The motivations for Sir Reginald Hargreeves' actions aren't always clear in The Umbrella Academy, and there's ample evidence that he was behind every apocalypse featured in the series. Colm Feore portrays the character based on the figure featured in popular comic book series by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá. Despite dying at the start of the Netflix adaptation, Reginald remains one of the show's core characters due to flashbacks, time travel, and alternate realities. At the center of the first two seasons is the threat of two separate apocalypses, but could Reginald have been responsible each time?
The Umbrella Academy season 1 revealed Reginald adopted 7 of 43 existing gifted babies to raise as a crime-fighting superteam. His Umbrella Academy consisted of Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Number Five, and Ben. Though Vanya served as one of the siblings, she was kept on the sidelines. Reginald's death caused the Hargreeves siblings to reunite, which coincided with an impending apocalypse threat. When Five transported his family to the '60s, they encountered their father, who seemingly wanted nothing to do with his future children. In fact, he ended up forming another academy in the future after viewing his original team as a failure.
Over time, more details regarding Reginald's mysterious origins have been revealed. The eccentric billionaire is an alien from another dimension that was ravished by nuclear war. The man purposely adopted gifted children to build a team that could prevent another apocalypse. Granted, The Umbrella Academy has also hinted that Reginald himself may have caused the disastrous events. The theory might be unlikely, but it's certainly a fun one to consider.
Why Reginald Hargreeves Would Want An Apocalypse
Reginald's motivations in wanting an apocalypse could stem from two different rationales. For one, Reginald's origins as an alien could indicate that he secretly had plans to destroy Earth. Before traveling to the 20th century, Reginald was living in an entirely different dimension. He clearly had loved ones in that dimension, considering the dying woman who convinced Reginald to leave as the planet was being destroyed in a nuclear war. She told Reginald that the world needed him, but he oddly never spoke of her again. Maybe he blamed Earth for what happened to his dimension, orchestrating a plan to jumpstart a devasting event so the planet would meet the same fate as his home.
The second plausible explanation for why Reginald would want an apocalypse is that the man had become jaded with humanity. Despite forming a team of super-powered kids, he never showed any compassion for his adopted children. Instead, he viewed the siblings as assets or weapons. In fact, Reginald failed to give them names and instead referred to them as their originally assigned numbers. Based on the treatment of the Umbrella Academy, it's easy to believe that he gave up on humanity. Rather than wait for the population to destroy the planet, Reginald sped up the process with an apocalypse. As an alien with powers to travel to different dimensions, Reginald has the option to start over elsewhere.
Reginald Hargreeves Mistreated Vanya To Create The Season 1 Apocalypse
As mentioned, Reginald's treatment of the kids within the Umbrella Academy was in no way admirable. When they were young and needed Reginald to be a father, he was cold and distant, letting Grace cover the caregiver role. Not only did he emotionally abuse the siblings, but he also outright mistreated them, especially when it came to Vanya. Like her siblings, "Number Seven" possesses exceptional powers. Aside from telekinesis, Vanya can manipulate matter, project energy, and absorb soundwaves to harness its energy. By failing to control her abilities during training, Reginald locked her in a soundproof room. He then used Allison to use her rumor power, convincing Vanya that she didn't have powers.
Throughout her life, Vanya was left feeling useless to the Umbrella Academy. She also took medicine that unknowingly repressed her powers. When Vanya eventually learned the truth, she went down a dark path. Without the necessary control over her abilities, Vanya became a powder keg. Her siblings tried to subdue her to no avail after becoming an unstable version of her old self. After wreaking havoc, Luther, Allison, Klaus, Diego, and Five attempted to stop their sister. Instead, her energy beam struck the moon, launching the start of the apocalypse.
Knowing that Vanya would eventually find out that she had powers, Reginald could have purposely mistreated her for a larger purpose. He knew the girl was extremely dangerous, especially without proper training and levels of control. Rather than helping her, he created a person powerful enough to end the world. Reginald's emotional abuse and lies also gave Vanya the motivation to lose herself to the point where harm to others wasn't a concern.
Reginald Hargreeves Ignored Number Five Because He Wanted The Season 2 Apocalypse
As the case with the season 1 apocalypse, Number Five was the first one of the siblings to learn about the second impending doomsday event. Upon reuniting with his siblings in 1963, Five and the others came together to thwart yet another disastrous event. Unable to discover what would cause the apocalypse in the '60s, the group figured Reginald could assist in the situation. Agreeing to meet with his future adopted children, he was left completely unimpressed with the Umbrella Academy.
Five, however, made an extra push in convincing Reginald to help prevent the apocalypse, but his requests were ignored. When Five revealed the planet's fate, Reginald replied with "world's end," indicating that he didn't care about Earth's destruction. In fact, he mentioned the control of "man," which was interesting considering he isn't human and instead, an extraterrestrial. This could hint that the normal population couldn't effectively start or end an apocalypse, but an alien could.
Reginald's rejection to help Five or listen to the rest of the Umbrella Academy's pleas for help in their predicament surely falls in line with the notion that he could potentially be behind season 2's impending apocalypse. By not helping in any way, he figured they would fail in their mission based on their lack of unity as a super-powered team. The figure certainly seems to always know more than he ever leads on. Coincidentally, Five used Reginald's small amount of advice to save his siblings and transport them back to 2019. It will be interesting to see if any future doomsday events threaten the characters of The Umbrella Academy and how Reginald comes into play.