Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Umbrella Academy Season 3.Netflix’sThe Umbrella Academyis back forits third season, and Episode 1 picks up rightwhere Season 2 left off– and Season 2 has left off on one hell of a cliffhanger. Luther (Tom Hopper), Diego (David Castañeda), Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman), Klaus (Robert Sheehan), Five (Aidan Gallagher), and Viktor (Elliot Page) are back at the 2019 Umbrella Academy after a less than pleasant trip to the 60s, but things aren’t exactly as they remembered them. For one thing, Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) is alive and kicking, and so is their lost brother, Ben (Justin H. Min). However, none of them seems to remember who our six heroes are. To make matters worse, they are surrounded by a whole new group of superhumans who call themselves “the Sparrow Academy.”
As it turns out, after theUmbrella Academy’s little family reunion in 1963, Reginald was so horrified by what he saw that he decided to course-correct and take another good look at the baby catalog. Instead of Luther and co., he chose to spend his money on another group of supernaturally conceived children, who now make up the Sparrow Academy. Much more superhero-like than their Umbrella counterparts, the Sparrow gang fights crime with extraordinary powers and spandex suits.
The Sparrow Academy is loosely based on a group of supers called simply the Sparrows that appear in the “Hotel Oblivion” series from theUmbrella Academycomics. Some characters from the Netflix show seem to have been transplanted directly from the pages to the screen, with just a bit of personality thrown in, since the Sparrows don’t get to do much in the comics besides helping Vanya and the Umbrellas. Others, however, were created from scratch. Butwho are the Sparrow Academy? And, most importantly, what can they do? Let’s take a look at their powers to see if they are actually as hot as they believe themselves to be.
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Number One: Marcus
Sparrow Academy’s Number One starts off his days working out on the roof and throwing a sweaty towel to his many, many fans. But despite his inflated ego and his quite impressive physique, Marcus’ (Justin Cornwell) powers are far from being the most awe-inspiring. Much like Luther, he possesses incomparable strength. His agility and his visual acumen aren’t to be trifled with, either. It’s the kind of superpower combo that gets the job done, of course, but it’s also the kind we’ve all seen before. Sadly, Marcus also doesn’t get a lot of time to show the full extent of his abilities, since he’s the first person taken by the Kugelblitz. Marcus’ powers are based on the Sparrows’ unnamed Number One from theUmbrella Academycomic series. In the Sparrows’ brief appearance, their Number One is shown to have superstrength.
Number Two: Ben
When the Umbrella Academy bumped into Reginald in 1963, Ben had already been dead for many years and was only present in the family reunion through his bond with Klaus. Thus, he never got to disappoint his father as much as his siblings, remaining the only member of the original gang to still get bought by Mr. Hargreeves. And with no Umbrella Academy in his life, Sparrow Ben even managed to live a good few years more than his original timeline counterpart. Upon arriving at the Academy, Luther, Diego, Allison, Five, Klaus, and Viktor are ecstatic and more than a little surprised to find him alive, but their smiles quickly turn into frowns as they realize what a jerk new Ben actually is. Promoted from Number Six to Number Two, Sparrow-verse Ben sure has allowed the power and the fame to go to his head. He retains his tentacle summoning abilities, with the Edlritch appendages coming out of his stomach in times of need. Sparrow Academy Ben has no direct correlation to any of the comics’ Sparrows.
Number Three: Fei
Like Ben, Fei (Britne Oldford) has the power to summon creatures from inside her body. Instead of tentacles, though, it’s living crows that emerge from her back. Always wearing sunglasses, Fei doesn’t have eyes and uses her birds to see her surroundings from different points of view as well as to attack her enemies. This gives her an advantage in combat, as she can strike from many positions at the same time and see her opponents from behind or above. Unfortunately, Fei’s crows can also make her more vulnerable: during a particularly contentious conversation with Ben, we learn that Fei is physically connected to the creatures she summons and can feel their pain. Thus, anyone that gets a hold of one of her birds can potentially harm her.
Fei is based upon a nameless and numberless character from the comics’ Sparrows that has the power to turn into a murder of crows. Her powers are also loosely based on the various mythological depictions of crows and ravens as all-seeing animals that can sometimes even predict the future. Her lack of eyes has to do with the fact that the birds are carrion-eaters, that is, they feed on dead animals. Usually, these kinds of creatures start consuming the flesh of their prey by the softest parts, such as the eyes and the tongue.
Number Four: Alphonso
A glutton with a penchant for deriding his enemies, Alphonso (Jake Epstein) has the power to inflict damage to others by inflicting damage upon himself. He can also reflect any harm that is done to him, whether it comes from one of Diego’s throwing knives or a punch to the chin. To be clear, he can’t send the knife back to whoever threw it, he merely reproduces the injury caused by it on his opponent’s body. Alphonso’s power is largely responsible for his odd, blob-like appearance: his seemingly melted face is actually marked by scars from all the damage he’s inflicted upon himself. Like Fei, Alphonso is based on a character from the comics with no name or number who is shown to self-harm in order to cause damage to his enemies.
Number Five: Sloane
The romantic Sloane (Genesis Rodriguez) has the power to manipulate gravity, making herself, her enemies, and even her friends fly. Or she can turn them upside-down - whatever suits her best! Judging from Luther’s brief chat with Diego about his time at the Sparrow Academy, she also uses her power to spice up her sex life, taking her lovers to a little “dance on the ceiling.” Sloane isn’t clearly based on any of the characters from the comics.
Number Six: Jayme
Jayme’s (Cazzie David) power is arguably the most fun of the Sparrow Academy, despite also being the most disgusting. It’s sad that we don’t get to see her use it for long. Sparrow Academy’s Number Six produces a hallucinogenic venom secreted in her saliva. Whenever she spits at someone, the substance finds its way into the person’s skin, causing them to see things that can vary from lost loved ones to a wholeFootloose-inspired dance-off.
Like Sloane, she doesn’t have a direct counterpart in theUmbrella Academycomics.
Number Seven: Christopher
By far the weirdest of the Sparrow siblings, Christopher is a telekinetic flying cube that emits powerful energy capable of inducing sensations of cold and fear, as well as paralyzing his opponents. He’s often used by his siblings to threaten enemies into compliance, which already gives us a pretty good idea of just how powerful he is. Christopher also seems to be blessed with a nearly superhuman sense of humor. Though viewers can’t make out what he’s saying with all that noise, the other Sparrows sure seem to get a kick out of his comments. Christopher’s comics’ counterpart is an unnamed green cube that appears floating alongside the Sparrows.
