When it rains, it pours

While Netflix’s recent cancellations of Marvel’s Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have upset many, the streaming giant hasn’t stopped bringing comic book based shows for viewers to enjoy, such as The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. Now, Netflix has released the trailer to their latest comic book based series, The Umbrella Academy, which was published by Dark Horse Comics and created by My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, and artist Gabriel Bá.

The story tells of a day in 1989, when forty three women gave birth, none of them had been pregnant the day before. Sir Reginald Hargreeves (Colm Feore) adopts six of the newborns, and begins to train them to save the world. Thirty years later, after Hargreeves is murdered, the six reunite to solve the mystery of his death, and to also prevent an apocalypse from taking place (a typical Tuesday afternoon for SCIFI.radio) as the Umbrella Academy. 

Almost all the members have unique powers and abilities. While not a lot is revealed in the teaser, it can be assumed that not much, other than a change made to one character and the time of the story taking place in present day and not 1977,  has changed from print to screen.

The leader of the Academy is Luther Hargreeves (Tom Hopper) aka Space Boy. Luther possesses super strength. In the comic book, something happens to Luther while on a mission to Mars. For those not familiar with the comic, we won’t give that away.

Diego Hargreeves (David Castañeda) aka The Kraken is the rebellious member of the group. He and Luther often clash with one another. He can hold his breath indefinitely. He’s also an expert at knife throwing. 

There’s also Allison Hargreeves (Emmy Raver-Lampman) aka The Rumor. She has the ability to alter reality by lying. One major difference from the original source is that in the comic book, Allison is Caucasian, while in the television adaptation, she’s portrayed by an African-American.

Klaus Hargreeves (Robert Sheehan) aka The Seance. His powers are levitation, telekinesis, and the ability to contact the dead.

Number Five (Aidan Gallagher) aka The Boy. Traveled fifty years into the future, and took another fifty years to be able to return to the present. In the future he had aged normally, but when he returned to the present he retained his 10 year old appearance, and apparently cannot age or die. 

Vanya Hargreeves (Ellen Page) is the most misfit of the group of misfits, in that she doesn’t appear to have any powers at all, apart from being an  expert violinist. There was a seventh sibling, as can be seen in the trailer, but we don’t wish to spoil too much this early.

Also included in the cast are singer Mary J. Blige as Cha Cha, and Cameron Britton as Hazel, two violent assassins who have a fondness for wearing brightly colored cartoon character masks, exhibit maniacal and psychopathic behavior, and a love of sweets.

As you watch the trailer, you’ll notice a chimpanzee in a suit. That is Doctor Pogo, a talking chimp (voiced by Adam Godley), Reginald’s closest assistant.

While details of this new series is unknown, we can only assume that this series will somewhat follow the original source. Gerard Way is serving as an executive producer. If you are looking for something that’s different than your typical super hero fare, we have a feeling that The Umbrella Academy just might be the show that you’re looking for.

Netflix is set to release The Umbrella Academy on February 15, 2019.