happens. 

Also of note is that it is during this episode that Ladybug begins training to eventually become the new Guardian, which is a very important role within the "Miraculous Ladybug" universe.

Some of the characters in "Miraculous Ladybug" have multiple alter egos, such as Marinette's best friend, Alya Cesaire. As previously mentioned, she is Ladybug and Cat Noir ally Rena Rouge, but she is also the somewhat recurring akumatized villain known as Lady Wifi – who made her debut in the Season 1 episode that bears her name. Marinette being Ladybug is such a closely guarded and well-kept secret that not even her BFF Alya knows the truth, which gets complicated when the nosy Alya becomes obsessed with figuring out who Ladybug really is.

After a series of coincidences and misunderstandings leads Alya to believe that Chloe is Ladybug, Chloe ends up getting Alya suspended from school — she sure does get a lot of people in trouble, doesn't she? Alya's anger over her suspension gives Hawk Moth all he needs to akumatize her into Lady Wifi, who has Alya's same desire to find out Ladybug's identity but with much less concern over what rules she breaks or who she hurts in the process. Despite Ladybug returning Alya to her normal self in this episode, it wouldn't be the last time we see this fascinating villain.

One of the fun things about "Miraculous Ladybug" is its setting, which takes advantage of the cityscape and culture of Paris as a backdrop for episodes and events. In the case of the Season 1 episode "Dark Cupid," that comes in the form of the city's famed Pont des Arts, also known as the bridge of locks. It was long a tradition for visiting couples to attach a lock to the bridge and then throw the key to the lock in the Seine river underneath, which was a way of sealing their love for one another. Though it should be noted that the year the episode aired, 2015, was the same year that the city officially made the practice illegal (per TheTravel).

Still, it's the perfect location for Chloe to try to pass off a poem Adrien wrote for Ladybug as him writing it for her, followed by being the spot where a new akumatized villain called Dark Cupid basically wages war on love itself. Of course, the episode ends with the love square of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Marinette, and Adrien being as complicated as ever, but we wouldn't expect anything less from the show's first de facto Valentine's Day episode.

In yet another story that is kicked off during a babysitting gig, Season 2's "Sapotis" has Marinette helping out Alya who is watching her little sisters, Etta and Ella. They are a handful, to say the least, but blame it all on mythical troublemaking creatures known as Sapotis. So, of course, when the girls get mad and it comes time to be akumatized, they are naturally transformed into Sapotis themselves.

Not only does this episode offer a nice team-up between Ladybug and Rena Rouge – the latter not working in the shadows this time — but it also introduces a few additional miraculouses that hadn't yet been seen in the show up to that point. Any episode that deepens the lore of the "Miraculous Ladybug" universe is always special, and "Sapotis" is definitely important in that regard. Oh, and it's also the debut of Trixx, one of the cutest characters in this or any show in recent memory. 

We haven't had much reason to mention them yet, but Tikki and Plagg are important characters in the world of "Miraculous Ladybug" as the kwamis of Ladybug and Cat Noir, respectively. They typically play a sidekick role, but the Season 3 episode "Kwamibuster" has them take front and center as we follow them around causing mischief and ultimately getting spotted by a human — Ms. Mendeleiev — allowing video proof of their existence to be captured on camera. 

Getting seen by a human is a big no-no for a kwami and they initially choose not to confess their mistake. Ms. Mendeleiev shows her video, but as kwamis can't actually be caught on film, all it shows is a piece of cheese that is slowly disappearing as if being eaten by an unseen creature. When the video is met with skepticism, Ms. Mendeleiev becomes angry and is then akumatized into the villain Kwamibuster. Her magical vacuum is able to capture 13 of Ladybug and Cat Noir's various kwamis before she is ultimately defeated and they are all freed. 

Episode 1 of Season 4, "Truth," parallels the episode "Lies" in more ways than just opposite titles. Whereas "Lies" was about Adrien having to reckon with lying to Kagami to keep it a secret that he is Cat Noir, "Truth" sees Marinette's freshly started relationship with Luka thrown into upheaval after she is forced to lie to him to keep her own secret identity under wraps.

The similarities don't end there, as the whole thing leads to Luka being akumatized into a villain that is focused on honesty. However, instead of simply punishing liars as Lies did, Luka becomes Truth, whose power is to force people to not only tell the truth but also spill all their secrets. Needless to say, this is potentially bad news for Marinette. While Truth is ultimately defeated, the whole ordeal leads to the end of Marinette and Luka's attempt at a relationship when it had only just barely begun. 

Also in this episode, Luka finds out that he is the son of rock star Jagged Stone, who was akumatized as Guitar Villain in the Season 1 episode of the same name.

Break-ups can be messy, especially between people who had previously been friends. Case in point, Marinette hasn't really known how to – or perhaps just hasn't wanted to – deal with the emotional aftermath of her and Luka splitting up at the start of Season 4 and has largely just chosen to avoid him instead. Their well-meaning mutual friends decide that the best course of action is to more or less trick the exes into spending time together at Luka and his twin sister Juleka's birthday party. What could go wrong?

To the show's credit, things don't go the obvious route of Luka getting akumatized over how Marinette reacts to seeing him. Instead, a surprising left turn leads to Luka and Juleka's parents not only becoming the akumatized ones but going to battle with each other in what just ends up feeling like an amped-up custody battle. This not only sees the return of Guitar Villain and Captain Hardrock (Anarka Couffaine) but also the debut of Purple Tigress, Juleka's Miraculous form.  

The will they or won't they of Marinette and Adrien is still rolling along in Season 5 — though, by this point, things have changed a bit. The episode "Determination" sees Marinette trying to finally push her feelings for Adrien aside, primarily because of all the ways it has interfered with her important work as Ladybug. Still, at the same time, Adrien seems to finally be realizing that maybe Marinette can and should be more than just a friend to him. 

The two are struggling with these emotions during a trip to the museum with Luka and Kagami, with the latter two finally realizing that their role in all of this should've been matchmaker to the other two all along. Suddenly, a frustrated museum director ends up being akumatized into a villain that can bring statues to life. Good thing Marinette and Adrien just happened to be there at the time, eh? That villain and the ensuing battle are fine, but it's the Marinette and Adrien stuff that really makes this episode a standout and a fan favorite. 

It stands to reason that if Gabriel Agreste was Shadow Moth, then his assistant Nathalie also should have her own villainous alter ego. That alter ego, Mayura, gets her own self-titled episode as part of the Season 2 arc Heroes' Day, which we'll get to soon – but she also made a triumphant return two seasons later in "Optigami."

Mayura creates the episode's titular sentimonster, a magical origami butterfly that can disappear into inanimate objects. While the original plan is to use this ability to spy on Ladybug and Cat Noir and hopefully discover their secret identities, Shadow Moth amends the plan to have Optigami actually merge with a Miraculous and attempts to orchestrate a scenario in which Ladybug has to give said Miraculous to somebody. 

Style Queen – the akumatized villain form of Audrey, Chloe's mother – also returns for the first time in two seasons, making this stellar episode a wonderful reunion of some of the best and most personal villains in "Miraculous Ladybug" history. The show is always choosey about who to bring back for an encore, so when it happens, it typically feels quite special. 

The third of the two-part story arcs featured in "Miraculous Ladybug" is the Heroes' Day storyline, the second installment of which sees the debut of Nathalie as the evil Mayura. Together with Gabriel, the two attempt to make everyone think that not only has Ladybug gone bad but that she has defeated Cat Noir. This has the overarching effect of allowing the duo to akumatize a number of people who are collectively feeling angry and betrayed by Ladybug's alleged defection and Cat Noir's end.

Ladybug never would've been able to take down this army of akumatized villains on her own, so she enlists Alya (as Rena Rouge), Nino (as Carapace), and even Chloe (as Queen Bee) to help her fight them. It's a stunning climax to the second-best two-parter of "Miraculous Ladybug" so far and marks the debut of one of the series' best and most dangerous villains in Mayura. 

Like any show with a fantasy or sci-fi bent, "Miraculous Ladybug" was bound to get into time traveling eventually. When it did so, in the Season 3 episode "Timetagger," it resulted in one of the show's all-time best episodes. While dealing with a villain from the future sent by Hawk Moth to steal Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses, various other characters from the future show up, as well as the revelation that the Timetagger can send people back to the past for good with no way of returning.

It all makes for an already exciting and high-stakes episode, but the greatness of "Timetagger" — and its standing as one of the show's best episodes — is cemented by the revelation that the Timetagger is actually Nino's brother, Chris, all grown up. 

Also revealed is that Alix will wield the Rabbit Miraculous in the future, which turns her into Bunnyx, but not before she becomes the dog-themed Canigirl in Season 5, which makes her one of the most important heroes in the "Miraculous Ladybug" universe behind Ladybug and Cat Noir. Mark our words — if there's ever a spin-off, it'll take place in the future and star Bunnyx as the main protagonist. 

Now comes the stunning conclusion of the Shadow Moth's Final Attack two-parter — which, again, is so good that it didn't deserve to simply be folded into the entry for the first part, "Risk." In "Strikeback," Ladybug and Cat Noir have been lulled by Shadow Moth into a false sense of security, not realizing they are still under his control and mistakenly believing that the trouble has passed. It seems as if all of the elements are in place for Gabriel to finally and fully win against the duo for the first time ever.

Indeed, having successfully taken all of the Miraculouses except for Ladybug and Cat Noir's, Gabriel is now able to evolve from Shadow Moth into Monarch, his most powerful form yet, and a seemingly unstoppable villain for our two heroes. It's the kind of endgame situation that felt epic enough to be the finale of the entire series, and it's to the show's credit that it only turns out to be a mere season finale and that the show was able to return for a still-excellent Season 5. Even so, the events of "Strikeback" definitely changed the universe of "Miraculous Ladybug" in significant ways that will be felt until the show finally wraps up. 

The creators of "Miraculous Ladybug" clearly knew they had a special character on their hands by way of Bunnyx — so much so that they brought her back just three episodes after her debut. Also, when we mentioned that there should be a spin-off that takes place in the future and stars Bunnyx, we deliberately left out who should be her primary antagonist because we'd be discussing him in his debut episode, "Cat Blanc."

In the episode, Marinette makes a lapse in judgment that leads to Adrien figuring out she is Ladybug. While he is initially thrilled at this revelation, it leads to extremely tragic consequences in the future and the creation of a heartbreaking villain. 

Obviously, we've been pretty free and loose with the spoilers in this feature thus far since the assumption is that anyone reading this list is a fan who is all caught up. Still, there's something about this episode and all the unexpected – as well as tragic — directions it goes in that it just doesn't feel right laying it all bare. Suffice it to say, this is far and away the best episode of "Miraculous Ladybug" by a mile, and it's hard to imagine it'll ever be topped, even if the show has an absolutely flawless final episode.