Who is Harlan in 'The Umbrella Academy' Season 3? Everything about how he got his indestructible powers
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'The Umbrella Academy' season 2 was left on a cliffhanger and was open to wild fan specualtions after the Hargreeves siblings discovered that they accidentally changed the entire timeline. Season 3 discovers the changes that the timeline accident has created and slowly dwelves into it as the season progresses. In the current timeline, the creator of the Umbrella Academy and the "father" of the siblings, Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), is still alive, but instead of creating the Umbrella Academy, he has adopted 7 different children and formed the Sparrow Academy.
The only person who was selected to both the academies was Ben (Justin H. Kim), who had apparently died in the previous timeline, but was alive in the current one, and was a part of the Sparrow Academy. Despite the metamorphosis happening in the background, there is also a new character that was introduced in season 3, that drastically changes the show's timeline of 'gifted' individuals.
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Who is Harlan Cooper?
In season 3, when the fight between Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and Viktor (Elliot Page) ensues, she shoots Viktor, placing the gun next to his ear to fire, disrupting his power. Post that, Viktor's energy bursts from his body and strikes the moon. The moon starts to explode and break apart, and its pieces starts to move towards the earth in abnormal speed, hitting landscapes and destroying the planet. Due to the moon destruction, Five (Aidan Gallagher) and the rest of the members travel back in time in the final moments. Unfortunately, due to the lack of Five's training, the siblings get separated throughout the timeline. Viktor gets stuck in 1963, Dallas, Texas.
Shortly after the grand timeline mishap, Viktor gets hit by a car driven by Sissy Cooper, who later takes him into her home and allows him to live with her family while he's suffering from amnesia after the accident. As months pass, Viktor starts to wonder who he is and his background. But, even with the Cooper family helping him, even posting ads in newspapers, nobody comes to take Viktor home. In the meantime, Viktor becomes close to Sissy's son "Harlan" who is a shy, autistic boy. Viktor and Sissy also develop romantic feelings for each other, and they get into a debate over their relationship. Hearing them talk, Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly) runs from the farm house and finds himself at the lake; Viktor finds him moments later at the bottom of the lake having drowned. With his powers, Viktor seperates the water from the lake, finding Harlan at the bottom, but is distraught to find that he is no longer breathing and is unresponsive. Viktor starts to perform CPR on him, transfering some of his powers to the little boy at the same time. Suddenly, Harlan coughs, vomits out the water, and begins breathing as Sissy arrives on the scene.
Harlan later begins experiencing strange abilities. Viktor, before leaving the timeline, tells Harlan that he will take away all his mistakenly transferred abilities during Harlan's rescue. Viktor believes he is successful in taking away the powers Harlan has received and leaving the little boy in the same state as before. But the scene then cuts to Sissy and Harlan moving away and starting a new life. This is when we see Harlan telekinetically floating a toy above his hand. What Harlan will do next is another complicated piece in the 'Umbrella Academy' puzzle.
What are Harlan's powers?
After Viktor is seen taking away the powers that he accidentally transferred to Harlan, he is seen having retained telekinetic abilities, effortlessly spinning a toy above his hand. Later in the season, it is revealed that Harlan can use sound waves and energy to create devastating effects, such as repelling objects. When his father almost hits him with a bullet, Harlan produced a small shockwave in a moment of fear, propelling the bullet through his father's chest. Harlan also has the power to levitate, helping him to hover in the air unassisted. He also possesses the power of sonic pyrokinesis, where he can create powerful flames with strong sound, that can sometimes kill a person. Despite having so much power, Harlan in 'The Umbrella Academy' has one of the most saddest story arcs in Season 3.