List of The Umbrella Academy characters
The following entry is a list of characters from The Umbrella Academy, a comic book series created and written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, and its television adaptation.
Overview
- In seasons 1 and 2 T.J. McGibbon plays a teenaged and Alyssa Gervasi a four year old Vanya.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Cameron Brodeur plays a teenaged Luther.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Blake Talabis plays a teenaged Diego.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Eden Cupid plays a teenaged and in season 2 Jordana Blake a four year old Allison.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Dante Albidone plays a teenaged Klaus.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Sean Sullivan plays an elderly and in season 1 Jim Watson a middle aged Five.
- In season 1 Jesse Noah Gruman plays a teenaged Harold.
- Godley provides the voice and facial performance capture, while Ken Hall serves as body-double for the motion capture to play the character on set.
- In season 2 Godley voices Pogo in only two episodes, although credited as a main cast member.
- In seasons 1 and 2 Ethan Hwang plays a teenaged Ben.
- In season 2 Min portrays the alternate-timeline Ben Hargreeves known as Number One in only one episode.
- In season 2 Raya Korah plays a teenaged and Anjana Vernuganan a four year old Lila.
- As young Dave.
The Umbrella Academy
The Monocle (Sir Reginald Hargreeves)
An alien disguised as a wealthy entrepreneur and world-renowned scientist. He received the Nobel Prize for his work in the cerebral advancement of the chimpanzee and founded the Umbrella Academy, a group of adopted super-powered children. Sir Reginald is cold-hearted, often mistreating and even experimenting on the children for his personal interests. He refuses to let the children call him father, demanding that they address him by his codename The Monocle instead. When speaking to the children, he refers to them by number, which was assigned to the children in terms of "usefulness", and has nothing to do with their actual destructive capabilities. He is portrayed by Colm Feore.
Number One / Spaceboy (Luther Hargreeves)
Luther's principal powers are super-strength and durability. After a disastrous mission, Sir Reginald Hargreeves injected a gorilla serum into Luther to save his life, turning Luther into a half-gorilla, half-human. His body can withstand the vacuum and cold of space as long as he has a helmet on. Using his super strength, he primarily fights hand to hand. After his career with The Umbrella Academy, he moved to the moon and lived at the Annihilation. He has been shown to have somewhat of a love interest in #3, The Rumor. He is portrayed by Tom Hopper as an adult and Cameron Brodeur as a teenager in the Netflix adaptation.
Number Two / The Kraken (Diego Hargreeves)
The reckless and rebellious member of the group, as described by Reginald Hargreeves. He also has a strong talent for knife-throwing (because he can change the direction of projectiles in midair. Also, though it hasn't been explored, he may be able to use mild telekinesis) and close-quarter combat. He and Luther have a clear rivalry, and Diego is often unwilling to take orders from Luther. In his teenage years, he was the bassist in the punk rock band the Prime-8s alongside drummer Body (Inspector Lupo's assistant), and guitarist and lead vocalist Vanya Hargreeves / Number Seven (his adopted sister), who he has romantic feelings for. He is depicted as left-handed in the short story "Anywhere But Here," as he is playing the bass left-handed. In the Netflix adaptation, he harbors a secret love for his ex-girlfriend, Detective Eudora Patch. He is portrayed by David Castañeda as an adult and Blake Talabis as a teenager in the Netflix adaptation.
Number Three / The Rumor (Allison Hargreeves)
Described as narcissistic, she has the ability to manipulate reality by lying, using the phrase "I heard a rumour..." to activate the power. After her career with The Umbrella Academy, she married her boyfriend, Patrick, and had a daughter named Claire. The couple has since divorced, and Patrick has full custody of their daughter, due to Allison using her special ability on Claire. She has a cybernetic left hand as Dr. Terminal devoured her original hand when she was a child. In "Dallas", when she goes to get vocal surgery, her arm is no longer drawn as if it were mechanical, suggesting that it too had been fixed.[2] In the Netflix adaptation, Allison uses her powers to become an extremely successful actress after leaving The Umbrella Academy. She is romantically linked to her adopted brother, Luther Hargreeves. Their love for each other is unconsummated as Spaceboy sees himself as a monstrosity due to his gorilla body.
During the events of “Apocalypse Suite”, Allison had her throat slit by her sister Vanya (as the White Violin) to prevent Allison from utilizing her power. Saved by Luther, she was able to survive but was told she could never speak again. As a result, she was forced to communicate via a note pad. While she and her family were forced to live in the bunker beneath the Academy’s ruins, Allison tortured the slightly amnesiac and disabled Vanya by forcing Vanya to remember and relive her rampage. After her surgery, however, Allison had felt remorse and empathetic towards her sister, and began to support Vanya in physical therapy. She is portrayed by Emmy Raver-Lampman as an adult and by Eden Cupid as a teenager in the Netflix adaptation.
Number Four / The Séance (Klaus Hargreeves)
The Séance's powers are speaking with the dead, channeling the dead so they speak through him, possessing people, broadcasting his consciousness through airwaves (allowing him to communicate through TVs), and telekinesis. In the Netflix adaptation, he also has the power of evocation, making spirits corporeal, capable of being seen by others and interacting with objects around them. Of his comic powers, he retains only the ability to speak to the dead in the Netflix adaptation, although he does not require a Ouija board to do so. He has the words "Hello" and "Goodbye" tattooed on his right and left palms, respectively. It has been theorized by Mr. Pogo that Klaus has been doing drugs since he was a teenager. In the comic book "Dallas", Klaus is seen holding a Vietnamese baby, which he later reveals to be his, to the surprise of Luther. Handing it to an elderly woman before leaving in the elevator, he thanks her for taking care of the baby, to which she responds: "Where you are going is no place for kids. The baby is safer here." Before leaving in the elevator, Klaus apologizes to the woman, saying, "Really sorry about what happened to its mother." The conversation was in Vietnamese, implying that he learned it during the three years he ran a strip club named "Spookies".
After returning to the present, Klaus abandoned his family and began working with the Mothers of Agony, a local satanic biker gang who gave him a variety of drugs and utilized his power to speak with the dead to con wealthy buyers. He would later betray this group, however, leading them into a shootout with a rich widow desperate to find her husband’s buried fortune. After locating both the hidden money as well as the biker’s stash of heroin, Klaus returned to the city, only to overdose in an abandoned house. He was saved by the manifested spirit of his long-dead brother, Ben (aka The Horror), who delivered him to a nearby hospital, and warned him of a new threat looming. He is portrayed by Robert Sheehan and Dante Albidone, as an adult and teenager, respectively, in the Netflix adaptation.
Number Five / The Boy (Five Hargreeves)
Portrayed by Aidan Gallagher as a teenager and his current situation, Jim Watson as an adult, and Sean Sullivan as an elder in the Netflix adaptation, Number Five had a name but it was unspoken for so long that all of his siblings, and Five himself, forgot what it was. At the age of 10 (or 13 in the Netflix adaptation), Five disappeared by using his power of time travel to escape into the future. Sir Reginald always warned him that he "could never go back"; it took him 45 years to figure out how to go back in time. He aged normally during his time in the apocalypse, but upon returning to the past he regained the appearance he had the day he traveled forwards. His body is stuck in time and cannot age, as medical examinations prove that there are no signs of cell growth or death. In the Netflix adaptation, his body continues to age normally after reverting to its 13-year-old form, as Five bemoans "going through puberty twice."
Five claims to have read accounts of the Academy's immediate future and their connection to an apocalypse. While trying to go back in time to warn his adoptive brothers and sisters about the apocalypse, he worked with the Temps Aeternalis. He was taught to perform "micro jumps" in time, allowing him to move faster than the eye can see. In the Netflix adaptation, Five has the secondary power of teleportation in addition to time travel and does not have to be taught "micro-jumps". In the comics, he is considered "the perfect assassin," as he has had the DNA of the best killers in history infused into him. He has a 100% chance of killing if he decides to kill. It is revealed in the Dallas storyline that Five and Spaceboy are twin brothers.[3] He also has a puppy named Mr. Pennycrumb.[3]
Number Five / The Boy first appeared in The Umbrella Academy: The Apocalypse Suite #2, following a brief appearance on the final page of the previous issue.
Number Six / The Horror (Ben Hargreeves)
Number Six possesses eldritch monsters from other dimensions under his skin (most often appearing as tentacles emerging from his torso). He is deceased from the results of a mission gone wrong. There is a memorial statue of him located in front of the Academy. Even though he has been dead since before the start of the series, he has been portrayed as a member of The Umbrella Academy, appearing as his statue counterpart, in visions, or with Klaus, through his ability to talk to the dead. He can connect with Klaus physically, lending him his ability for a moment.
Ben’s spirit manifests during the “Hotel Oblivion” storyline, appearing before his brother Klaus in the hospital after saving him from an overdose. It is shown that the portion of his chest that held the monster’s tentacles is now an empty cavity, and it is hinted by Ben later in the issue that the monster had escaped from its dimension. It is also implied the Hotel Oblivion was not just made to be a supervillain prison, but a trap designed by Hargreeves to contain the beast, with the villains inside meant to be used as bait. He is portrayed by Justin H. Min and Ethan Hwang, as an adult and a teenager, respectively, in the Netflix adaptation.
Number Seven / The White Violin (Vanya Hargreeves)
The most estranged member of the umbrella group, Vanya originally showcases no particular powers other than an interest in music. Vanya is known to have written a book detailing her life with the Academy and her decision to leave. According to The Conductor, leader of the Orchestra Verdammten, Vanya is the most powerful member of The Umbrella Academy. In her early childhood, The Monocle suppressed her powers and kept her on medication to maintain this, but her powers were eventually released by The Conductor, driving Vanya mad. She is capable of releasing destructive waves of force using her violin that can be strong enough to cut someone's throat or destroy an entire building with a single note. After unlocking her powers, she murders the Conductor and travels to the Hargreeves mansion to destroy it, killing Pogo in the process. During her fight with her siblings, while distracted by Klaus pretending to channel Hargreeves, she’s shot in the back of the head by Number 5 with Hargreeves' revolver. However in the Netflix show Number 3 shoots to the side of her head missing on purpose which makes Vanya lose focus on the sound of her violin and she then passes out. Doctors noted she would eventually recover from her injuries, but would never play the violin again.
During “Dallas”, Vanya is shown in the care of her siblings in the bunker beneath the mansion’s ruins, partially amnesic and using a wheelchair. She was subject to some abuse by Allison in retaliation for slicing her throat, left bound in front of screens depicting the aftermath of her rampage. At the end of the storyline, Allison has a change of heart and helps her sister recover rather than punishing her.
By Hotel Oblivion, Vanya has undertaken physical therapy with Allison coaching her. She feels doubtful about her recovery, though, and brushes off Allison’s attempts to support her, possibly out of guilt. Eventually, Mother takes Vanya from the bunker in secret, revealing that there was more to the Academy than Hargreeves realized, and introducing her to another team of superpowered siblings seemingly under her leadership. Vanya is portrayed by Elliot Page as an adult, and by T.J. McGibbon as a teenager in the Netflix adaptation.
Antagonists
The Conductor
The Conductor is a villain in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite who relentlessly pursued Vanya Hargreeves in the hopes of recruiting her to his orchestra for the purpose of ending the world with a song he had written. The Conductor had found the truth about Vanya's powers and brainwashed her into realising them. After turning down the Conductor's offers many times, Vanya later agreed to play his song to bring on the apocalypse. While Vanya is playing the song with the orchestra, she kills the Conductor and the rest of the orchestra shortly before using her powers to bring on the apocalypse. Vanya's powers devastate the moon sending chunks of it flying back to Earth. However, shortly after this, her brother Number Five opens up a portal around the siblings potentially saving them from the moon asteroid.[2]
Terminal
Dr. Terminal is a villain in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite. In the past, Terminal was diagnosed with Eisenstein Syndrome, a rare disease that eats a person from the nervous system to the brain. He was given two months to live by doctors, so he created a device that can convert matter into energy that will feed the disease and keep him alive. He then returned to his doctor's office and devoured the doctors with his device. He was incarcerated and escaped by absorbing a reporter, the cell bars, all the guards, the prison warden, and the carnations near the front gate. He later kidnapped The Rumor and devoured her left arm before being defeated by Spaceboy. He battled the Umbrella Academy time and time again till he was sent to the Hotel Oblivion by The Monocle. He vowed to return and destroy the world. He also left behind the Terminauts to destroy the Umbrella Academy should they ever reform.[2]
Hazel and Cha-Cha
A pair of extremely violent assassins working for the Temps Aeternalis. Many in the agency, including Number Five, consider them the most dangerous team in the history of the agency, mainly for their unpredictable methods. They both wear brightly-colored cartoon character masks, exhibit maniacal and psychopathic behavior, and have a love of murder and sugary snacks. After the initial failure of the first team to recapture or neutralize Number 5 for defecting, they were called in to take him down. To that end, they managed to capture his brother, The Séance, torturing and eventually killing him, as well as acquiring Sir Hargreeves’ secret stockpile of nuclear weapons. They die near the end of the “Dallas” story line when The Séance, after returning from the dead, possesses Cha-Cha, kills Hazel, and then himself (as Cha-Cha). Hazel and Cha-Cha are portrayed by Cameron Britton and Mary J. Blige, respectively.
A. J. Carmichael
Atlas Jericho "A. J." Carmichael, or Carmichael, is a talking goldfish who inhabits a tank atop a human bodysuit. He is the chief authority in charge of the Temps Aeternalis. Carmichael headed the Temps Aeternalis at the time Number Five was inducted into the organization. He oversaw his training as an assassin and his DNA being bonded to that of the most notorious assassins from across history.
In The Umbrella Academy: Dallas, Carmichael blackmails Number Five and The Rumor to stop Five's past self from stopping the assassination of President John F Kennedy in 1963. Unknown to them, the assassination had to be ensured so that Kennedy would never meet Sir Reginald Hargreeves and hand over nuclear missiles to him. These missiles would be detonated by Hazel and Cha-Cha and destroy the world in the Temps Aeternalis's own attempt to apprehend Number Five. Carmichael explained the scope of their mission's success after President Kennedy had been assassinated and the Umbrella Academy were returned to the present. Number Five then attacked and killed Carmichael out of revenge for what he had done to him, eating the goldfish alive.
The Handler
The Handler is an exclusive character to the television series. She is portrayed by Kate Walsh. The Handler was a high ranking member and major influencer of the Temps Commission. She was frequently seen dealing personally with matters concerning Number Five and the apocalypse, despite not being the case leader. The Handler had a clear agenda in her belief that time should not be changed, going to extreme lengths to maintain the timeline and ensure nothing is changed. She is also the adoptive mother of Lila Pitts who has the ability, it seems, to copy an ability of each member of the Umbrella Academy. It is not known if Lila's mimicry abilities are that advantage as seen in the TV series.
Leonard Peabody / Harold Jenkins
Leonard Peabody / Harold Jenkins is an exclusive character to the television series based on The Conductor. He is portrayed by John Magaro as an adult, while Jesse Noah Gruman portrays a younger Harold. As a child, he was an admirer of the Umbrella Academy and begged to join, since he was born on the same day as the result of a normal pregnancy, but was rejected and humiliated by Reginald. He later discovers Reginald's diary, detailing Vanya's potential, and inserts himself into her life with the goal of manipulating her into discovering her powers and using them against her siblings.[4]
Other characters
Pogo
Dr. Phinneus Pogo is a talking male chimp associated with The Monocle. When growing up at the Academy, Spaceboy considered Mr Pogo to be his best friend. He watched most of the academy grow up and knew all of the children very well. He was also a sympathizer of Vanya's plight when she is repeatedly told by Sir Reginald that she is not special, as she has no special powers. Despite this, he is murdered by Vanya after her transformation into the White Violin as a test of her power against the Academy.
Abhijat
The Monocle’s bodyguard and assistant. He also serves as the pilot of the Minerva. After the family had drifted apart again following “Dallas”, Abhijat flew the Minerva to Japan, assisting Dr. Zoo, a former associate of Hargreeves, with using the Minerva to explore the mysterious depths of the Afterzone. This character is absent in the Netflix adaptation of the series.
Perseus X
John Perseus the Tenth is the young, spoiled heir to the Perseus Corporation. He returns to buy out all outstanding shares of the company, and name himself CEO and chairman of the board, and immediately orders a drastic change in focus of the company, planning to create his own Televator to break his father out of the Hotel Oblivion, Hargreeves' interdimensional prison for supervillains. He eventually manages to break in with the help of Hotel escapee Obscuro, only to find his father dead, with his talking atomic robot head, Medusa still active. Medusa convinces Perseus to lead a mass jailbreak of all the supervillains from the Hotel, who causes a reign of terror on the city that Medusa convinces Perseus X to fight and be thought of as the city's new true hero. Perseus however, soon realizes Medusa is as dangerous as the other villains, and actually influences his father to commit suicide, finally lopping of the hand Medusa has attached itself to and allowing Spaceboy to throw it at a massive Dr. Terminal, who is gorging on the city, which ultimately destroys Medusa and Terminal.
Grace
Grace is a robot designed to be the Umbrella Academy’s mother. She later malfunctions and “dies” after getting a pot of coffee spilled in her by Number Five. The members of the Umbrella Academy try to fix her but in the end they find her machinery to be much too complicated. In the Netflix adaptation, Grace emotionally cares for the children, even when they return as adults. Diego deactivates her out of mercy as she had been malfunctioning badly. However, Pogo reactivates her shortly after, but she is destroyed permanently during the destruction of the Academy. In the second season, a human version of Grace appears in 1963 as Reginald’s love interest, implying that the robot was based on her.
St. Zero
Saint Zero was a world-renowned astronaut and space explorer. Spaceboy’s childhood hero, he flew eight successful missions in total aboard his ship the Valeur before disappearing while on a mission to Mars. In fact, Saint Zero survived, but was hurtled into afterspace and rendered catatonic.
Dr. Zoo
A doctor associated with The Monocle.
The Sparrows
The Sparrows is a group made up of seven powered individuals. Only the names of two have been revealed: a woman named Carla, who is depicted with healing abilities; and a floating green cube presumably called Christopher whose abilities have not been revealed. They are heavily implied to be among the 43 children born simultaneously to mothers with no previous signs of pregnancy on October 1, 1989. First introduced in Hotel Oblivion, their origins are likely to be explored in the next installment of the comic book series. They are significantly different in the Netflix adaptation, where in an alternate universe, they are a group of superheroes adopted by Reginald, similar to the Umbrella Academy, and Ben is revealed to be a member of the Sparrows. The rest are Marcus (Number One), Fei (Number Three), Alphonso (Number Four), Sloane (Number Five), and Jayme (Number Six).
Lila Pitts
A character exclusive to the Netflix series, Lila is introduced as a fellow patient at the mental institution Diego is committed to in 1963. After she and Diego escape the institution, Lila tags along to help Diego stop the apocalypse. However, Five, not trusting Lila, discovers she is The Handler’s daughter, and a member of the Commission. It’s soon revealed that Lila is also one the 43 children born the same day as the Hargreeves siblings, with the power to mirror anybody’s abilities. It’s also revealed that, in 1993, The Handler had Five execute Lila’s parents so she could take Lila for herself and raise her.
References
- The Umbrella Academy Reveals Casting of 7 Sparrows for Season 3
- The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
- The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
- Petski, Denise (March 1, 2018). "'The Umbrella Academy': John Magaro Cast In Netflix Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
External links
- The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- The Umbrella Academy: Dallas at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- The Umbrella Academy on Myspace
- Pastorek, Whitney. "Exclusive Peek: Gerard Way's 'Umbrella Academy'", Entertainment Weekly. June 25, 2007
- Khouri, Andy. "EXCLUSIVE First Look: "The Umbrella Academy" #2". Comic Book Resources. September 21, 2007
- MCR side projects – The Umbrella Academy