Reginald Hargreeves’ origin has been one of the most discussed aspects of The Umbrella Academy. It was revealed in Season 2 that he is actually an alien or an extra-terrestrial being disguised as a wealthy businessman.
But, Hargreeves’ motives and why he came to Earth has only been revealed partly. so far Hargreeves adopted seven out of the 43 gifted children and his motive was to train them to become superheroes. So, he was not only their father but also their teacher.
As a result, all of the children ended up detesting him while growing up. But why he actually wishes to do that, if at all he has any ulterior motives, and whether or not he came from the future was revealed gradually in the series, in the course of its three seasons.
Reginald Hargreeves’ Origins According to the Comics
According to the original comics by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, Hargreeves’ home planet was destroyed by nuclear war, after which he sought refuge on Earth in the 20th century. He disguised himself as a human and became a wealthy businessman, scientist, and Olympic gold medalist.
Reginald Hargreeves also wears a magical monocle that enables him to see people’s true nature. For this reason, he is also called The Monocle. He adopted seven gifted children and formed The Umbrella Academy, to create a team which would one day save the world.
Not much is revealed about Reginald’s origin story. The comics also keep it quite vague, while the show has been exploring it gradually. In Season 2, it was revealed that Reginald Hargreeves is an alien but not much was revealed of his true motives or origin.
What We Know about Reginald’s Origin in Season 1 and 2
In the earlier episodes of Season 1, we get to know about Reginald’s attitude towards his children. He appears pretty cold and distant towards them. It almost seemed like he is simply using them as pawns to stop the apocalypse.
The Season 1 finale hints at the fact that Reginald is actually an alien, which is confirmed in Season 2. The Season 1 finale begins with Reginald saying goodbye to his lover on his planet. He also opens his jar of golden orbs which fly into the sky.
Further, it is shown that he arrived on Earth in the 1920s and bought an umbrella manufacturing company, which is what made him his money. Many fan theories also suggest that Reginald is obsessed with the 43 special kids because he was the one who gave them their powers in the first place.
In Season 2, we meet a younger version of Reginald from the 1960s. The series hints at his tragic love story from the past along with his involvement in the assassination of JFK. But we still don’t get to know anything clearly about his origin.
It is as though the series is throwing bits and pieces of information every now and then. In Season 2, the kids realize that their father is also capable of love.
What We Know after Season 3
Season 3 finally did tick off several boxes when it comes to knowing more about Reginald’s past. Before this, we knew that Reginald is an alien who came from a ravaged planet and was deeply in love with a woman whom he had to leave.
Season 3 reveals that Reginald Hargreeves was indeed from a destroyed planet and might have had something to do with the planet’s destruction. In a conversation with Number Five, Hargreeves pondered whether he did enough to save his loved ones in the planet. He even spoke of the “original sin” to describe the reason for the destruction of his home planet.
However, there is nothing revealed about the nature of the planet, no name was given and much about the biology of Hargreeves’ race remains unresolved. We do not know how his race is different from humans and what exactly led to the destruction of the planet.
Besides, it is also confirmed that Reginald was indeed in love before leaving his home planet. He was in love with Abigail Hargreeves, who was fatally ill when the planet was destroyed. Abigail most likely belongs to the same species as Reginald.
So, for all this while, Reginald kept his lover’s deceased body frozen on the moon so that he can bring her back to life using Hotel Oblivion, an alternate dimension that he believes exists.
In fact, Reginald’s main motive behind creating the Umbrella and Sparrow Academies was to bring his lover Abigail back to life. The saving the world bit is also kinda true but is definitely not his main concern.
So, as per Season 3, we are pretty clear on some things, such as how Reginald gave his children powers, what his main motive is and why he used some of his children the way he did, such as sending Number One on a trip to the moon (to watch over Abigail, of course!).
But there’s definitely more to know about his home planet and what he had to do with its destruction, if at all anything. Hopefully, the upcoming seasons will give us more clarity.
About The Umbrella Academy
The Umbrella Academy is an American superhero series based on the comic book series of the same name written by Gerard Way. The series was created for Netflix by Steve Blackman and developed by Jeremy Slater.
The series revolves around seven children gifted with superpowers., who billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves turns into a team called The Umbrella Academy. The superhero siblings reunite to solve the mystery of their father’s death and the threat of an imminent apocalypse.
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