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.

Much of "Miraculous Ladybug" focuses on secrets, secret identities, and how hard those things are to manage – and in the Season 4 episode "Rocketear," Marinette's closest friend, Alya, discovers as much as she tries to juggle her Rena Furtive alter ego. Rena Furtive had been something of a stealth ally to Ladybug and Cat Noir, but a series of events reveals to Adrien that Alya and Rena Furtive are one and the same, a shocking revelation for the lead duo.

Many "Miraculous Ladybug" episodes follow a villain of the week formula as primary antagonist Gabriel Agreste akumatizes someone who has gotten upset early in the story of a given episode. This time, that akumatized villain is the Rocketear, created when Alya's boyfriend Nino is akumatized by Gabriel (as Shadow Moth). This leads to all sorts of misplaced jealousy between Nino, Alya/Rena Furtive, and Adrien/Cat Noir, as feelings are misunderstood and revenge is carried out based on said misunderstandings. Still, even after Nino is freed from Shadow Moth's influence, the revealing of Alya's alter ego to multiple people in her life is a major turning point for her as a character. 

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.  

Like many teenagers, Marinette sometimes works as a babysitter. One evening, she is babysitting Manon — the daughter of TV news reporter Nadja Chamack – and makes puppets of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Lady Wifi, Rogercop, and the Evillustrator for the two to play with. Marinette wants to leave the dolls for Manon to play with, but Nadja forbids it. This upsets Manon, and her anger at the situation is soon taken advantage of by Gabriel Agreste — aka Hawk Moth — who akumatizes Manon into a villain called the Puppeteer.

Puppeteer is able to bring the aforementioned puppets to life, not only giving her an army of puppet sidekicks but also the ability to control the real versions of anyone she has doll counterparts of. Ladybug and Cat Noir are able to stop Puppeteer before she takes control of their puppets, and break the akuma so that she turns back into Manon. The episode ends with Manon and Marinette hanging out again, and Marinette suggesting that maybe they go to the zoo this time instead of playing with puppets. 

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.

Television pilots can be a mixed bag. For some shows, it represents something of a rough first draft for the greatness that is to follow. For others, like "Miraculous Ladybug," the pilot sees a show that is already firing on all cylinders and isn't going to need any time at all to "get good." It does everything a quality pilot should do in that it establishes its main characters and the core conflicts of the show, all within an episode that still stands well enough on its own and doesn't feel like it's all exposition and tedious worldbuilding.

It is here that we are first introduced to Marinette's crush on Adrien as well as her constant struggle between giving her energy toward that and giving it to whatever duties or responsibilities she has at the time – in this case, babysitting Manon. In addition to meeting Hawk Moth, we are also shown our first akumatized villain when the cleverly named Aurore Beauréal is turned into Stormy Weather after she is eliminated from a competition to become the next TV weather girl.

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.

The Season 1 episode "The Evillustrator" starts off with a fun misdirect, making you think you're seeing the return of both Lady Wifi and Stormy Weather. Not only that, but Marinette is trapped by the duo and it's her classmate Nathaniel — as Super Nathan — who has to rescue her. However, it's all soon revealed to just be Nathaniel daydreaming about saving his crush – a crush that is soon exposed to his entire physics class by troublemaker Chloe, followed by a trip to the principal's office for drawing in class.

All in all, it's a bad day for Nathaniel. Soon enough, Hawk Moth jumps at the chance to channel those bad day vibes into akumatizing Nathaniel into the Evillustrator, imbuing his stylus with magical powers that include the ability to erase windows. Thankfully, when he erases Marinette's bedroom window and enters her room, he reveals that he isn't there to fight. Rather, he simply wants to invite her to his birthday party. 

This is the first of several actions that make him something of an anti-villain and further prove that "Miraculous Ladybug" isn't afraid to play with its formula and not just have every episode be about fisticuffs with that week's akumatized villain.

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.

"Miraculous Ladybug" often cleverly straddles demographics, being broad enough to appeal to tweens (or younger) but having enough depth and darkness that older teens or even adults can enjoy watching. A great example of this is the episode "Glaciator," in which a frozen treat vendor is akumatized into a giant snowman whose power is to transform people into ice cream. That sounds like a pretty light and silly conceit, right? Sure — until you consider that these ice cream people very quickly begin to melt in the warm Paris air, which is pretty morbid when you really think about it.

Glaciator himself is also in line with iconic villains like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from "Ghostbusters," taking a friendly visage and subverting it into a giant, lumbering evil. Glaciator was popular enough to be among the select few akumatized villains to return, as he does so in the Season 4 episode "Glaciator 2." While that's a perfectly fine episode, nothing beats his debut appearance and Ladybug and Cat Noir's first battle against the chilly menace.

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.

While Gabriel Agreste (Hawk Moth, Shadow Moth, et al) might be Ladybug's archenemy, Marinette has her own villain in her everyday life — Chloe Bourgeois. Again, "Miraculous Ladybug" isn't afraid to be extremely on-the-nose with naming characters. Initially, the tension between Marinette and Chloe is complicated by the fact that Chloe is a Ladybug superfan, but that all goes sideways when Ladybug insults Chloe and the resulting betrayal leads to her being akumatized as the fittingly-named villain Antibug.

As "Miraculous Ladybug" goes on, Chloe is akumatized into several different villains, and Antibug definitely isn't the most memorable (or formidable) of foes. Still, this is an extremely important turning point for the show once the possibility is put out there that Chloe could be akumatized and carry over the her rivalry with Marinette into one with Ladybug as well. It's not surprising that she becomes a favorite akumitization avatar for Gabriel. 

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. 

Though Adrien is one of the leads of "Miraculous Ladybug," he typically takes something of a backseat to Marinette in most episodes. So whenever an entire episode is largely about him, such as the early Season 4 episode "Lies," it's not only a nice change of pace but also helps to round him out and make him more than just Cat Noir's alter ego and the object of Marinette's crush.

"Lies" delves into the various ways that Adrien struggles with his dual life as himself and Cat Noir, including the first time he is forced to reluctantly lie to Kagami about it. While a certain degree of dishonesty comes with the territory of having an alter ego, this is the first time Adrien has had to blatantly lie to someone close to him, and he really has a hard time with it. 

Making matters worse is that Kagami finds out that she was lied to, which leads to her being akumatized as a villain named Lies who wants to rid the world of the thing she is named after. Not the worst goal on paper, but her methods in achieving that goal are too extreme and she still must be stopped. 

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. 

Though his more powerful form appeared in the episode "Jubilation," Dark Owl's first appearance in "Miraculous Ladybug" remains his most memorable in part because his origins are so incredibly fascinating. The principal of the school that the main characters attend is Mr. Damocles, and he's a big fan of the superhero Knightowl — the show's obvious Batman tribute, right down to having a sidekick named Sparrow. So Mr. Damocles tries to become his own version of that hero as the Owl — but soon realizes that he lacks the necessary physical attributes and talents for crimefighting. 

His frustration over his failed superhero antics translates into him being akumatized as the Dark Owl, giving him all of the skills and gadgets he could want but at the expense of him fighting for the wrong side. Even in his original form, he is an extremely tough opponent for Ladybug and Cat Noir, combining his newfound gifts with his vast knowledge of superhero lore. After all, no villain is more dangerous than one who was a former hero and therefore can think like one. 

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.

The Battle of the Miraculous event during Season 3 of "Miraculous Ladbybug" was huge, to say the least. While both episodes that encompass the arc are solid, we chose to only include the second part – "Miracle Queen" — to represent it. As previously mentioned, Chloe is akumatized several times throughout the series, but it's when she becomes Miracle Queen that she is the biggest threat to our heroes. Why? Well, she not only has the ability to control all the Miraculouses, but she ends up revealing everyone's secret identities, the ramifications of which cannot be understated.

That being said, Miracle Queen and Hawk Moth's machinations aren't even the only major event in this episode that makes it worthy of greatness. Things also happen that seem to suggest a shift in the love square between Marinette, Adrien, Ladybug, and Cat Noir for the first time since the series began. While the shift sort of ends before it truly begins, at least at this point, it does lay the groundwork for the "four" of them finally getting on the same page romantically.

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.  

Though fans had already theorized as much by this point, it wasn't until the early Season 2 episode "The Collector" that the show officially confirmed that Hawk Moth was Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's father. It might be a little cliché to have the main villain be the father of one of the heroes – and to intentionally save that revelation to use as a shocking twist later – but the series handles it well and does some interesting things with that wrinkle. 

Another pivotal thing that happens in the premiere of Season 2 is that we see Marinette meeting Master Wang for the first time, which provides another avenue with which the show expands and deepens its lore. If there was any doubt as to whether "Miraculous Ladybug" had any tricks left up its sleeve after Season 1, they were quickly put to rest with the incredible way Season 2 kicked off. 

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. 

Another iconic two-part "Miraculous Ladybug" event was Shadow Moth's Final Attack, which takes place over the course of the 25th and 26th episodes of Season 4. In this case, both episodes are worthy of individual inclusion on this list. Even though the second part shows up on our list a little later and is therefore the superior entry, that shouldn't suggest that the first episode isn't great as well — it also cracked the top ten, after all.

In "Risk," Shadow Moth has grown frustrated with his lack of success in enacting his villainous plans and decides to go big. He realizes that his only chance of defeating Ladybug is to force her outside of her comfort zone. To do this, he akumatizes a villain called Risk, who then forces Ladybug and everyone around her to start taking risks they wouldn't normally, which leads to disastrous consequences. It's one of the first times we see Ladybug have to come up with a new plan of attack rather than sticking to her tried and true methods that had always worked up to that point, and it's a huge turning point for her and for the entire series. 

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. 

It seems a little odd that it took Shadow Moth so long to have the idea to akumatize a whole team of villains all at once. Of course, what makes the titular Gang of Secrets so impactful is that it comprises longtime friends of Marinette who have had a few years to build up the necessary baggage in regard to her and for each to have a villain that she's already previously defeated.

Not long after she ends her romantic relationship with Luka over struggling with lying to him about performing her Ladybug duties, her friends – Alya, Juleka, Rose, Alix, and Mylène – plan out an intervention for her being an absentee friend as of late. Of course, she can't come right out and say, "I'm not around a lot because I'm busy keeping all of you safe," so she instead has to settle on just telling them to beat it. 

Their collective frustration is seized upon by Shadow Moth, who turns them into Lady Wifi, Reflekta, Princess Fragrance, Timebreaker, and the Horrificator, who gang up on Marinette to get her to spill her secrets. Ladybug and a few of her allies defeat the gang, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem between Marinette and her friends. 

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. 

Remember the shaking up of the love square from the episode "Determination" in Season 5? Well, it all ramps up significantly in the next episode, "Passion," which sees everyone trying to redirect their feelings while just making everything that much more complicated in the process. Marinette keeps trying to talk herself into loving Cat Noir instead of Adrien, while Adrien is doing the same thing by making himself want Marinette instead of Ladybug. 

Things get even more twisted when Marinette and Adrien have to swap Miraculouses to outsmart a scheming Nathalie, marking the return of Marinette as Lady Noir and Adrien as Mister Bug. It's always fun to see those alternate versions of the two leads, and like with so many other things, the series has smartly shown restraint in not using them too much and having the novelty wear off. If only Ladybug, Lady Noir, Cat Noir, and Mister Bug could all somehow co-exist and form the ultimate Miraculous team. 

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. 

Season 3's "Oblivio" is not only one of the best episodes of "Miraculous Ladybug" but also one of the most unique. Fans do love the familiar formula of most of the episodes in that comfort food type of way, but whenever things go in a completely unusual direction and an episode feels unlike any other, it's a welcome breath of fresh air.

The episode begins with Ladybug and Adrien trapped inside what appears to be an elevator, with no memories of who they are or how they know each other and only a strange drawing on one of the walls as a clue. They get further confused when they suddenly transform back into Marinette and Adrien, still not knowing who they are, with things getting even more complicated when their kwamis appear and they also have no idea who (or what) they are. 

This begins the three of them – Plagg gets bored and leaves – trying to unravel the mystery of who they are and how to escape the strange building they find themselves in while trying to avoid a mysterious villain called Oblivio in the process. It's definitely one of the most creative episodes of the show and really stretches the limits of what can be done within that universe and with these characters.

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. 

How can any episode actually be superior to either of the ones from the epic Shadow Moth's Final Attack arc? How about an episode where Luka finds out that Marinette and Adrien are Ladybug and Cat Noir — officially and permanently, not in some temporary way that only happens during a fight with a villain and then everyone forgets what they've learned when the battle is over.

It can't be understated how much Luka learning that information in "Wishmaker" alters the entire fabric of the show. He also doesn't reveal to anyone that he knows what he knows, which makes him now also have to struggle with how to balance being an honest person and keeping secrets that need to be kept. 

However, that's not the only reason it's one of the absolute best "Miraculous Ladybug" episodes. Add in the titular villain and his ability to manifest anyone's childhood dreams and then use that against them — a devastating power that makes him extremely difficult to defeat — and you have what is easily one of the most memorable episodes of "Miraculous Ladybug" ever.

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.