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Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of the Netflix series, The Umbrella Academy.
It’s no surprise to fans of the original graphic novel that The Umbrella Academy Netflix series doesn’t exactly follow the same storyline as its base material. But when the show references the comic, or makes callbacks to the previous seasons, fans feel that bit of euphoria that only a cockroach, a puppy, and a perfectly timed quote can bring. Here’s an in-depth look at every Easter egg and reference that Season 3 has to offer.
The Sparrows
A large portion of Season 3 revolves around The Sparrow Academy, an alternate group of superpowered siblings adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves after the events that took place in Dallas.
In the comics, the Sparrows only appear for one panel, and are all unnamed except for Number One being called Number One, and a character named Carla, who has healing abilities. Carla heals The White Violin (Viktor), who was left unable to walk after being shot in the head by Five in order to stop him from destroying the Earth. In Season 1 of the Netflix series, Five was swapped for Allison, who fires the gun next to Viktor’s ear rather than directly at his head.
Instead of fighting against the Academy members, as we see in Season 3, the Sparrows save the Umbrella Academy from a group of supervillains just in the nick of time. Similar to the comics, the Sparrows wear matching uniforms, except for the unidentified green cube, who we now know as Christopher, and the unnamed Sparrow who releases a powerful blast from their face, wearing a blue sweater. It may be that this character was adapted into Jayme in the Netflix series, who shoots a psychoactive venom at her enemies and wears a blue sweater under her Sparrow blazer. Marcus, Alphonso and Fei’s powers were adapted directly from their unnamed comic book counterparts. The Sparrows are introduced at the end of the Hotel Oblivion graphic novel, rather than at the end of Dallas, as the series’ Season 2 would have you believe. Fans of the graphic novel believe they will see more of the Sparrows in Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s next chapter of the story.
Additionally, the Sparrows’ story is told alongside a perfect recreation of the Umbrellas’ introduction, with seven nannies pushing the children’s strollers, but with the Sparrow logo instead. One wonders what baby Christopher would look like. Perhaps, just a smaller cube?
The Dancing
Music has always played a large role in the series, as well as dance. In the first season audiences saw the seven siblings get their groove on to Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now,” while separated by the walls of their enormous home. This scene showed that while they might be at odds with one another, they share a connection that ultimately brings them together.
In Season 2, Klaus, Allison and Viktor reunite and dance to Sam Cooke’s “Twisting The Night Away,” as they discuss the ways that they plan to make peace in their lives before the imminent end of the world.
In Season 3, the doom has set in, and the one group dance scene that we see, apart from the solemn crowd at Luther’s wedding, is happening inside of Diego’s head after getting hit with Jayme’s psychoactive venom just before the fight ensues. Audiences were sure to have been confused as to why the two teams went from at each other’s throats to shimmying their way through Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose” before the truth was revealed about Jayme’s venomous powers. Additionally, Luther once again hits us with his memorable crab claw move we saw in Season 1.
Hotel Oblivion
Viewers of the Netflix series may be surprised to learn that Hotel Obsidian does not exist in the comics, though its machinelike counterpart, the Hotel Oblivion, does. In the Netflix series, Klaus introduces his siblings to one of his favorite flophouse haunts where he has slept off a bad hangover or two. He describes the once glamorous hotel as a slutty old dame, a hiding place for those who don’t wish to be judged, where you’re taken care of and never asked questions.
Created by Sir Reginald Hargreeves in the comics, Reginald of the series states that whoever created the universe must have created the machine known as Oblivion. Although he states that it wasn’t him who created it, he appears to know more than he’s letting on, especially since he has knowledge of how to work its complicated controls.
Hotel Oblivion was originally written as a prison for the Umbrella Academy’s supervillain enemies, created inside a pocket dimension, housing not only the Academy’s evil nemeses, but a tentacled creature captured in the cosmic trap. The hotel exists in this dimension on a faraway planet, and is only accessible by traveling through the afterspace, or via a televator. What’s a televator you ask? Don’t worry, we’ll get to that soon enough.
Dolores
When Five is hit by Jayme’s venom he sees the love of his life, Dolores. Simply a one-armed mannequin to onlookers, Dolores and Five spent 30 glorious years in the post-apocalyptic world, drinking wine and calculating time jumps. When hit with the venom, Five sees Dolores come to life, a sweet, bilingual blonde in her classic polka dot top. She and a disillusioned Five share an intimate moment, much to the confused disgust of Five’s poisonous rival. This is the first time audiences have seen Dolores since the drunken library scene in Season 1.
Five’s Weapon Of Choice
Five takes down some samurai guardians in Season 3 using what appears to be his new weapon of choice. No longer a gun-for-hire sharpshooter, the 58-year-old trapped in a 13-year-old’s body switches up his long range firearm for an ax. Viewers may recall seeing Five visit members of the Commission at a board meeting in Season 2, taking out the members, and their fishbowl headed boss with the same weapon.
Mr. Pennycrumb
Depicted as a pug belonging to the somewhat cantankerous front desk clerk, the dog named Mr. Pennycrumb is a nod to the comics. Written as a pup who followed Five everywhere but to battle, the ice cream loving furball was Five’s only living companion in the post-apocalyptic future.
The Mothers of Agony
The Mothers of Agony appear in the Netflix series as a biker gang that keeps alternate reality Pogo busy with tattooing its leather-bound, bearded members. Klaus, who recognizes the tattooed sigil, warns Five to stay away from the gang, which piques his curiosity, leading him to find the intelligent chimp. In the comics the gang plays a very different role, taking Klaus in and feeding him drugs in exchange for psychic favors.
The Cockroaches
Infesting the once glamorous hideout hotel, cockroaches are seen throughout the season and are eventually found to be living inside the guardians of Oblivion. In the comics cockroaches are present, but in a very different way. The insects appear on a serving plate on the cover of one of the eight Hotel Oblivion graphic novel covers. The cockroaches are eaten by a villainous prisoner, Dr. Terminal, who must consume living food.
Diego Loses His Fingers, But What About His Left Eye?
The comic version of Diego is missing one eye, which is often depicted as a blacked out portion of his superhero eye mask. In Season 3, Viktor flips through a history book he found on the shelves of the Hotel Obsidian’s library, in which the story of the Kennedy Six is told. The two photos accompanying the story are of a long haired Viktor, and a one-eyed Diego with an eye patch. Obviously, Diego doesn’t sport the eye patch in Seasons one or two, so this Easter egg was intentionally left for fans of the graphic novel. In the history book, the writer states that Diego is believed to have been a former high-ranking intelligence officer for the Cuban government, and that he lost his eye as a punishment for compromising an intelligence operation. It is also written that his eye was burned out with a cigar. Six episodes later, Diego is seen smoking a cigar at Luther’s bachelor party.
In Season 2, audiences saw Klaus levitate with the help of his ghostly brother Ben, in order to deceive the wealthy and start his Backstreet Boys lyric reciting cult. Number Four of the comics levitates of his own accord, and therefore, has no need for shoes. While he is no longer levitating, with the help of his brother or not, in Season 3, viewers see Klaus ditch his shoes, choosing to walk around the emptying hotel barefoot, as a nod to his comic book counterpart.
In Season 2, audiences saw Allison living a completely different life, having arrived in the past two years before the show picks back up. In the new life she has built for herself, she has a loving husband, and an incredible group of friends fighting for their rights as Black citizens of the United States. When Allison and her cohorts sit-in at the whites only Stradlers café, her husband Ray is beaten by police. Allison, in order to save the man she loves, uses her powers to make the men stop hitting him. Misunderstood and now believed to be a Dallas PD plant, Allison fears what the repercussions may be of using her powers in front of Ray. While lamenting her worries, Klaus, the always loving and supportive brother, comes to Allison’s side to reassure her that everything is going to be okay, stating, “First thing we’re going to need is coffee, vitamin B12, oh, and a piping hot bowl of Menudo, and then we’re gonna sort all of this stuff out.”
In Season 3, while traveling through the void, The Séance encounters his Amish birth mother on a beach, seated at a table where the two share their first ever conversation over a bowl of piping hot Menudo. Klaus’ favorite food seems to bring him comfort, as well as a message about the white Buffalo.
The White Buffalo and The White Violin
This may be a stretch, but, in the Season 3 scene following Luther’s murder at the hands of his father, the Space Boy spends some time in the void with his dearly departed brother Klaus. Klaus, who was locked out of the door to Oblivion by his father, throws himself on the horn of the white buffalo mounted to the wall of the aptly named suite. As the two brothers sit in the bright and dusty void, a program plays on the dated television where two men on screen discuss reality itself, and how it was once believed that the universe rides on the horns of a white buffalo: a universe that has twice been shattered by the White Violin, who we know in the series as Viktor. The first time Viktor ended the world in Season 1, he wears a white suit, similar to the outfit worn by the White Violin. The powerful character in white was the key to the beginning of the planned apocalypse, to which the white buffalo was the key to the end.
Weddings And Funerals
In Season 3, while speaking to Klaus, you’ll hear Sir Reginald Hargreeves state that the best way to get a family back together is at a wedding or a funeral. This callback references not only the comic’s second issue title, but the title of the series’ first episode.
The series’ first season starts with Reginald’s funeral, and now they’re back together for Luther’s wedding, the first wedding that all seven siblings attend, given that Ben had died, and Five had blinked into the future when Allison was first married to her now ex-husband. Now that the Umbrella Academy has attended both a wedding and a funeral together, we can presume that this is the beginning of the end.
The Jennifer Incident
Ben’s death has been a mystery throughout the series’ three seasons, though the most recent release gives us a hint at what may have happened to the sibling known as The Horror. Sparrow Ben is bewildered when the six siblings obsess over his state of, well, being alive. They explain that their Ben died in what they call the Jennifer Incident. In Ben’s room we see drawings of a woman’s face with the name Jennifer scribbled along the edges, though nothing more is mentioned about her or what happened all those years ago.
In the comics, Luther is seen at his lunar base desk where newspaper clippings hang from the walls. One such clipping refers to his brother’s untimely death, with the headline reading “The Horror — Dead!” Below is another clipping that details the disbanding of the super-powered siblings next to another article titled “The Jennifer Incident.” In the first and third volumes of the comic, the Jennifer Incident is mentioned, but no details are given.
Ben’s death is an important mystery in both the comics and the series, with comic writer Gerard Way keeping the cause a secret for a very specific, yet unknown reason. Showrunner Steve Blackman doesn’t know the cause of Ben’s death, or its ties to the mysterious Jennifer either, so any answers we get in the upcoming fourth season likely won’t be canon.
The Televator and The Season Finale
In the final scenes of Season 3, six of the siblings, along with Lila, appear in a courtyard, transported by a strange elevator. But what kind of elevator could transport the siblings through space and time? A televator could. In the comics, the televator is one of Reggie’s greatest inventions, which helped him incur his great wealth. We will have to wait and see if this bit of technology plays a part in the super siblings’ future.
The Hargreeves Business Empire, Abigail, And Reggie’s Ultimate Slowplay
As Five sits at the edge of the earth, waiting for the Kugelblitz to swallow the crumbling hotel, his father approaches the old young man, and speaks to him about attempting to save the world. The two discuss whether they’ve done enough to save the people they love the most, to which Reginald states that he has not, but hopes that his children will help him with that. Given the way old Reg treats his kids, you can assume it’s not them he’s referencing when it comes to those he loves.
At the end of Season 3, audiences see that the absentee father has finally gotten what he wants: a dystopian future where he’s in control, with the Hargreeves name smattered across the face of every building in town. Looking down upon the dark city, Reg stands hand in hand with a silver-haired woman, who he shares a smile with before the screen fades to black. The woman is indeed Hargreeve’s wife Abigail, who audiences were introduced to back in Season 1, when she asked Reginald to give her beloved violin to someone who would cherish it.
Little Glowing Lights
When Abigail was introduced, viewers saw a younger Reginald tending to his sick wife in bed. He tells her, “I can’t leave you, there must be another way.” Abigail replies, “I will die here, but you won’t. The world needs you, now go.” Reginald then goes to their bedroom window and releases a swarm of glowing lights from an ornate jar. These are the very same glowing lights that are pulled from the seven as the Oblivion machine runs on the siblings’ power. Fans believe that Reginald was releasing the power responsible for the birth of the 43 children, whom he planned to use in order to bring his beloved wife back to life. It seems he has accomplished this at the end of the third season, with the siblings now learning that they exist without their unique powers.
Post-Credits Scene with Ben
In the beginning of the third season, audiences learn a bit more about Ben, and that he was conceived and born on a subway train in Korea. In a post-credits scene, we see a man who appears to be Ben. Bespectacled and in a suit, he smiles to himself while reading a book. This scene has fans on the edge of their seats, hoping to learn more about the previously overlooked sibling in the fourth season. Additionally, a QR code is stickered to the wall beside him. Make sure to pause the scene and scan it for a secret gift from Pogo and the series creators.
The series has now caught up to its source material, and series creator and showrunner Steve Blackman has consulted comic creators Gerard Way and Gabrial Bá about his plans to move forward with the series. Blackman has stated that he isn’t sure if Season 4 will be the final season, but that he knows that fans of both the comics and Netflix series will love it. Although there isn’t more of the graphic novel for the series to base its story off of, we hope to see more references stitched in as the gripping, psychedelic story progresses.
