While most of us have already finished binging the latest season of The Umbrella Academy, we all just can't stop talking about it. We've become so invested in these characters that we're not ready for the big gap that comes after. We have questions about what will happen next. While we aren't going to get the next season anytime soon, we can still discuss some of the details we've already seen. That includes taking a look at the powers of each of the main characters.
Here are all of the powers in The Umbrella Academy, ranked from most powerful to least. And if you're behind the game and still haven't finished getting current with the show, don't read on because spoilers are lurking.
Updated August 8th, 2020 by Darby Harn: Now that Umbrella Academy has completed its amazing second season on Netflix, there is a lot more to consider about the hit show and its many strange characters. New characters showed up, which meant new powers, and there were some new abilities demonstrated by the core group of heroes. A lot of questions remain hanging after that cliffhanger, but here are a few more things we know about the incredible powers in The Umbrella Academy.
Vanya's Visions
Vanya is one of the most powerful - if not the most powerful - characters in the series by virtue of her ability to manipulate sound waves. With a single note, she can destroy the world. But in season two, the show took a deeper dive into another ability she has. Her hallucinations - or visions, the jury is still kind of out on that - are actually induced by drugs forced on her by FBI agents. But she reacts in a way no one else does, suggesting there is a latent ability the drugs tap into.
Lila's Mimicry
Lila joins the series in the third episode of season two, and seems like a lovely, nice person. She makes a connection with Diego, but then it all goes to pot. At the end of the season, Lila is revealed to be an agent of The Handler, and has powers like the Umbrella Academy. Her powers are particularly extraordinary, as she can mimic any power used her against her. She survives direct assaults from Vanya, who literally destroyed the world, and proves immune to Allison's power of suggestion.
Harlan's Trances
Vanya befriends a young housewife named Sissy (after getting hit by her car) and ends up falling in love with her. This sets off a chain of events that leads to Vanya transferring some of her power to Sissy's young son, Harlan. His powers appear linked to Vanya's; he enters a trance-like state when she enacts her power, like she did in escaping the FBI agents in Dallas. At the end of the season, after it seems Vanya has taken back her power, Harlan is seen making a toy bird hover.
Carmichael's Fish Sentience
One of the most fascinating characters in the new season is Carmichael, the head of the evil Commission. The true nature of Carmichael's power as such is somewhat mysterious, but it obviously involves a goldfish gaining sentience and being able to speak. And also somehow manipulating a human body without a head into an automaton. Carmichael comes straight out of the comics, though in the books he is the head of the Temps Aternalis organization as opposed to The Commission.
The Swedes
The Swedes are assassins hired by The Commission to take out The Umbrella Academy, and they don't outwardly appear to have any powers. They fail in their mission and suffer pretty grimly as a result. But there are some clues in season two that there might be more to them.
They don't wear the uniforms of The Commission, or adhere to their strict edicts about protecting briefcases. They assault Vanya, responsible for the apocalypse that The Commission wants to ensure happens. Are they working for someone else? Do they have powers of their own? Time will tell.
Cha-Cha And Hazel's Assassin Skills
We're counting these two as powerful assassins and therefore powerful in their own right. These two are deadly and are known as the two top assassins in the entire Commission. There is a reason that the Handler chooses them to execute orders (and people). Most of the time, they leave paths of destruction in their wake.
They also don't stop until they have completed their missions. When they say they're going to kill someone, they do it. Circumstances obviously have changed this, but you can clearly tell that they were once revered as the best of the best.
Allison's Suggestion
When she starts a sentence with "I heard a rumor," Allison is able to get people to do whatever she wants. That's a pretty dangerous power. It shows when it's revealed that her powers have caused her problems in the past. She isn't really a match for physical force but she can easily stop someone from using that force just by saying her signature line.
Unfortunately, her power becomes weaker once her throat is slit and she is unable to speak. As soon as she loses this power she doesn't really have much else to offer, but the power itself is very useful. So, it gets a pretty high ranking here.
Five's Time Travel
Number Five doesn't have a real name, but he definitely has some real power. Since he can jump through time loops, he's able to sneak up on people and surprise them. He can also avoid dangerous objects coming his way, like bullets and knives. However, he's still learning how to grapple with this power and sometimes it fails him.
For example, he jumps forward and ends up in a post-apocalyptic wasteland until he figures out how to get back to his siblings. That's a pretty rough life to find yourself in. Despite his powers failing him sometimes, Five is the reason that we know there's an apocalypse coming, and he is able to warn others to attempt to stop it from happening.
Ben's Transformation
We don't know much about Ben, the deceased member of the family. That's why he's ranked pretty low on this list. However, we do know he's either able to release strange monsters from his body or turn into them. These monsters are deadly creatures with giant tentacles that cause bloodshed for the enemies.
We don't really know if this is always the case or if he is able to turn into different types of monsters, though. This also seems to be how he died. He becomes more useful as the show goes on, and once Klaus can actually manifest him, he's able to use this transformative power to help the fight. He helps to protect Klaus by being channeled from the dead.
Klaus' Communication With The Dead
As you start to watch the show, you realize Klaus isn't really useful when it comes to the actual fighting and use of powers in combat. It's convenient that he can talk to people in the past, but it doesn't really come in handy when the bad guys are right there in front of him. It is useful, however, for him to learn his father's secrets and reveal pieces of the past.
In fact, until that point, Klaus spent most of his time repressing his power and keeping himself fully sedated to avoid it. However, all of this changes in the last episode. It turns out, Klaus is more powerful than anyone could have imagined because he learns he can channel the dead and use their powers. He just has to be sober to be able to really embrace it.
Grace's Robot Power
Okay, so she's not really a human, but Grace the mom-robot has powers in her own right. She makes connections with all of the children and makes them feel more comfortable, even when their father clearly has alternate plans. It's a powerful concept for these kids, especially the ones who are feeling more neglected than the others.
Additionally, she has great healing powers. Without her abilities, Allison probably wouldn't have made it. She was also a vital force when it came to saving Luther's life in the past, as we can see through the flashbacks.
Diego's Object Manipulation
His impeccable accuracy makes Diego a deadly secret for the group. He doesn't have to be right in front of his target. In fact, they don't always see him coming. And he never misses, so his deadly aim always hits the bad guys. Diego is also valuable because he's trained himself in a variety of different fighting techniques, so if his aim does somehow fail, he's got that for a backup.
However, sometimes a knife or a blade isn't quite enough to mess with those more powerful enemies who have meta powers. For example, throwing a knife at Vanya while she's channeling her powers won't really do much considering she is nearly unstoppable. He can also be very hot-headed and tends to use his powers impulsively, which leads him into trouble.
Luther's Super Strength
When he almost died on a mission, Luther was given a super-strength serum that merged his DNA with that of an ape. It saved his life, but now he has to run around looking like a giant gorilla. To make up for it, he has the extreme strength of a gorilla. His super strength has been around since he was born, though. It just gets better the more ape-like he becomes. And it's come in quite useful in a variety of scenarios.
However, because his power is strength, Luther is really only useful in melee or hand-to-hand combat. Throw some meta powers at him and he's not really going to be able to stop it as effectively. When you're fighting other creatures that may have meta powers, it's not always the most effective solution. He's more effective as an overall leader for the group.
Reginald Hargreeves' Manipulation
Power and control go hand in hand, and Sir Reginald Hargreeves is full of both. He's the reason that the Umbrella Academy exists. Somehow he was able to use his power of control to manipulate seven women into giving him their randomly born children, and then he was able to manipulate those children into being the heroic team he always wanted them to be.
While he is not getting a Father of the Year award anytime soon (though he is responsible for Pogo, so...), it really shows the power that he truly has in bringing these people together to try to save the world.
Vanya's Sonic Ability
Obviously, Vanya's powers are ranked highest. After all, she causes the apocalypse. Her powers are virtually unstoppable and can only be controlled when someone is able to get her emotions in check or get her to stop playing her violin. She is able to manipulate and control sound waves to her advantage, which can impact the world around her by moving objects around.
Her violin allows her to produce those sound waves at a faster pace, but she can also use something as minor as her own heartbeat as it beats faster when she experiences stronger emotions such as fear or anger. She is truly the most dangerous person on the entire show. Even to herself.