The Sparrow Academy Explained: Origin, Members, Powers

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 2.

The Umbrella Academy season 2 introduced a mysterious new superhero team known as The Sparrow Academy — here’s a breakdown of their origins, potential members, and powers. Written by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy began life as a series of graphic novels. Helmed by Steve Blackman, an adaptation was produced for Netflix and debuted in early 2019. Both the source material and the series centered on a dysfunctional group of adopted siblings. Born under mysterious circumstances, each developed superpowers and were taken in by Reginald Hargreeves. With the exception of Vanya (Ellen Page), they were harshly trained from a young age in order to protect the world.

Unfortunately, The Umbrella Academy season 1 culminated with them failing spectacularly at that endeavor. Manipulated by Harold Jenkins (aka Leonard Peabody), Vanya discovered that her entire life had been built on a foundation of lies. Despite being isolated from the rest of the family for being ordinary, it emerged that she indeed had superpowers. However, considered too dangerous, she had been placed on pills to suppress her abilities. Furthermore, Reginald had Allison (Emmy Raver-Lampman) use her power to alter Vanya’s memory. Upon learning the truth, and being locked up by Luther (Tom Hopper), Vanya gave in to her anger and went on a destructive rampage. Though they were able to non-fatally stop her, they accidentally caused Vanya to fire an energy beam into The Moon. Now destroyed, large chunks of it being an asteroid that ultimately collided with the Earth.

The Umbrella Academy season 2 picked up in the direct aftermath of the world’s destruction. Using the time-traveling abilities of Five (Aidan Gallagher), the family escaped to the early-1960s. Unfortunately, each landed separately in different years — leading them little choice but to embrace new lives. Arriving last, Five also discovered that their presence ultimately caused a brand-new apocalypse. In order to stop it, Five fought to rally the team back together and steer the timeline back towards a non-dystopian future. Thankfully, the Umbrella Academy proved infinitely more successful on their second time around. Not only did they prevent a nuclear holocaust, but they were finally able to end their war with the Temps Commission. Their victory, however, came at a stark cost. As well as the second death of Ben (Justin H. Min), they discovered that their interactions in the past had resulted in a greatly altered 2019.

The Sparrow Academy In The Umbrella Academy Season 2

In Five’s desperation to avert the new apocalypse and Diego’s mission to prevent JFK’s assassination, the Umbrella Academy turned to their father. Since it would be over 20 years before they were even born, Reginald obviously had no idea who they were. Regardless, he sent each of them an invitation to meet, so that he could get the measure of them. Unfortunately, Reginald was grossly disappointed by the results of what was set to be his future experiment. He vocally directed his disappointment at Diego (David Castañeda) especially, though he noted the names and powers of everybody present. As a result of the encounter, Diego told Reginald’s lover, Grace, the truth of his involvement with the Majestic 12 and JFK’s assassination. As a result, she left him, which likely would further Reginald’s ire with his future wards and impact his subsequent decisions.

Based on the new 2019, Reginald had clearly used his gathered information to ensure an outcome more favorable to him (and, in his belief, the world) — preemptively scrapping the dysfunctional Umbrella Academy. In their place, he formed the Sparrow Academy. Given that he was still alive in 2019, it appeared as though his choice had paid off. Where he had previously needed to take his own life in order to reunite the Umbrella Academy, he’d needed no such tactic for the Sparrow Academy. Still very much presenting a united front, it also seemed as though they were more rigidly trained. Furthermore, the Sparrow Academy gave the impression of being a much more successful team, since the new timeline was, for the time being, free of an apocalypse.

Why Ben Is In The Sparrow Academy & Who The Other Members Could Be

The biggest surprise regarding the Sparrow Academy was that a new version of Ben was its primary member. In the previous timeline, Ben was revealed to have died during a mission in 2006. Instead of going into the light, however, he chose to remain with Klaus and watch over the rest of his family. In The Umbrella Academy season 2 finale, he sacrificed his ghostly form in order to help Vanya out of her traumatized state. Sparrow-Ben possessed a much darker and unfriendly demeanor, welcoming the Umbrella Academy with a vicious, “Who are these assholes?” It appeared that the Sparrow Academy had equally succeeded at keeping Ben alive, though a new scar implied he hadn’t emerged entirely unharmed.

The likely explanation for his presence is that while he was at the 1963 meeting with Reginald, he’d remained invisible throughout. Ben asked Klaus to announce that he was there, but his brother refused. And though he attempted a possession, it yielded no outcome but to lessen Klaus and the Umbrella Academy even further in Reginald’s eyes. Going undetected, however, left him out of Reginald’s disappointment and so he had no reason to be avoided as a baby alongside the others.

The identities of the other Sparrow Academy members will be the main question going into The Umbrella Academy season 3. One option is that the entire group will be dark reflections. Rather than eschewing them all together, Reginald could have used his new information to ensure they were trained even harder. The fact none of the members resembled an ape would mean that a Luther doppelganger turned out as successful as Ben. And while the mysterious green cube seemed to disprove that, it might have been a different method to contain Vanya and her power. However, the other option is that Reginald avoided the children he’d met and instead adopted seven other children. After all, a total of 43 babies had been born on that fateful day in 1989.

Both the show and the comics have expressed an interest in exploring what happened to the other superpowered children. The Umbrella Academy has already ventured slightly in that direction, with the introduction of Lila Pitts (Ritu Arya). Lila was revealed to be one of 43 children, tracked down and raised by The Handler (Kate Walsh). Given the changes in the new timeline, it could be revealed that Reginald got there first and adopted her into the Sparrow Academy. That would give the original Lila even more of a wildcard status over proceedings, as well as a reason to properly align with the Umbrella Academy in season 3. Introducing more of the 43 children as Sparrow Academy members will give viewers plenty of new powers to behold. Whatever the case may be, The Umbrella Academy season 3 will offer plenty of fresh conflicts to enjoy.

What The Sparrow Academy Means For Umbrella Academy Season 3

When the Umbrella Academy returned to 2019, Reginald was not just unsurprised but seemed to have expected them. Given his obvious disdain for, it’s more than plausible that part of the Sparrow Academy’s training was to view them as enemies. Given what Reginald learned of them, it’s just as plausible that he views them as outright villains and a threat to the safety of the world. To that end, The Umbrella Academy season 3 will likely see both teams deal with some messy familial conflicts as they go to war over for their continued survival. Even if the Sparrow Academy aren’t doppelgangers, such doubles would exist somewhere in the new timeline. Having not been adopted, each of them would have led very different (and maybe even functional) lives — which viewers may or may not get a glimpse of. Whatever the case, that essentially makes the established Umbrella Academy a collection of paradoxes in this timeline and able to be killed without consequences.

Not truly belonging in this timeline, The Umbrella Academy season 3 could see the team try and undo the mistakes that led to the changes. That could potentially take the form of an Avengers: Endgame-style time heist, revisiting crucial points in order to restore their former timeline. Conversely, the Sparrow Academy is not quite so obsolete and could potentially be erased by such measures. As such, the new episodes could see the teams clash across multiple time periods as each group tries to preserve their existence. Then again, other wildcard elements like a still-empowered Harlan (Justin Paul Kelly) still exist out there. Having potentially having turned to villainy in Vanya’s absence, it could equally turn out that, after initially clashing, both the Sparrow and Umbrella Academies will learn to co-exist and have to work together to save the world.

The Sparrow Academy’s Comic Origins & Powers Explained

The group’s comic book origins differed greatly from the show. The specifics are set to be revealed in the upcoming volume The Umbrella Academy: The Sparrow Academy. However, some information was able to be gleaned from multiple issues of The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion. During her recovery efforts after being shot in The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite, Vanya is taken around the world by Mother (Grace on the show). Along the way, she introduced Vanya to a pink-haired man named Deever. Though Vanya noted his similarity to Reginald, Deever proved infinitely more pleasant. He conveyed that he and Reginald had once worked in the same city, though Deever had never truly liked him. He expressed much more fondness for Vanya’s robotic mother. He was said to have quizzed Vanya for twenty minutes and is likely the overseer of the Sparrow Academy.

Soon after, Vanya was taken to the site of the Umbrella Academy’s battle with the Eiffel Tower. There, she met a woman named Carla, who wore a jacket with a sparrow logo on it. Carla led Vanya to Norway, where the Sparrow Academy was based. She repeatedly referred to it as Vanya’s home, and conveyed that the people they’d find inside were “family“. After saving the Umbrella Academy from rampaging supervillains, the official meeting between the two groups continued that trend. The Sparrow’s leader referred to Luther as “brother” — making the dynamics far less contentious, at least from the outset.

The powers displayed by the comic book Sparrow Academy are equal parts distinctly similar and wildly different. Like Luther, the Number One of the Sparrows appeared to have super-strength. Additionally, he also seemed able to fly. However, it’s unclear whether that was under his own power or extended to him by the unnamed blonde Sparrow also seen flying. Carla enabled Vanya to be able to walk again, suggesting a healing ability or something similar to Allison’s oft-unused reality-warping power. An unnamed Sparrow wearing a grey sweatshirt instead of the red and black uniform was able to emit an energy beam from their face. Another unnamed member transformed themselves into a murder of crows. Whether or not they could, in fact, become any animal is unknown. A non-human-looking Sparrow worked like a voodoo doll, able to transfer the pain of self-inflicted wounds onto others. The final Sparrow was an unnamed, floating green cube. What abilities they possessed, if any, were left unclear. However, the Sparrow’s immediate journey from Norway to America could suggest teleportation. Whatever the case, they were already confirmed in season 2’s final scene as part of the show’s Sparrow Academy.

Across seasons 1 and 2, The Umbrella Academy has remained true to the spirit and themes of the comics. However, it hasn’t been without its differences both major and minor. The showrunner’s creative license will likely continue in future episodes. As such, the names, general appearance, and power sets of the show’s version of the Sparrow Academy may be subject to change during The Umbrella Academy season 3.

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