The Umbrella Academy had subtle teases through the whole first season that Vanya Hargreeves was the trigger of the apocalypse – and here’s what those clues are. The Umbrella Academy is a series of comic books created by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá and which made the jump to TV/streaming thanks to Netflix. The first season of The Umbrella Academy was released in February 2019 and was an instant hit, and a few weeks later, it was renewed for a second season, which arrived in July 2020.
The Umbrella Academy follows the Hargreeves, seven adopted siblings who along with other 36 babies were born on the same day, at the same time, and under the same mysterious circumstances. After hearing of this curious event, scientist and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves set out to adopt as many of them as he could, but he only got seven. Reginald trained them as they began to develop unique superpowers and formed the superhero team “the Umbrella Academy”, but the siblings ended up parting ways, mostly due to Reginald’s strict and cold (and sometimes cruel) personality. The Hargreeves reunited years later for Reginald’s funeral and to stop the apocalypse, which turned out to be triggered by their supposedly powerless sister, Vanya (Elliot Page).
Vanya grew up believing she had no powers and was left aside when her siblings went on different missions, so she didn’t really get along with the rest. This alienation led her to meet Leonard Peabody/Harold Jenkins, who unleashed her powers and thus made way for the apocalypse. As it turns out, Vanya had been medicated for years and her sister, Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), used her powers on her to make her believe she was ordinary, but she was actually the most powerful and dangerous of the family. With her powers unleashed and out of control, she was responsible for the 2019 apocalypse in the first timeline, and this twist was hinted at through the entire season through a simple yet symbolic element: rain.
Rain is a recurrent theme in The Umbrella Academy (at least in its first season) when it comes to Vanya and her powers, and it’s not always about literal rain. For example, the orchestra she plays for is named St. Pluvium’s, which is the Latin word for “rain”. Vanya is a skilled violinist, and it’s through a violin concert that she triggers the end of the world, but most importantly, it’s during her audition for first chair when she begins to access her powers. In the first episode, in the sequence where each sibling is introduced and learns about Reginald’s death, Vanya finds out through the news on a TV in a store, and it suddenly starts to rain, as it happens later on in the season when she’s angry and off her medication and the power lines begin to bend and it starts to rain. The theme of rain linked to Vanya and her powers can be interpreted as umbrellas existing to protect from the rain the same way the Umbrella Academy is there to protect the world from the apocalypse Vanya caused.
Both seasons of The Umbrella Academy are packed with little details either linked to the source material or subtle teases and pieces of foreshadowing that are easy to miss on the first watch. These Easter eggs and more not only make The Umbrella Academy worth rewatching, but also elevate the overall experience of watching it and shows the level of commitment and attention to detail of the writers, artists, and more.
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