Miraculous Season 4: What Happened to Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir?

***Spoilers Beware***

Most viewers watching this season can probably agree that Chat Noir got the rough end of the stick. For a title character and one of the main protagonists, Chat Noir definitely did not feel like one, as he was reduced down to comic relief meant to prop up background characters. In previous seasons, Ladybug had always felt like the leader of the duo who got primary favoritism from the writers, but Chat Noir still felt like an essential character who created impact in battles with akumatized villains, remaining the second most important hero to the story. He was silly and sometimes made mistakes, yet he and Ladybug came together as a strong team in which Chat Noir had time to shine.

However, this season was the complete opposite to where he felt not only severely weakened while continuously losing battles and made to look dumb, but even unneeded and unused in fights, almost as if he was an after thought that the writers didn’t know what to do with. In multiple episodes, he was either not involved in the battle, had to be saved, unnecessary until the very end in which he was given the cataclysm as a sort of pity move to support his relevancy, or even gave up in the midst of a fight (Wishmaker).

Now, I understand the writers had intended to make a storyline out of this to showcase Chat Noir feeling unimportant due to Ladybug not appreciating him enough. She’s shared her identity with Alya/Rena Rouge, is the guardian of the miraculous and gets to know everyone else’s identity, yet she repeatedly refuses Chat Noir and herself to share their identity with each other. Furthermore, she continuously enlists all these other heroes before contacting him, as previously done in other seasons, leaving him to enter the scene after the battle had already been taken care of.

Now, had it been done right, I would’ve supported that storyline, as it could’ve led to a closer relationship between the two that forced Ladybug to recognize how important Chat Noir is as a teammate and friend; maybe even something more. Instead, the writers made Ladybug uncharacteristically cold and callous towards him, with Chat Noir, quite frankly, actually not feeling needed in the battles.

Additionally, Ladybug apparently has no limit to her powers and gets stronger, while Chat Noir is reduced to an actively useless character that makes him feel dumbed down. Keep in mind that Chat Noir is Adrien, a medalist in fighting skills with a strong martial arts background, who’s also known to be one of the smartest in the class. So, what happened, you may ask? The incorporation of Rena Rouge and other heroes did. Previously in other seasons, the other heroes (Luka, Kagami, Nino, Alya) were used limitedly in efforts to focus on our main duo; however, their involvement in this season was increased – especially Alya.

After Alya had learned Marinette’s alter ego, she had taken a more active role, leaving me excited to see a trio between the three heroes in which new variations of taking down monsters would be established. Yet, again, was left disappointed when her addition meant Chat Noir/Adrien had been reduced to significantly less screentime, becoming a punching bad for Ladybug. Putting other heroes into the spotlight is a great way to add to the storyline of Chat Noir feeling left out and under appreciate – not toning down his character and making him look worse.