Umbrella Academy Theory: How Vanya's Powers Are Controlled In Season 2
The Umbrella Academy season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, and viewers were left with many questions they are hoping will be answered in season 2, among those what’s going to happen with Vanya and her powers – and the comics might have the answer, though not as you probably think. Based on the comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, The Umbrella Academy was released on Netflix in February 2019, and was an instant hit with viewers, even surpassing season 1 of Stranger Things.
The Umbrella Academy follows the dysfunctional family of adopted siblings (and superhero team), the Hargreeves. On October 1, 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth simultaneously, but none of them were pregnant when the day began. Seven of those children were adopted by the mysterious scientist and billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who as the children began to develop unique sets of powers, formed a superhero team called “The Umbrella Academy”. However, one of the siblings, Vanya, was raised to think she had no powers and was the ordinary one of the family.
The big twist of the series was that Vanya does have superpowers, and was the most dangerous one of the group – so much that she was responsible for the apocalypse. The Umbrella Academy season 1 ended with the Hargreeves jumping through time and space to save themselves, and so one of the biggest questions (aside from “when” they are) is how they’re going to deal with Vanya’s powers in a different time period and possibly without Reginald’s knowledge on the subject.
Vanya Hargreeves was given the name “00.07” and was considered by her siblings to be the youngest one, even though they all have the same age. Vanya was apparently the only one without extraordinary abilities, and her only “talent” was playing the violin (Reginald even said she can “barely play the violin”). Vanya was lured to the Icarus Theatre by a mysterious being called The Conductor, who offered her a chance at revenge against her family through an audition for his orchestra, named Orchestra Verdammten, which goal was to end the world through music. The Conductor later revealed that he wrote a piece that could destroy the world, known as “The Apocalypse Suite”, and needed Vanya to join as he believed Reginald was wrong about her and there was power within her. Vanya initially rejected the offer, but after a rough meeting with her siblings, she came back and joined the orchestra.
The Conductor then explained to her that he had read Reginald’s notes and learned she was the most dangerous of the team. In order to awaken her powers, she had to go through some heavy experiments, and while Reginald’s notes detailed how to reactivate her abilities, The Conductor decided to do it through his own methods, which were much more painful and extreme, and included a physical transformation too. After that, Vanya was no longer the introvert and quiet sibling, and went on to kill The Conductor himself with her performance. She carried on with the piece and with that the destruction of the world, killing Pogo in the process. Her siblings arrived to stop her, and was shot in the head by Number Five. Vanya was left half dead, and though there was mass destruction, they all survived.
In an effort to make a more grounded story, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy made a lot of changes to the events, places, and characters of the comics, among those Vanya and her powers. Just like in the comics, Vanya believed she was ordinary, and lived under the shadow of her siblings. Instead of taming her powers through experiments, Reginald medicated her, and with the help of her sister Allison, she was manipulated to think there was nothing extraordinary about her. Vanya then met Harold Jenkins a.k.a. Leonard Peabody (The Conductor’s real name in the comics), who posed as a violin student and then became Vanya’s boyfriend. Harold stole Reginald’s notes and knew that Vanya’s medication was what tamed her powers, and so got rid of them and pushed her to unleash her abilities.
Vanya killed Harold when she learned what he had done and proceeded to perform at a concert, where she kickstarted the apocalypse. Her siblings confronted her, and Allison held a gun to her head but changed her mind and shot next to her ear in order to break her concentration, which made Vanya blast energy towards the moon, shattering it and bringing the end of the world. By the end of season 1, Vanya was unconscious, and her siblings took her with them when they jumped to save themselves from the apocalypse.
The Hargreeves will have a lot to work on in The Umbrella Academy season 2, no matter where they land. In order to avoid more chaos, they will have to fix their relationship will Vanya and find a way to tame her powers, but that’s obviously way easier said than done. Though the series has taken a lot of creative liberties and hasn’t been exactly true to the source material, it could take inspiration from it when it comes to Vanya’s future. The Hargreeves could turn to less amicable methods in order to help their sister, such as brainwashing (supposing Allison doesn’t get her voice back). Depending on when and where they land, the Hargreeves could count with some extra help, such as Pogo (who, in the comics, helps them when they go back in time) or even Reginald himself. These methods wouldn’t be as extreme as The Conductor’s, and the purpose would be to help her control her powers, and in the process, make her forget what happened with Harold and the apocalypse.
All the Hargreeves have gone through a lot of trauma since they were little, but Vanya’s case was worse. Brainwashing could be a way of helping her beyond just controlling her powers, as it would also allow her to have a fresh start. It’s unknown when The Umbrella Academy will be back and what the story will be about, as season 1 covered a big part of the only two arcs that have been published, but it can rescue some of the elements from the comics it left behind during the first season.