The Umbrella Academy: Who Are the Sparrow Academy?
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.
In Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy, the Hargreeves siblings time-traveled back to 1963, where they got indirectly involved with the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Diego made it his mission to save the president, but a look at the future revealed this would lead to a new doomsday. Eventually, the brothers and sisters approached the younger version of their father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, to get out of their current predicament. While he was ultimately no help, the Umbrella Academy's time in the '60s, both on their own and as a group, altered their timeline.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view. Start nowAt the end of Season 2, the Hargreeves are given a time-traveling briefcase by their friends in the Commission and go back to where they belong: their present day in 2019. However, they return to discover that everything has changed. Indeed, the Umbrella Academy doesn't exist -- instead, it's called the Sparrow Academy, and it's got its very own super-powered members. So who are they?
When the Hargreeves siblings get back home, they quickly realize that something is off when a painting of Ben is showcased on the mantelpiece of the academy's living room. Although Ben was dead in the previous timeline, he is very much alive in this version of reality. As a matter of fact, Ben isn't even Number Six -- he's actually Number One, the super-team's leader. This all-new, all-different Ben appears in person shortly afterward, and it's clear that he isn't the sweet and hopeful ghost we came to know in the series' first two seasons.
This Ben is much darker, he's got a scar on his face and he looks ready for a fight.
And Ben isn't the only dead character who is alive in this new timeline. In fact, the children's father, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, is alive and well in this version of 2019, and he's still head of the academy. Clearly, he has great affection for Number One, and he has raised the members of his team to be far more efficient than the siblings of the Umbrella Academy.
As for the rest of the Sparrow Academy, they unfortunately remain shrouded in darkness as the season comes to a close. For the time being, all we have to figure out who they might be are the outlines of these five characters. It's all but a certainty that most of these characters are some of the other 43 super-powered children that were born on October 1, 1989.
However, there's still a chance we might know some of them. After all, in Season 2, we learned that Diego's on-and-off girlfriend Lila had abilities just like them. Therefore, perhaps another version of Lila was recruited by Reginald to become a member of the Sparrow Academy in this timeline.
What's more, there's also the possibility that a young adult version of Five could be on the team. After all, when Reginald met his "future" children in 1963, he was less than impressed with any of them. But he did show some respect for Five. While it's likely he stayed away from the others after they were born, perhaps he once again adopted Five to make him an even better version of himself.
Finally, there's also a floating cube to consider, which is hovering to the Sparrow Academy's left when we first see them. The small cube appears to be metallic, and it glows green. It essentially looks like a miniature Borg Cube from Star Trek, but we're fairly certain that's not what this is. Either the cube belongs to one of the members of the Sparrow Academy or it's somehow its own entity.
With the introduction of the Sparrow Academy, The Umbrella Academy has created a whole new mystery, and we'll have to wait for Season 3 to learn more about them. Until then, it's time to start theorizing.
Streaming now on Netflix, The Umbrella Academy Season 2 stars Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher and Justin H. Min, with Ritu Arya, Yusuf Gatewood, Marin Ireland, Jordan Claire Robbins, Kate Walsh and Colm Feore.
Source: www.cbr.com