Every Hargreeves Sibling's New Powers In The Umbrella Academy Season 4

The Hargreeves siblings’ powers are quickly restored in The Umbrella Academy season 4, but not without some rather sizable changes. As a consequence of Sir Reginald Hargreeves resetting the timeline at the end of season 3, the Hargreeves siblings were permanently deprived of their marigold powers, spending the six-year time jump between The Umbrella Academy seasons 3 and 4 growing accustomed to their ordinary lives with varying degrees of success. Predictably, the no-powers situation doesn’t last in The Umbrella Academy‘s final season.

After acquiring a new batch of marigold and making the fatal mistake of letting Ben pour the drinks, the siblings’ powers are restored. Marigold has never been properly explained by The Umbrella Academy, and season 4 takes full advantage of that ambiguity by not giving every Hargreeves sibling the exact same power they possessed previously. Some powers evolve more than others, ranging from virtually unchanged to borderline unrecognizable, but there is little doubt that The Umbrella Academy‘s main characters are, on the whole, more powerful than ever in season 4.

8 Lila Pitts

Mimicry & Laser Eyes

Lila Pitts represents one of the more significant power changes wrought by The Umbrella Academy season 4, as she gains an entirely new, previously unseen ability. In seasons past, Lila was a mimic, effortlessly mastering the Hargreeves siblings’ various tricks and positioning herself as arguably the most powerful character in The Umbrella Academy. Season 4 sees Lila regain her ability to mimic the powers of anyone within her proximity, and she demonstrates this perfectly when borrowing both Five’s teleportation and Viktor’s sound manipulation during the final battle.

Strangely, Lila receives a bonus superpower after downing her marigold-spiked sake shot. In a first for any character in The Umbrella Academy, Lila shoots green, destructive laser beams from her eyes – beams powerful enough to cut through human flesh and Luther’s precious sconces with minimal effort. The only major downside is that Lila never properly learns to harness this valuable addition to the team’s arsenal, as the lasers prove difficult to activate and even harder to turn off again.

The Umbrella Academy season 4 never properly explains why Lila is granted this extra talent, and the most logical answer would be to blame the mysterious, flexible nature of marigold. It is also possible that, because she possesses no power of her own, marigold affects Lila differently. Ingesting those glowing fireflies a second time could finally have allowed Lila, in addition to her old mimicry, to wield a power unique to herself.

7 Viktor Hargreeves

Sound Manipulation

Viktor Hargreeves’ powers in The Umbrella Academy involve manipulating sound waves for a multitude of apocalyptic purposes. Due to the prevalence of noise in every corner of the world, Viktor’s ability has the potential to be incredibly destructive, but comes with the drawback of being extremely difficult to control. Viktor gradually learned to harness his power across The Umbrella Academy seasons 2 and 3, even being mentored by an older Harlan Cooper after Viktor inadvertently shared his power with Harlan’s younger self in the 1960s.

Viktor’s power is still, essentially, sound manipulation during The Umbrella Academy season 4, and functions in much the same way as before. Viktor blows out windows, creates oppressive waves of pressure, and must remain calm in order to prevent an eruption like the one that triggered The Umbrella Academy season 1’s lunar apocalypse. The key difference is the color of Viktor’s power changing from electric blue to golden orange in season 4, which is, curiously, the same color Harlan glowed during season 3.

The color switch is perhaps indicative of how Viktor, like Harlan, now wields much greater control over his gifts. Viktor’s refined skills are further demonstrated by how he can now fire beams of concentrated sound, taking down individual enemies with precision. Viktor never before showed such keen control, although whether this improvement was triggered by the second marigold batch or Viktor’s own personal growth remains unclear.

6 Ben Hargreeves (Sparrow)

Tentacles!

Both the original Ben Hargreeves and the Sparrow Academy’s considerably less polite Ben Hargreeves unleash interdimensional, Lovecraftian tentacles from their stomachs. After retaking marigold at the start of The Umbrella Academy‘s final season, Ben’s tentacles are restored – but now sprout from his back. Ben even begins referring to his extra limbs as “tails” in acknowledgment of how they’ve started dragging behind him.

As a well-trained member of the Sparrow Academy, Ben possessed full control over his tentacles before Sir Reginald reset the universe. After four years languishing in jail, Ben has lost his edge, and his tentacles begin manifesting during times of high emotion and stress, refusing to then retreat back inside his body.

In The Umbrella Academy‘s series finale, Ben transforms into a much bigger monster known as the Cleanse, but this isn’t a direct evolution of his own power. Ben began undergoing the “Cleanse” transformation after coming into physical contact with Jennifer, who harbored an anti-marigold element known as durango. The combination of these two forces sparked Ben’s final form, morphing and mutating his tentacle body into something else entirely. Had a different Hargreeves sibling enjoyed a night of motel room passion with Jennifer, the same fate would have befallen them too.

5 Number Five

Time & Space Manipulation

Number Five is, oddly, the only Umbrella Academy member whose powers get starkly downgraded in season 4. Previously, Five could teleport around a small physical space at will, and he eventually learned to move through time, despite struggling to control his destination. In The Umbrella Academy season 2, Five gained the formidable ability to rewind time, winding the clock back a few seconds to avoid unwanted outcomes. For a large chunk of The Umbrella Academy season 4, however, the only place Five jumps is into bed with his brother’s wife.

After drinking the marigold, Five struggles to control his ability. Then, when he does move through time and space, Five can only land in the enigmatic multiversal subway that connects The Umbrella Academy‘s various timelines. Five gradually relearns his jumping and time travel tricks in time for season 4’s final battle, but never again manages to rewind time. In terms of addressing why Five can initially only jump to the subway system, it seems that Sir Reginald’s big reset broke The Umbrella Academy‘s timeline so badly, the interdimensional waypoint began drawing all Five variants toward it.

4 Klaus Hargreeves

Conjuring & Mediumship

Klaus Hargreeves felt haunted, often literally, by his powers throughout The Umbrella Academy‘s first three seasons, and the constant presence of spirits played a significant role in his struggles with addiction. As a sober man in The Umbrella Academy season 4, Klaus is glad to be rid of his powers, and only regains them to avert a certain-death scenario. The majority of Klaus’ former powers return immediately after, including the conjuring of spirits and the immortality he perfected in The Umbrella Academy season 3.

Like Viktor, however, Klaus’ second dose of marigold appears to give him a notable upgrade compared to past seasons. Previously, Klaus could manifest the ghosts of the dead as physical entities if he focused hard enough, but season 4 shows him going further, channeling the deceased into his own body – for cash, of course. Klaus later levitates, and successfully develops that power into short-range flight. As early as The Umbrella Academy‘s first season, Sir Reginald had accused Klaus of only scratching the surface of his gifts, and the new powers Number Four gains in Netflix’s final season prove the Umbrella Academy founder was correct in that assessment.

3 Allison Hargreeves

Reality Manipulation

While Lila, Viktor, and Klaus are all afforded big upgrades in season 4, Allison Hargreeves is the biggest beneficiary of The Umbrella Academy season 4’s marigold – and by quite some distance. In seasons 1 and 2, Allison could control people by uttering the phrase “I heard a rumor…” then calling out an instruction. Her powers grew stronger in The Umbrella Academy season 3, as Allison realized she could command others by simply barking orders, no longer needing to begin with “I heard a rumor…”

Related

Umbrella Academy Season 3: Allison’s Power Change Explained

In Umbrella Academy season 3, Allison’s powers get an upgrade, but she gets reason the reason wrong, and the reality is more in line with the comics.

Upon regaining her abilities in season 4, Allison needn’t even open her mouth. During the battle against Sir Reginald’s soldiers at New Grumpson, Maine, Allison forces a soldier to turn against his own allies without saying a word, her thoughts alone activating her power. In the aftermath, Allison even admits “my new power’s dope,” and the emphasis on “new power” here heavily implies that the second marigold jar does not merely restore the Hargreeves siblings’ abilities to what they were before – it gives some of them a different gift.

Allison’s powers grow even greater during The Umbrella Academy season 4’s Klaus rescue, which shows Number Three breaking down a door with her mind, then psychically holding a gangster in the air. On the surface, it appears that Allison may gain telekinesis as an extra skill in the same way Lila suddenly finds lasers shooting from her eyes, but The Umbrella Academy‘s comic books suggest an alternative explanation. In the original story by Gerard Way, Allison’s rumors were strong enough to reshape reality. Instead of telekinesis, therefore, Allison may simply be redefining reality with her mind in season 4.

2 Diego Hargreeves

Projectile Manipulation

Diego’s powers in The Umbrella Academy‘s final season undergo minimal changes. As before, Sir Reginald’s second-in-command can perfectly control the trajectory of objects he throws, whether that be knives or packages. Diego does not take any time adjusting to his reinvigorated abilities, and undergoes no serious development across season 4’s mission. Diego does manipulate the flight of projectiles fired toward him by enemies, including bullets, during the New Grumpson battle, but this party trick has already been glimpsed in previous The Umbrella Academy seasons.

There is a degree of irony in how Diego so desperately wants his powers and old life back after growing jaded with his ordinary family existence, yet his powers grow the least out of anyone in season 4. Conversely, Allison, Viktor, and Klaus are all vehemently against retaking the marigold, but their powers blossom exponentially. This pattern may provide some insight into the mysterious inner workings of the marigold particles.

1 Luther Hargreeves

Super-Strength

Similar to Diego, Luther’s powers throughout The Umbrella Academy season 4 remain relatively static. Luther possessed super-strength previously, and his physical prowess returns after Ben spikes the team’s drinks with marigold. In another continuation from previous seasons, Luther’s strength also proves wildly inconsistent, stopping bullets with his back one moment but appearing barely stronger than his siblings the next.

The strangest aspect of Luther’s returning power, however, is that the marigold also restores his ape body. Luther possessed super-strength from childhood, but a near-death experience resulted in Sir Reginald fusing his son with ape serum. While the procedure saved Number One’s life, it also left him with a giant half-ape, half-human body, but when Luther died and returned in The Umbrella Academy season 3, he was revived in his original body, free from ape features.

Drinking the marigold in The Umbrella Academy season 4 should not, logically speaking, revert Luther’s physiology back to its ape-like state. Luther should have regained his original super-strength, not the side effects of the life-saving serum Sir Reginald administered years later. One possible explanation is that, as well as ape DNA, the serum that saved Luther also contained marigold, so the two things became intrinsically tied together. Since The Umbrella Academy neglects to address this detail explicitly, Luther’s body will likely remain a mystery forever.

The Umbrella Academy

4.0

The Umbrella Academy is based on the comic book of the same name created by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. The Hargreeves — collectively known as The Umbrella Academy — were born with superpowers, and their adoptive father utilized their abilities. However, as they grew older, the siblings grew apart as they dealt with their trauma. They are brought back together after their father dies and Five returns from the future with grave news: The world will end, and The Umbrella Academy has to stop it before it happens.

Cast

Colm Feore , Cazzie David , Genesis Rodriguez , Robert Sheehan , Aidan Gallagher , Elliot Page , Emmy Raver-Lampman , Jordan Claire Robbins , Jake Epstein , Mary J. Blige , David Castaneda , Justin Cornwell , Justin H. Min , Britne Oldford , Adam Godley , Tom Hopper , Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton , Ritu Arya , Cameron Britton , Sheila McCarthy

Release Date

February 15, 2019

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