The Umbrella Academy comics are much weirder than the Netflix show

The world of Netflix’s Umbrella AcademyThis is bizarre. It could even be more bizarre. The three-season superhero drama is loosely adapted from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s ongoing comic book series of the same name, which is even more maximalist and idiosyncratic than the show.

In the show, sure, there’s still a villainous talking fish and cartoon-masked assassins, but in many ways their world(s) are quite similar to our own. However, the world of comics is quite different. It’s a world where you can watch a human wrestle a space squid, ranchers ride supersized roosters like horses, teleportation devices are a common form of transportation, and you can buy soda from a vending machine that allows you to speak and understand other languages.

While trying to do a faithful adaptation of the comics would be as disastrous as the Umbrellas trying to save the world, I can’t help but wonder sometimes what it would be like if the show embraced some of the comics’ weirder plots and world-building. Because they are well. weird — here’s just a taste:

[Ed. note: The following contains spoilers from the first three volumes of Umbrella Academy comics but doesn’t include any spoilers for The Umbrella Academy season 3. Though Number Seven is named Viktor in the Netflix series, the comics character is named Vanya and referred to as such. ]

Zombie-Robot Gustave Effel is the first antagonist that Academy faces

Young members of The Umbrella Academy break into the Eiffel Tower and see Zombie-Robot Gustaf Eiffel at the controls.

The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite
Image: Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá/Dark Horse

These are the villains of Umbrella Academy comics. Trip. These may be my favourite part of the series. This is an excellent example.

Apocalypse SuiteAfter the Eiffel Tower began throwing tourists off of its summit, their siblings are forced to face down their first villain. After the young superheroes break into the tower, they discover it’s being controlled by its architect, Gustave Eiffel, who has evaded death all these years by turning himself into a zombie-robot. Diego is able to take down Zombie-Robot Gustave Eiffel with the classic knife-to-the-head move, but Eiffel still manages to trigger the tower’s launch sequence. It’s also a spaceship, because, yes, the Eiffel tower is also a spaceship.

The Eiffel Tower isn’t the only monument the Umbrella Academy fights, either. The Umbrella Academy fights for many other monuments. Dallas, they end the Abe Lincoln Memorial’s murderous rampage when Allison “hears a rumor” that Lincoln was assassinated, thus manifesting a John Wilkes Booth memorial to take down the Lincoln one.

Some of the other villains the Umbrella Academy fight include Dr. Terminal, who created a machine that converts the matter he consumes by eating people into energy that staves off a fatal disease; The Murder Magician, a hypnotist who sawed a doppelgänger of Allison in half; and several killer robots.

Hargreeves’ monocle is magic

The Umbrella Academy’s first season, Luther thinks the fact that Hargreeves’ monocle is missing is a major clue to unraveling his murder — which turned out not to be a murder, of course. But other than the monocle’s red herring moment in the show’s early episodes, it hasn’t played any part in the Netflix drama beyond being quite the fashion statement for Hargreeves.

In the comics, Hargreeves’ monocle is actually magic, or at least so scientifically advanced that it may as well be magic. When you look through the monocle, you’re essentially able to see the truth of a person, such as Five seeing the horrific experimentation Pogo underwent at Hargreeves’ lab or being able to tell that Vanya was The White Violin even though her body had been completely transformed.

Diego and Vanya were part of a punk rock band that included a chimp

At a punk show, The Prime-8s are playing on stage, with Diego on bass, the chimpanzee Body on drums, and Vanya on guitar.

“Anywhere But Here”
Image: Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá/Dark Horse

Diego and Vanya had been angsty teens when they joined a punk rock band called the Prime-8s. They were joined by a chimpanzee named Body. In comics talking chimpanzees is just part of normal society. Unsurprisingly, Hargreeves disapproved of the “trash racket” band and wanted Vanya to pursue formal violin training in Paris instead. Diego told Vanya not to go and they made a pact that after that night’s show, the siblings would leave the Academy and dedicate themselves to the Prime-8s full time.

Vanya showed up at the gig to find Diego absent, as Diego had decided to go to battle a mime band with their siblings. Body was defeated and their band split. They left behind only one album, “The Last Straw”. I Don’t Wanna Kill the President. Diego and Body remained in contact, however, Body became one of Diego’s cops as a vigilante.

Hotel Oblivion actually serves as a prison in space for supervillains

The third season of the show hinges largely around Hotel Oblivion, but the comics version of the hotel is — in my humble but expert opinion — way, way cooler. Hotel Oblivion’s original design is a prison Hargreeves constructed in a small dimension to hold all the Umbrella Academy supervillains. Upping the hotel’s eccentricity factor is the fact it’s guarded by The Scientific Man (a clear riff on Watchmen’s Doctor Manhattan), and the entire prison apparently doubles as some sort of cosmic trap for an eldritch tentacle monster. Don’t ask me to explain that last part more because I genuinely can’t.

Five’s DNA is bound with that of assassins

Five gives a speech to Allison about how his DNA was bound with that of famous assassins.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
Image: Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá/Dark Horse

It is five that can kill people. Amazingly. In the show, that’s the result of his natural abilities combined with his Commission training. But in the comics, there’s a more sinister explanation for how Five became the world’s best assassin.

When Five was recruited by Temps Aeternalis, the comics’ version of The Commission, they modified his DNA by binding it with that of notorious assassins, making him, essentially, the ultimate killer. Though Five kills without a care, even he was horrified at this revelation — though it didn’t stop him from pretentiously bragging about his souped-up DNA in the panel above.

Five and Luther are twins

Season 2 of The Umbrella AcademyThis book focuses on family dynamics and their complex definitions. I initially thought — OK, dreaded — This meant that the series was set to release one of its biggest twists.

DallasAllison joins Five in an attempt to assassinate JFK. She pretends to be Jackie O, and uses her power to kill him. The only reason Allison does this, though, is because she’s being extorted by the Temps Aeternalis.

The timeline preservation agency had gone back in time to before the siblings were born and put a gun to the head of the only one of their mothers who was carrying twins — Luther and Five, to be precise. While it’s unknown whether Allison would have gone through with the assassination if it was only to save Five, she loved Luther too much to lose him, even if it meant compromising her morals.

Luther and Diego go on a roadtrip to outer space

Luther and Diego and flung apart while doing a space walk as the duo simultaneously think “I love you.”

The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion
Image: Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá/Dark Horse

While we’ve gotten Some space things in the series, such as Luther’s tenure on the moon and the fact that Hargreeves is an alien, the comics are much more space-heavy. In Hotel Oblivion, Luther and Diego track down Hargreeves’ old spaceship and head off into afterspace, a portion of the universe that doesn’t follow the laws of known science.

Unexpected dangers can be encountered when exploring frontiers that have yet to be explored. When the brothers use space suits to venture outside the ship, they get caught in a “merge sweep” and their bodies and minds begin to meld together — a horrifying and potentially permanent ordeal that’s only stopped when the brothers are able to find the one thing they have in common: their love for each other. (Cue awws.)

Klaus, Diego, Luther and others attempt to end Vietnam War by raising an ancient Emperor.

Rather than their trips into the ’60s being total accidents, in DallasKlaus, Luther and Diego decide to travel back in time with the intention of stopping Five’s assassination attempt on JFK. They accidentally land in Vietnam three years earlier than planned due to their lack of experience with time travel. Luther, who spends most of the time in the jungle having a pity-party, and Klaus opening a bar while Diego is a U.S. Sergeant fighting in war.

Klaus and Diego concoct a scheme to end the war by resurrecting Emperor Gia Long, the founder of the Nguyễn dynasty and, in the comics, a practitioner of the dark arts. However, the Emperor wakes up and starts attacking anyone in his path, so Diego and Klaus have to take out the Mummy they had just resurrected.

In the wake of one plan’s failure, Klaus, Diego, and Luther immediately pivot back to their original plan to stop the assassination. It turns out that in addition to running a bar — and having a baby with someone! — Klaus had been working with a young Pogo on constructing a televator. Klaus left behind his infant child, and the siblings used the machine to get to Dallas.

Five gets serenaded and sung to by a Marilyn Monroe-chimp

A chimpanzee dressed as Marilyn Monroe sings happy birthday to a drunk and exhausted Five.

The Umbrella Academy: Dallas
Image: Gerard Way, Gabriel Bá/Dark Horse

These two panels are comparatively insignificant. Dallas and they honestly aren’t even that weird by Umbrella Academy standards. These images were just for fun.

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