WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 2, streaming now on Netflix.
The Umbrella Academy dropped its second season on Netflix, bringing the team back to attempt to stop yet another world-ending apocalyptic event. While this sounds like a retread of the first season, the second season did things differently enough to keep the show fresh. One of the season's most significant accomplishments is developing all the characters more successfully than the first season, and one of the characters who takes center stage in Season 2 is Diego (David Castañeda), who many fans considered a low-rent Batman in the first season.
As with Season 1, the Hargreeves siblings love to do nothing more than throw insults at each other, which happens when Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) describes his brother during a conversation with Elliot (Kevin Rankin), a man who witnessed all six (living) members of the team arrive in an alley in Dallas at different points between 1960 and 1963. Number Five jabs at Diego by describing him as Batman, but worse.
Of course, Number Five is just trying to figure out a reference that someone in 1963 would understand. Nonetheless, this comment is funny, if for no other reason than because it nods to fans' thoughts about the character. Diego is a loner who stalks and attacks criminals, using his knives as a substitute for Batarangs. The police considered Diego a threat in Season 1, and he was a basic vigilante -- but one who messed up a lot.
However, there is even more to this comment in Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy. A shout out to fans is fun, but Number Five's comment also speaks to Diego's goal in the second season of the show. The first time we see Diego this season, he is in a mental asylum, talking about his feelings and issues. Police arrested him for stalking Lee Harvey Oswald as he's made it his mission to stop the Kennedy assassination, and the most prominent conversation with his psychologist is about his "hero complex."
Even when Diego breaks out of the asylum and meets back up with his family, they all bring up his intense need to be a hero. It is, as with all the members of the Umbrella Academy, a symptom of the mental and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his "father," Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore), which resulted in Diego desperately wanting to be the hero his father never believed he could be. The fact he keeps messing up makes his attempt to emulate vigilantes like Batman even more tragic.
The good news about Season 2 of The Umbrella Academy for Diego is that he finally gets the chance to prove himself -- maybe not to his dad, but to his real family: his brothers and sisters. He also got a chance to infiltrate the Commission, something only Number Five did before, and arguably had the best romantic subplot of the season with the mysterious Lila (Ritu Arya). So, while Diego starts the season as a low-rent Batman, by the end, he's finally taken a step to becoming the superhero he always dreamed of being. Of course, this is The Umbrella Academy, so his success was limited and was still one step forward, two steps back, but at least Diego knows who he is now.
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.