In the modern-day, we’re spoiled for choice for superhero content. But none are as wacky and weird as Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s Umbrella Academy. A comic about super-powered individuals handpicked (or bought) by an eccentric billionaire at birth and moulded into a semi-functional superhero team and a completely non-functional family. Suffice to say, when the show dropped on Netflix, it received wide praise from critics and audiences alike.
Now the show is heading into its third season, and the Hargreeves siblings are now dealing with another apocalyptic event (seriously, it must be getting tedious at this point), but the show introduced a rather unusual set of characters - The Sparrow Academy.
These are the Hargreeves siblings from a different timeline, with the only one in common being Ben. Also, one is a cube named Christopher. He’s already my favourite.
But with this interesting new element being introduced, and the other things we see in the most recent trailer (at the time of writing), we know we’re guaranteed some surprises in this upcoming season. But what do we want to see?
Luther actually doing something impressive
Ironically the weakest member of the squad in terms of power output is Luther, despite being physically the strongest and most imposing. While the second season’s introduction shows Luther firming a hit from an RPG, he loses a fight to Hazel in season 1, who (as far as we know) is just a big hench guy and not augmented. Even if he was augmented, as the Controller states is possible, Luther loses a fistfight to a boxer in Season 2. This man is literally given the body of a gorilla, please give him some feats of strength.
Hotel Oblivion
This masterpiece of architecture was built by Reginald Hargreeves, and it serves as a prison for many of the villains that the Umbrella Academy have dealt with. We haven’t seen many superpowered villains on-screen in the series thus far, the exceptions being Viktor (formerly known as Vanya), and arguably the Controller. This would definitely be a good way to introduce some more villains that Reginald or the Academy has already dealt with during their youth.
Ben having more screen time
Ben is a very interesting character, as he had died before the series even began, despite having incredibly interesting powers. Luckily, he is also a member of the Sparrow Academy in this timeline (a testament to his power), so we will be seeing him on screen more. I would personally like to keep Ben’s death a mystery for narrative purposes, but I am also very curious as to what happened - perhaps if the Umbrellas and Sparrows talk, they’ll discuss what happens to this alternate Ben.
Unique powers and abilities
The powers in Umbrella Academy range from standard fare (super strength, teleportation, etc.) to very unique (manifesting a literal swarm of tentacles from one’s stomach), and though there’s very little known for average viewers of the series, it’ll certainly be interesting to see what the powers of the Sparrow Academy are. I very much want to know what Christopher’s powers are, as being a cube is already unusual enough.
By extension, I hope we get some amazing fight scenes between Academy members, and maybe even some of the wacky villains from the comics.
Expert musical direction
We are routinely spoiled for needle-drops in modern media. James Gunn is arguably the master of it, as Guardians of the Galaxy and Peacemaker had fantastic uses of music, but there’s no doubt that Umbrella Academy is up there among the best. I still stand by the opinion that a scene in the very first episode of the series where they’re dancing to “I Think We’re Alone Now” is the best so far. But that’s not forgetting the scene where Five kills the board of directors to “Polk Salad Annie”, or Luther and Allison’s romantic moment to “Dancing in the Moonlight”. The sound directors of this show pick perfect songs to capture scenes and immortalise them. Hopefully, Season 3 only amplifies this, but being as how one of the creators wrote “The Black Parade”, I am extremely optimistic.
Let us know in the comments what you're hoping to see from season 3.
Umbrella Academy Season 3 premiers on the 22nd June 2022 on Netflix
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