There's a fascinating dual meaning behind the titular crime-fighting team's name in The Umbrella Academy. The super-popular Netflix series, based on the comic books by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, is gearing up for the release of its second season later this year, with many fans still reeling from the offbeat stylings and colorfully dysfunctional characters introduced in 2019's initial run. The story follows the lives of the 7 adopted Hargreeves siblings, born via miraculous conception in 1989 and gifted with amazing superpowers. The septet are bought and raised by the mysterious Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who molds them into a vigilante outfit whether they like it or not.
During the group's opening salvo halting an armed bank robbery as youngsters, Reginald appears alongside his trainees and proudly proclaims the arrival of the Umbrella Academy to the gathered press. Naturally, the Hargreeves siblings become famous thanks to their heroics, with Umbrella Academy comics and merchandise cementing their status as child celebrities with the show's universe. Working as a title both in fictional terms and as the actual name of the franchise, The Umbrella Academy is a moniker as unique and off-kilter as the series itself, but its origin actually has multiple layers of meaning.
In the Netflix series, it's heavily implied that Reginald Hargreeves names his superhero group the "Umbrella Academy" because when he first arrives from whatever strange land he calls home, Reginald stumbles across and purchases an umbrella store, which presumably allows then him to amass the grand fortune he eventually comes to possess. In the original comic books, however, the reasoning behind the name is different. Here, the umbrella metaphor comes from the group's motto, "Ut Malum Pluvia," which translates to "as evil rains." As an umbrella protects one from rain, the Academy protect the world from evil, thus the name "Umbrella Academy" is born.
Interestingly, this isn't just a standard case of the TV series using one explanation while the comic uses another. Emblazoned on the Academy's badges in the Netflix series is the same Latin phrasing, meaning that the "Umbrella Academy" title in the context of the live-action adaptation is both a reference to Reginald's origins and their desire to protect the innocent from a reign of evil pouring down on the world.
This intricate attention to detail is woven throughout The Umbrella Academy and can be seen in the subtle foreshadowing of Klaus' growing powers, how the Vanya twist is teased in the very first episode and in an array of other examples, all of which contribute greatly to the series' runaway popularity. However, the dual meaning is also perhaps symbolic of how Steve Blackman (The Umbrella Academy's showrunner) pays homage to the comic books with his version of the story, but still adds intriguing new layers that compliment the foundations laid by Gerard Way, rather than disrupt them.
The Umbrella Academy season 2 is expected to premiere in 2020 on Netflix.