| “ | SUPERHEROES, WHOSE MISSION WAS TO KEEP AN EYE ON THE FRENCH STUDENTS, AND YOU FAILED IT!!! You're forbidden to take part in the hunts for Techno-Pirate! You're NOT ready to fly the nest! | „ |
| ~ Barbara to the heroes. |
Barbara Keynes also known as Knightowl is a major character of Miraculous New York. She is the mother of Jessica Keynes who also became her sidekick.
As Barbara, she is voiced by Pauline Moingeon in French and Anairis Quinones in English. As Knightowl, she is voiced by Mario Bastelica in French and Imari Williams in English.
Appearance
Physical Appearance
Barbara is a tall woman. Barbara has a hair which is in pixie cut and black in color. She wears a black eyeshadow. Her eyebrows are thin and she wears red lipstick.
Civilian Attire
Barbara wears a black suede coat of with flared sleeves. Her collar covers almost her whole neck. Her coat has twelve silver buttons with six in each row. Barbara fastens her coat with a belt which is on her waist. She wears black tight pants and black high boots which are knee deep. Her whole looks are complemented by black gloves.
As Knightowl
Knightowl wears a huge coat with the accent of brown and purple color. Her mask resembles like that of an owl her eyes are green and eyebrows are stylised into that of an owl's. Her mask has a voice modulator so that she can hide her true gender. Her whole suit resembles like that of a muscular man.
However, following the events of Miraculous New York, Knightowl began wearing a more form-fitting purple costume and discarded the voice modulator, fighting as her true self rather than hiding it behind the mask of the former male Knightowl from a previous generation of the United Heroez.
Personality
Knightowl is serious, irritable, and straightforward. Saving others in danger is important to her, which makes her frustrated and stern towards anyone who doesn't take the task as seriously, jokes around, or disobeys orders. Preferring solid, perfect plans without a chance of failing, Knightowl doesn't like questionable or risky suggestions, having little faith in them if they're not based on strong evidence or reasoning. Sometimes, she is willing to put her stubbornness aside to try alternate options and work together with people she doesn't agree with.
She likes to take the lead and is good at commanding a team. While she can get impatient with others, Knightowl takes them seriously and gives them clear, strong orders to follow. Tending toward a negative disposition, she judges others harshly and tends to bluntly give her opinion of them without consideration. However, Knightowl is experienced, thus knowing the dangers of her job, and calming new fellow superheroes in difficult situations. She also has a softer side, laughing with Majestia and Sparrow about Ladybug and Cat Noir's budding romance.
When freed from her code of ethics, similar to Rogercop; Barbara punished everyone she saw of every little wrong thing they did.
When proven wrong she can be gentle and humble when admitting her mistakes about the young heroes as well as being open to changes.
Abilities
Knightowl is physically fit, having enough stamina and skill to keep up with Ladybug and Cat Noir while they're running and to jump from edge to edge down a huge crack in the ground, and strong enough to carry a large piano. She throws boomerangs based off of her logo with great strength and precision and is able to fly. Additionally, Knightowl is a skilled strategist, devising the initial destructive plan to destroy the Trash Krakken and giving commands to Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Sparrow when they're about to battle him.
History
Miraculous World New York: United Heroez
Knightowl is first seen as she, Majestia, Uncanny, and Sparrow rescue the plane carrying Principal Denis Damocles and his students from College Francois Dupont in Paris from being attacked by wanted American supervillain Techno-Pirate. After the plane makes it safely to NYC and lands at JFK Int'l Airport, Majestia and Knightowl assign Uncanny and Sparrow, in their civilian identities as Aeon and Jessica, to watch over the French students at their hotel. However, later, while Majestia and Knightowl are busy with other duties, Sparrow, disobeying their orders, goes after Techno-Pirate again, joined by Uncanny, and also the French Miraculous Duo in Ladybug and Cat Noir, as Techno-Pirate had been Akumatized by Hawk Moth into Techlonizer and was completing a mission for Hawk Moth with stealing a sword belonging to Marquis de Lafayette, who aided George Washington during the Revolutionary War and gave Washington his saber as a gift of friendship between the fledgling United States and the Kingdom of France. When Cat Noir lets his guard down while being scolded by Ladybug for disobeying her and breaking her trust by coming to NYC when she told him to stay in Paris to protect that city from any threats from Hawk Moth or Mayura, Techlonizer grabs him and flings him towards Ladybug, threatening to kill her with his active Cataclysm. Uncanny throws herself in the way of the attack and takes it herself to protect Ladybug, resulting in Uncanny's destruction as the Cataclysm reduces her body to a rusted, sparking, cracked wreck, and sensing this, Majestia rockets back to Manhattan and clobbers Techlonizer through several buildings in retaliation in her grief-induced heartbroken fury. Knightowl finds Lafayette's saber shortly after Hawk Moth recovered a de-Akumatized Techno-Pirate and withdrew, with Techno-Pirate having discarded it after being clobbered by Majestia. Knightowl then heads up to the rooftop where Majestia, Uncanny, Sparrow, Ladybug, and Cat Noir are to discover what happened to Uncanny. As Majestia cradles Uncanny's lifeless body in her arms, and calls out Cat Noir in her heartbroken grief as to what he had done, leaving him feeling extremely guilty and remorseful, Ladybug is able to use her Miraculous Ladybug to repair and restore Uncanny to working order, much to Majestia's relief and gratitude as she thanks Ladybug for restoring Uncanny.
However, Knightowl is furious with Sparrow for disobeying orders, suspends her from duty, and orders Ladybug and Cat Noir to hand over their Miraculous as punishment for getting involved in United Heroez business and getting Uncanny hurt/killed, saying they will only get their Miraculous back when they leave New York to avoid giving the United Heroez any more trouble or interference in their duties. Majestia tries to calm Knightowl down, but Knightowl will have none of it, and Ladybug and Cat Noir are forced to flee when Knightowl proves unreasonable. Infuriated by their disobedience to her order to surrender their Miraculous to her until they leave New York, Knightowl tries to pursue them, but loses them when Ladybug and Cat Noir escape into the sewers to remain hidden and revert back to Marinette and Adrien to throw Knightowl off their trail. Later, in their civilian disguises as Olympia and Barbara, when Aeon and Jessica plead for another chance to help, Barbara is still unwilling to change her mind, and Olympia is forced to agree with her. Jessica tries to tell off her mother for her overprotectiveness and refusal to let Aeon and her do more to help the United Heroez because of the earlier incident with Ladybug and Cat Noir, but Barbara remains ironclad in her decision that Jessica and Aeon are not old or experienced enough to be on their own and must remain with the adult United Heroez until further notice. The subject is dropped as Barbara and Olympia leave for a press conference with President Hombee to announce that the Franco-American Friendship Festival is postponed until Techno-Pirate is brought to justice.
When Techno-Pirate reappears, now having become Miraclonizer thanks to both being Akumatized again by Hawk Moth and possessing the Eagle Miraculous, he feigns surrendering to the United Heroez to lure them in. When Knightowl and the others arrive and confront him, he uses the Eagle Miraculous' Liberation to free them of their ethnical and moral restraints, causing them to go berserk, with Knightowl taking her no nonsense and no tolerance policy to the extreme with threatening to arrest anyone who committed even the smallest of infractions, like forgetting to return an overdue library book. When Jessica, upon gaining possession of the Eagle Miraculous and becoming Eagle, reverses the effects and restores the United Heroez to normal, it is then that the American nuclear missile that Miraclonizer got possession of launches from Lady Liberty. Knightowl is horrified upon seeing it, realizing that if it is not stopped, the world could be facing the nuclear Armageddon of World War III. Majestia is able to intercept the warhead and hurl it into the Sun, saving the planet from certain doom. Knightowl goes to meet up with Ladybug, Cat Noir, Uncanny, and Eagle, helping them defeat Techlonizer and turning him back into Techno-Pirate, leading to his arrest and incarceration as he's handed over to the NYPD ESU SWAT team to be taken to Riker's Island Penitentiary. Eagle is worried that Knightowl will be angry with her again for disobeying her orders, but Knightowl instead voices how proud she is of Eagle, who initially gives away that Knightowl is her mom, but Knightowl assures her as she takes off her mask that it was time to show that the legendary male Knightowl and Sparrow are long gone, and it was time for the current Knightowl to embrace her true gender. Knightowl and Majestia also apologize for their earlier prejudice against Ladybug and Cat Noir, thanking them for helping inspire Uncanny and Eagle and show they were finally ready to take chances and be on their own, independent of the adult United Heroez, leading to Ladybug and Cat Noir doing their trademark "Pound It!" fist-bump with Uncanny and Eagle.
As a result, the Franco-American Friendship Week festivities are able to continue, and Snowflake honors Ladybug, Cat Noir, Uncanny, and Eagle with an ice sculpture dedicated to them.
Season 5
In the season finale, "The Final Day", when Hawk Moth, now called Monarch, launches his endgame with Operation Perfect Alliance, turning anyone around the world in possession of an Alliance Ring into Miraculized soldiers to carry out his will with hunting down Ladybug and Cat Noir, Knightowl and the other United Heroez are struggling to fight off many American citizens who have become Miraculized as well, as the United Heroez were also struggling against Nightormentor's nightmares they had been inflicted with, with Majestia's nightmares being how is she supposed to solve all of the world's problems, even with all of her powers. Knightowl assures her she believes in her, earning thanks from Majestia, and they continue their fight, until Uncanny analyzes one of the Alliance Rings and figures out that the source of the Miraculized is coming from Paris, where Ladybug and Cat Noir live.
Thanks to Doorman, the United Heroez head to Paris, arriving just in time to free Nora Cesaire from her Alliance Ring, restoring her to normal, then Majestia and Uncanny repair the Montparnasse Tower that Nora cracked in half with the Tiger Miraculous' Clout before being freed. Knowing Ladybug and Cat Noir need their help, Uncanny tells her mom to go find them while she and the rest of the United Heroez aid the Resistance, Ladydragon, and the Guardians against the Miraculized. As Knightowl fights the Miraculized in hand-to-hand combat, Grandmaster Su-Han asks her how she can handle Nightormentor's nightmares and still fight so efficiently. Knightowl's response:
| “ | I AM the nightmare. | „ |
| ~ Knightowl |
Despite her efforts, Knightowl takes a Tiger Miraculous' Clout attack from one Miraculized that sends her crashing into the Place de la Concorde Ferris wheel, dismantling it, and incapacitating her, as the Miraculized begin to overrun all the good guys and allies of Ladybug and Cat Noir, and the freed civilians, trying to fight them off. Majestia also returns from searching for Ladybug and Cat Noir, but somberly reports she was unable to find either of them, leaving things to look extremely grim for the heroes and civilians as the Miraculized keep coming by the dozens to try and overwhelm them before hunting down Ladybug and Cat Noir with their allies eliminated.
However, as hinted at in "Miraculous World London", after Gabriel made his wish, Bug Noire used her Miraculous Ladybug to undo the effects of Operation Perfect Alliance, restoring the Miraculized to normal en masse, and also erasing all of Nightormentor's nightmares, saving Knightowl and the rest of the United Heroez, the Guardians, the Resistance, and Ladydragon all at once. With the world safe thanks to Ladybug, the United Heroez returned to the USA, where they soon learn over the news of Ladybug's announcement that Gabriel Agreste had sacrificed himself to end Monarch's threat forever. What Knightowl and the rest of the United Heroez did not know was that Gabriel was Monarch, and Ladybug, in accordance with Gabriel's last request, had lied to them and the rest of the world to keep the truth buried.
Knightowl makes a cameo appearance at the end of Miraculous World Tokyo as she, Majestia, Uncanny, Eagle, and Cat Noir are dealing with their own threat of some giant monster emerging over New York from a portal, the first thing being its six-fingered hand reaching out towards them as they tense for battle.
Gallery
Trivia
- Barbara's civilian design was modeled off of Marinette’s/Ladybug’s English VA Cristina Vee.[1]
- Knightowl's design is similar to the design of famous comic book superhero Batman.
- Knightowl's name and design are also similar to Nite Owl (specifically, the Daniel Dreiberg incarnation), a superhero from the Watchmen comics who is partially based on Batman.
- Barbara predecessors each reference a era of pop culture; the first Knightowl references the wild west heroes, the second Knightowl references The Pulp Fiction Heroes, the third Knightowl references the 1966 Batman TV series, the 4th Knightowl's attire appears to be based on the 90s anti-hero.
- Knightowl also shares the same civilian first name with the second Batgirl, whose civilian identity is Barbara Gordon.
- Her sexuality is from the second Batwoman, Kate Kane, who is a lesbian.
- The relationship between Knight Owl and Majestia mirrors the one between Batman and Wonder Woman in the DCAU.
References
 Heroes
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Miraculous Holders Order of the Guardians Former Miraculous Holders New York Shanghai Tokyo Re-Verse Kwamis Renlings Sentibeings Others Teams and Organizations | ||