Time Travel and Talking to the Dead: A Guide to 'The Umbrella Academy' Superpowers
The best superheroes have more weaknesses than they do strengths. Just look at Superman—he's pretty much invulnerable, and DC doesn't have a clue about what to do with the guy. Of course, any hero whose abilities are limited enough to create dramatic potential isn't too difficult for a well-equipped villain to take down, which is why there's nothing better than a solid team of superheroes with complimentary abilities.
Luckily, the Umbrella Academy is one of the best teams around, and the Netflix series about their exploits is back for a new season. But it's been more than a year since Season One debuted, so here's a refresher on the Hargreeves, their superpowers, and where the beginning of Season Two finds them—in numerical order, of course.
Luther Hargeeves/Number One (Tom Hopper)
Like his other siblings, Reginald Hargeeves' loyalist son/science experiment crash landed in early '60s Dallas after his brother, Number Five, sent the clan back in time when they failed to stop the apocalypse. Thanks to his super strength and simian DNA—enhanced body, he was able to find work as a bodyguard for a certain infamous local club owner, and also earn money fighting in underground bare-knuckle boxing matches. Why even the hardest Dallas toughs would think they stand a chance against a dude with the upper body of silverback gorilla, I don't know.
Diego Hargreeves/Number Two (David Casta?eda)
Diego isn't one for subtlety, which is why the minute he lands in Dallas he decides to try to save John F. Kennedy's life—and to tell the whole world about his mission. Naturally, that lands him in an insane asylum. He's got the ability to control the trajectory of moving objects, which is why is main weapons of choice are throwing knives. Unfortunately, that's not super helpful to a guy in a straitjacket.
Allison Hargreeves/Number Three (Emmy Raver-Lampman)
No one has a tougher time in 1960s Dallas than Allison, who runs into a diner after crash-landing in town only to be greeted by a "Whites Only" sign. Luckily, she's taken in by a community of Black civil rights activists and ends up meeting a pretty great dude. But even after regaining her voice, which she lost at the end of last season in an unfortunate throat-slashing incident, she's still loathe to use her power to force others to obey her commands. That's sensible enough—the ability to control people should be used sparingly. And if Allison were to go around "rumoring" others to her will to solve the family's problems, the season would be over in about five minutes.
Klaus Hargreeves/Number Four (Robert Sheehan)
Klaus has always been able to commune with the dead, but he's also discovered the ability to make ghosts corporeal, which came in handy when he was able to channel Ben's powers during the final battle against the Commission at the end of Season One. Of all the siblings, Klaus puts his gifts to the most profitable use when he arrives in Texas—he founds a cult, marshaling his powers to convince his adoring followers that he's a mystically-imbued guru.
Number Five (Aidan Gallagher)
Five's gift is the reason everyone's in Dallas in the first place: He can travel through time and space, using micro jumps to leap across a room or even traveling through entire decades. At the beginning of Season Two, he crash lands right into the middle of another apocalypse, before being rescued by his old enemy Hazel, who sets Five on the road to stopping the end of the world. Oh, and while everyone else is 31, Five is in his 14-year-old body, thanks to a time-travel mishap.
Ben Hargreeves/Number Six (Justin H. Min)
Ben is the kindest and most sensible member of the family. Unfortunately, he's also dead, killed years ago in a still-unrevealed superhero mishap. But Klaus can see and talk to him, which makes the Hargreeves' dearly departed brother a major presence on the show. Back when he was part of our plane of existence, Ben's power was the ability to release Lovecraftian tentacles from his chest.
Vanya Hargreeves/Number Seven (Ellen Page)
Vanya spent her whole life thinking that she was the only one of her siblings who didn't posses powers—that she was a dud. But at the end of Season One, it was revealed that she was the most powerful of all, and that their father had drugged Vanya in order to keep her out-of-control gifts dormant. With the help of the late and unlamented Leonard Peabody, Vanya went off her meds and got in touch with her ability to transform sound waves into energy, and then promptly used it to break off a chunk of the moon and trigger the ending of all life on earth. She crash lands in Dallas unable to remember anything but her own name, and completely unaware that she's one of the most powerful beings on earth.
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