The Hargreeves siblings have many, many weaknesses in The Umbrella Academy, but is their overwhelming power level their biggest problem? When 43 women across the world spontaneously gave birth on October 1, 1989, Sir Reginald Hargreeves was faced with a generous pool of candidates from which to pick a crack team of powerful superheroes. Of the seven he chose, one became too dangerous to mentor, one died, one disappeared, one became an ape, and the others ran away.
The spectacular failure of the Umbrella Academy can be attributed to many factors, chief among them a harsh, cold, unloving upbringing at the hands of Reginald. The Hargreeves kids were also forced into the superhero life, which only encouraged resentment toward their father in later life, but Reginald isn’t solely to blame for the team’s dysfunction. The siblings rarely communicated, seldom empathized, and kept each other at arm’s length, despite being the only ones in the world who suffered the same awful upbringing. These failings culminated in the death of Ben, sparking the Academy’s downfall and driving a wedge between all six remaining siblings. Because of that, they now incompetently stumble from one apocalypse to the next.
Reginald Hargreeves became mightily disappointed by his young adoptees – a hand-chosen septet all boasting wild powers and limitless potential – but, just maybe, that greatness was the Umbrella Academy’s problem all along. With the exception of Luther (super strong) and Diego (throws stuff), none of the Hargreeves siblings could possibly hope to control their godly abilities… because their godly abilities were too dangerous to practice. Allison can “rumor” someone to put down a gun, but that same ability could change reality if wielded correctly – not that she’d ever want to try, of course. Five finds himself in a similar situation, mastering teleportation but unable to hone time travel because of the inherent dangers involved. Thus, he overreached himself and wound up spending decades in an apocalyptic future. Ben’s power – summoning inter-dimensional beings from his stomach – isn’t exactly an ability you’d want to spend the weekend working on, while Klaus never found a middle ground between being locked in a tomb by his father and blocking out his abilities altogether with drugs and alcohol. Finally, there’s Vanya, who wasn’t even allowed to know about her powers, much less practice them.
The enormity of the power these characters possess doomed them to failure. None could fulfill their potential safely, but Reginald nevertheless demanded they excel each and every day, fostering feelings of inadequacy among the group. Though Ben’s cause of death remains unknown, it’s likely that better command of his powers (or his siblings of theirs) might’ve prevented the tragedy and saved the Umbrella Academy a slow, painful decline. If every sibling had a manageable power they could learn to control without causing harm to themselves or the wider world, their fate might’ve been very different. They’d function better as a group, may not have suffered such a strained relationship with their father, and might’ve even stuck together.
It’ll be fascinating to see whether this sibling hypothesis is proven with the Sparrow Academy in The Umbrella Academy season 3. That group appear far more functional, and if all members possess more manageable abilities than summoning monsters and traveling through time, we’ll know that the secret to a happy Academy is not being burdened with superpowers so devastating they can’t be tamed.
Interestingly, it’s 1960s Reginald Hargreeves who reveals where 1990s Reginald Hargreeves might’ve gone wrong. The younger version helps Five master time travel, telling him to start small and work his way up. Conversely, the older Reginald foolishly took an “all or nothing” approach to training. They were either banned from practicing altogether (Five and Vanya), or made to perfect their power immediately or suffer (Klaus). Still, if the Hargreeves siblings all had weaker powers and balanced personalities, The Umbrella Academy would be much less interesting.
