'The Umbrella Academy' Season 1: Sir Reginald Hargreeves may just be the Academy's real biological father

'The Umbrella Academy' Season 1: Sir Reginald Hargreeves may just be the Academy's real biological father

Netflix's has scored another success with its new superhero misfit series, 'The Umbrella Academy,' where we are introduced to seven special children who get immediately adopted by billionaire industrialist, Sir Reginald Hargreeves.

With the season now having aired in full, the ending sequence may just give away the origins of this super-powered lot.

In the graphic novel by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, Sir Reginald Hargreeves a.k.a. The Monocle (Colm Feore) adopts seven, supernaturally powered children after they're born to mothers who shockingly showed zero signs of pregnancy before giving birth.

There were 43 such children, out of which only 7 survived. Sir Reginald proceeds to raise them with a strict disciplinarian air, in order to develop them into a team of superheroes. But his authoritarian air, along with his lack of paternal concern, results in the family splitting and the siblings leaving the academy before they reach adulthood.

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Sir Reginald Hargreeves giving the children tattoos of the family's insignia, in 'The Umbrella Academy'.
(Source: IMDB)
Sir Reginald Hargreeves giving the children tattoos of the family's insignia, in 'The Umbrella Academy'.
(Source: IMDB)

 

While in the graphic novel it ouotright says that Sir Reginald is an alien, in the Netflix series, we see a beaten down Sir Reginald planning his flight from his homeworld, leaving behind his home and his sick wife behind due to some unexplained catastrophe.

Sir Reginald seems to be on a planet similar to earth, but we see rockets taking off in the background with what would most likely be other aliens leaving the planet. It is in this scene that we see Sir Reginald pick up a jar of what seems to be flickering "golden bugs", and release the contents of the jar into the air.

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He then travels to Earth and arrives in the year 1928, and almost immediately buys an umbrella company. We never learn anything more about his planet, his wife and the mysterious "golden bugs" they kept; but however weird 'The Umbrella Academy' is, this sequence tends to stand out from the rest.

Colm Feore as Sir Reginald Hargreeves in 'The Umbrella Academy'. (Source: IMDB)
Colm Feore as Sir Reginald Hargreeves in 'The Umbrella Academy'. (Source: IMDB)

 

How was it that Sir Reginald knew where exactly to find and adopt the super-powered children?

If we're in agreement that Sir Reginald and his wife were definitely aliens, the "golden bugs" may have been their way of procreating, and Sir Reginald, in the face of danger, set these "seeds of life" free from their containment, in order for the "seeds" to find suitable hosts.

It would also explain why Sir Reginald is so eager to obtain the kids while knowing full well that these were no ordinary kids, and he was remarkably prepared to provide them with everything needed in order for them to be superheroes.

Sir Reginald Hargreeves saying a final goodbye to his wife in 'The Umbrella Academy'.
(Source: IMDB)
Sir Reginald Hargreeves saying a final goodbye to his wife in 'The Umbrella Academy'.
(Source: IMDB)

 

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While there are talks of a second season with Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, there is no concrete confirmation on the renewal of the series, so we'll have to wait for its confirmation before we can finally confirm our speculations.

For now, we're quite sated with the series, and may just rewatch to see if we missed anything.

'The Umbrella Academy' is available for streaming only on Netflix.



 

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