Warning: spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 4.
Summary
Enter the Phoenix Academy inThe Umbrella Academyseason 4 - a formidable new version of Sir Reginald Hargreeves' young vigilante outfit. Netflix’sThe Umbrella Academyhas unveiled more and more parallel timelines with each season, and history has played out very differently within each of those realities. As a result of the Umbrellas changing the past during season 2,The Umbrella Academyseason 3 introduced the Sparrow Academy. In that timeline, Sir Reginald Hargreeves was so unimpressed by his future children, he picked a totally different batch of heroes.
The temporal chaos continues to ramp up inThe Umbrella Academyseason 4, as Five and Lila take a subway ride through the multiverse. Inside one of these alternate worlds, the Umbrella and Sparrow Academies have both been replaced by a brand-new team dubbed the “Phoenix Academy.” This is the only new set of Hargreeves siblings featured inThe Umbrella Academyseason 4’s cast, and the group is only glimpsed briefly before Five blinks away again. Fortunately, enough details are provided to draw some big conclusions about the Phoenix crew.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Ending Explained
The Umbrella Academy has ended with its fourth season, which saw the final apocalypse and some shocking reveals that changed the team’s lives.
Who’s In The Phoenix Academy
Umbrellas, Sparrows & More
The first confirmed member of the Phoenix Academy is Luther Hargreeves. Although his name is never actually spoken duringThe Umbrella Academyseason 4’s Phoenix scene, the actor playing Number One is the same actor who played young Luther earlier in the same episode, Cameron Brodeur. The fact thattwo separate versions of Sir Reginald chose Luther as Number Onespeaks to the immense loyalty of Tom Hopper’s super-strong simian stripper.
Projectile manipulation
Damage reflection
Spirit conjuring & immortality
Crow manifestation
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Luther acknowledges Diego Hargreeves by name while striding down the corridor, then a non-sober Klaus is heard complaining in the bathroom, confirming three members of the Umbrella Academy are also part of the Phoenix Academy. InThe Umbrella Academy’s original timeline, Allison was the character attempting to drag Klaus into action, but the Phoenix reality replaces her with Alphonso Hargreeves - the Sparrow who could reflect injuries back onto his opponents. That quartet is then joined by Fei, another Sparrow fromThe Umbrella Academyseason 3, and a creator of crows.
How Alphonso’s Powers Really Work In The Umbrella Academy
The Sparrow Academy’s Alphonso boasts one of the weirdest superpowers seen in The Umbrella Academy thus far, but how does it actually work?
The sixth Phoenix Academy member is a fireball-throwing newcomer, leaving the seventh and final sibling a mystery, but an educated guess can be made. In the original version of this pre-mission sequence, Luther had an argument with Ben and Viktor that does not happen in the Phoenix universe. Additionally, the Phoenix teens don’t recognize Lila or Five. These details strongly suggestBen, Viktor, Lila, and Five can all be ruled out of Phoenix contention.
The Sparrows' Number One, Marcus, is also unlikely, since Luther and Marcus possessed the same ability and Sir Reginald surely wouldn’t choose both. That leaves Jayme, Sloane, and Christopher from the Sparrow Academy, or the final Phoenix could be a different marigold recipient altogether, with plenty of other children for Sir Reginald to choose from.
The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Introduces Phil Hargreeves
Phil Is The Only New Marigold Child In The Umbrella Academy Season 4
The Umbrella Academyends without ever showing most of the super-powered marigold children. Adding together the Umbrellas, the Sparrows, and Lila, that still leaves almost 30 marigold carriers that never appeared onscreen, butThe Umbrella Academyseason 4’s Phoenix Academy sequence at least introduces one more. The character goes unnamed in the scene itself, but the credits revealthis new sibling is called Phil Hargreeves, and is portrayed by Armaan Jawandha.
Phil kindly demonstrates his superpowers by projecting a fireball toward the intruding Five and Lila. Phil’s pyrokinesis looks well-honed, and closer in function to Pyro from Marvel’sX-Menthan the full-body flame of the Human Torch. Flame-throwing alone would rank Phil among the weakerHargreeves siblings in order of power, but there are plenty of other potential pyrokinesis usesThe Umbrella Academydoes not get time to show. If, for example, Phil could conjure towering infernos of flame large enough to cover an entire building, he would prove a very formidable opponent indeed.
How The Phoenix Academy Is Different Compared To The Umbrellas & Sparrows
The Phoenix Academy Could Be The Best Of The Three
Whereas the Umbrella Academy donned classic black uniforms and the Sparrows were clad in a smart dark green color,Sir Reginald oddly chose a ’70s-friendly mustard for the Phoenix Academy. From an in-universe perspective, there is little reason for Reginald to keep redesigning his team’s branding in each universe, and the visual switch is probably intended more to help viewers distinguish between each team at a glance.
The Phoenix Academy could potentially become the most well-adjusted of all three teams.
Far more interesting to analyze is the morale among the Phoenix kids. The Umbrella Academy is defined by dysfunction, and even during season 4’s 2006 flashback, the group was falling apart. Klaus' addiction struggles had fully taken hold, Five’s disappearance was weighing upon the remaining siblings heavily, and Ben’s imminent death would prove the final straw. The Sparrows took a very different path, following Sir Reginald’s ruthless teachings so closely that they eventually became just as manipulative and merciless as their father.
Based on their single scene inThe Umbrella Academyseason 4, the Phoenix members fall somewhere in between. On one hand, the team is still trying to help Klaus get sober. On the other,the Phoenix Academy’s lineup changes mean this version of the team never had to endure losing Fiveand wouldn’t go through the trauma ofBen Hargreeves' death. At a guess, the Phoenix Academy could potentially become the most well-adjusted of all three teams - not lacking humanity as much as the Sparrows, but not collapsing to the extent that the Umbrellas did.
The Umbrella Academy
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.
