Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy is still hiding the team’s best power, with the show reluctant to utilize Allison properly to date. Based on the titular comic book series from Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy follows Reginald Hargreeves’ (Colm Feore) adopted, superpowered children as they reunite to solve the mystery of their father’s death and the threat of an imminent apocalypse across various timelines. While the series has already showcased many of the Hargreeves children’s powers from the comics to date, some The Umbrella Academy characters such as Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) are still very far from reaching their full potential in the show.
In both the original Dark Horse comics and Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, Allison Hargreeves displays her impressive powers of suggestion at various points in the story. Allison has to merely speak the words “I heard a rumor” followed by her desired outcome to force any given person to act out her command immediately. Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy begins with Allison already using her powers to improve her social standing, as well as forcing her husband to fall in love with her and putting her young daughter to sleep on command.
Yet these rumor displays of persuasion from Allison are merely the tertiary level of her ability, with The Umbrella Academy hiding the team’s best power to date. In The Umbrella Academy comics, Allison can bend the very fabric of reality itself with her words, making her character a near-omnipotent force shackled only by her own imagination. At times, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy offers glimpses of this same power level but still seems to be hiding Allison’s true potential from audiences for the time being.
![Umbrella Academy: Why The Show Hides The Team’s Best Power](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Umbrella-Academy-Allison-Hargreeves-Dallas.jpg)
The Allison featured in the majority of The Umbrella Academy comics essentially serves as a deus-ex-machina for the team, with her reality-altering powers able to change the course of history at any given moment. Allison’s full utilization of her powers allows her to warp physical existence around the rumors she creates, but this is used sparingly in the Netflix series. The Umbrella Academy shows Allison forcing Vanya (Elliot Page) to forget her powers, as well as making her enemies’ heads explode by saying, “I heard a rumor I blew your minds,” yet narrative constraints hold her back for the majority of the series to date.
Moments like her enemies’ heads exploding are clear indicators that Allison’s powers in The Umbrella Academy line up with her comic source material, which suggests the Netflix series is purposefully hiding Allison’s true potential. This is perhaps with an eye to the future given The Umbrella Academy season 2 finale, which sets up the team’s imminent confrontation with the equally created Sparrow Academy from an alternate timeline. This also aligns with Allison’s character development in the series so far, with her confidence still being rebuilt after having her throat slit by Vanya in the present-day narrative. It may well be that Allison’s true potential will be unlocked in tandem with her renewed confidence, giving her the perfect stage to exhibit the true potency of her rumors in The Umbrella Academy season 3.