The Umbrella Academy season 2 is absolutely packed with smart Easter eggs - and references numerous real historical events. The second season of The Umbrella Academy was eagerly awaited, and it proved to be worth the wait; it's frankly even better than the first season. The plot is an exciting one, with the Hargreeves children transported back to Dallas in 1963, where they must figure out how to prevent a new Apocalypse that has followed them back through time.
Most time travel stories never truly exploit the potential of their past setting. They add a few key characters, maybe point out a couple of cultural contrasts, but that's about it. The Umbrella Academy season 2 is different, however, weaving a fantastic narrative that uses real historical figures, topical issues such as the civil rights movement, and a wealth of popular conspiracy theories. The similarities between The Umbrella Academy and the real story of Kennedy's death are astounding, showing a remarkable attention to detail. Comic book readers will be equally delighted at the number of riffs on the original comics, written by Gerard Way.
So here is your ultimate guide to all the Easter eggs, comic book references, and historical allusions in The Umbrella Academy season 2. Some of them are just cool details, while others turn out to be major plot points, and some are potential foreshadowing for the inevitable Umbrella Academy season 3. Did you spot them all?
16. The Umbrella Man
The plot of The Umbrella Academy season 2 is driven by the assassination of JFK, and it's presented in a manner that is remarkably historically accurate. Photographs from the time really did show a mysterious "Umbrella Man," who actually opened his umbrella for no visible reason; conspiracy theorists suggested it was to tell the assassin to open fire. In 1978, a man called Louie Steven Witt stepped forward as the Umbrella Man, claiming it was a rather odd political protest inspired by the Kennedy family's historic association with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.
"If the Guinness Book of World Records had a category for people doing the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place, I would be No. 1 in that position," Witt observed, "with not even a close runner-up." In the world of The Umbrella Academy, the Umbrella Man is a Hargreeves double who's been hired to throw them off Sir Reginald's trail. Note the Umbrella Academy learn about the Umbrella Man from the so-called "Frankel Footage." This is clearly a riff on the Zapruder Film, a recording of the JFK assassination used by the Warren Commission during their investigation of Kennedy's death.
15. Jack Ruby Is A Real Historical Figure
Luther's boss Jack Ruby is a real historical figure - a local nightclub owner in Dallas who was also well known for being involved in some very shady business. He plied police officers with money and prostitutes in order to keep them off his back. Ruby is a key figure in many JFK conspiracy theories because he murdered assassin Lee Harvey Oswald two days after the assassination, shooting him during a prison transfer. Ruby claimed grief over the assassination had driven him to a state of "psychomotor epilepsy" in which he shot Oswald unconsciously. Notice that, when Luther gives Ruby a call at the end of The Umbrella Academy season 2, Ruby is picking up his gun; he's presumably about to head off to do the deed.
14. The Majestic 12
In the world of The Umbrella Academy season 2, Kennedy was killed because he had crossed a mysterious group known as the "Majestic 12." This is a "real" conspiracy theory, supposedly created by President Harry S. Truman and consisting of scientists, military officers, and government officials. Proponents of this theory believe they were founded after a spacecraft crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947, and were responsible for disseminating alien technology into American society. In The Umbrella Academy, JFK started asking too many questions about Roswell, aliens, and UFOs; thus the Majestic 12 decided to have him killed. Sir Reginald Hargreeves was one of them, and he was appalled at the idea of assassinating the president. Curiously, Hargreeves is using the Majestic 12 to pursue his interests on the Dark Side of the Moon, and it's reasonable to assume this led him to establishing a space base there - one he'd send Luther to for years, for a still undisclosed reason.
13. The Truth About Sir Reginald Hargreeves
The Majestic 12 make a fatal error when they taunt Sir Reginald Hargreeves, telling him they will tell the world his secrets if he refuses to cooperate. They're initially scornful when Hargreeves removes his jacket - and then are horrified when he peels away the skin of his face, revealing a clearly alien visage concealed behind the mask. This idea is lifted straight from the comics, where Hargreeves is indeed a reptilian alien disguised as a human. There, it's handled in a bizarrely off-handed manner; in the Netflix series, it appears to be central to the mystery of Reginald Hargreeves.
12. Hargreeves' Televator
When Grace breaks into Sir Reginald's secret study, she examines the plans on his wall and rifles through his papers. Most of the details are pertaining to either the Space Race or JFK's visit to Dallas, but the most intriguing is a glimpse of a patent for something called a Televator. Hargreeves' notes describes this as "the next great mode of transportation." In the comics, the Televator was a device Hargreeves created that allowed him to travel through both space and time.
11. Pogo's Origin Story Is A (Sort Of) True Story
The Umbrella Academy season 2 presents the origin story of Pogo, and in doing so weaves him into the history of the Space Race. It seems Baby Pogo was one of the first hominids launched into space, and his story is based on Ham - a monkey who actually was sent into space in a rocket. Unlike Pogo, Ham survived the mission with just a bruised nose and lived for 17 years in the National Zoo in Washington D.C. before joining the North Carolina Zoo. Pogo, meanwhile, came back badly burned, and was saved by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who injected him with a mysterious serum. Apparently Pogo was famous, because in The Umbrella Academy season 2, episode 7 a vending machine has a candy bar called a "Pogos-Gogos."
10. The Commission Is Run By A Talking Goldfish
Gerard Way's comics are pretty trippy, and incredibly The Umbrella Academy season 1 didn't even begin to dive into their weirder side. Season 2 goes a lot further, though, by introducing AJ Carmichael - the talking goldfish, a Machiavellian operator who suffers a terrible fate. In the comics, Carmichael the goldfish was indeed the leader of the Temps Aeternalis, the comic version of the Commission.
9. Introducing the Sparrow Academy
Time travel is a risky business, and somehow the Umbrella Academy have created a brand new timeline in which Sir Reginald Hargreeves never died - and formed the Sparrow Academy. Five members are seen, accompanied by Ben, who's clearly one of them. This idea is lifted straight from the comics, with the bird-themed team introduced in The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion. They weren't really developed much as characters, and in fact most of them were never even named. In the comics, they emerged from a mysterious floating cube from another dimension, which makes the strange green cube seen next to them rather intriguing.
8. A Hint of the Sparrows
Vanya's powers are particularly mysterious, and in one intriguing subplot in The Umbrella Academy season 2 she brought a child she loved, Harlan, back from the dead. Doing so shared her powers with him, and the Umbrella Academy had to rush to his farm so Vanya could take her power back. The closing scenes offered an intriguing hint Harlan's story is not over, however, because he was shown levitating a wooden sparrow. This may well suggest Harlan will wind up connected to the Sparrow Academy.
7. A Simple Task
No wonder the Umbrella Academy were delighted at the idea they'd saved the world and somehow averted the Apocalypse; the dysfunctional family aren't exactly known for their successes. At one point, they fail to even rendezvous at a set time, with Five left furious with his entire family. "It was a simple task," he fumes. "Just here! We didn’t have to kill a giant sea serpent, fight off an army of mutants!" This is probably a reference to the comic book story "But the Past Ain’t Through With You," in which the Umbrella Academy battled a sea serpent offshore Japan.
6. Did You Spot The Film Titles?
The Umbrella Academy season 2 uses popular culture to help give a sense of exactly when it is set. That's particularly notable in the first episode, when the Hargreeves children materialize in different time periods. The Avon cinema is showing different movies in each time period:
- Klaus and Ben arrive in 1959, when the cinema is showing Curse of the Undead. This seems entirely appropriate, given Klaus' power is to communicate with ghosts, and Ben is a spirit.
- In 1961, Alison sees The Curse of the Werewolf showing at the Avon cinema, but doesn't realize it means she's traveled in time.
- Vanya arrives in 1963 to see The Kiss of the Vampire. It's still showing when Five turns up a month later.
Luther is referred to as "King Kong," which makes sense given his massive size and is also a culturally appropriate metaphor; that released in 1953.
5. Not Every Cultural Reference Makes Sense In The 1960s
Some of the funniest gags in The Umbrella Academy season 2 come from pop culture references that are wildly inappropriate for the 1960s. In one early scene, Diego makes a crack about Luke Skywalker while in a mental institution, and it understandably falls flat. Klaus mines his knowledge of '80s and '90s songs for his cult, which he calls "Destiny's Children" after an R&B group. While in a prison cell with one of his followers, Klaus quotes TLC's song Waterfalls. "Don't go chasing waterfalls," he tells him. "Stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to."
4. There's A Subtle Watchmen Reference
The Umbrella Academy season 2, episode 3 features a brief shot of a man wandering around with a billboard declaring "The End is Nigh." It fits well with the show's apocalyptic tone, and he's right, because at that point the world was only days from a potential nuclear Armageddon. This is, however, a very clever reference to another classic comic book - Alan Moore's Watchmen, which had a profound influence on The Umbrella Academy creator Gerard Way.
3. The Umbrella Academy Nods Towards A "Fat" Luther
The Umbrella Academy season 2 frequently shows Luther tucking into food, and in one key scene he gets into a car and causes it to lower dramatically, presumably ruining the suspension. Luther tells his siblings not to make a fat joke. All this is a subtle reference to an arc in the comics, where Luther became depressed and took solace in food, becoming seriously overweight. "There's certainly a nod to that in this season," actor Tom Hopper said. "There was a question mark over the fact that Thor did the whole thing already [in Avengers: Endgame]." It seems The Umbrella Academy didn't want to risk seeming to repeat the Thor arc, so they settled for more subtle nods.
2. The Levitating Klaus References The Comics
Klaus' powers are switched up in The Umbrella Academy season 2, with Ben learning he can actually possess his brother; interestingly, this also raises the disturbing possibility Klaus could be possessed by other specters he summons too. But, as spectacular and impressive as Klaus' powers may be, they're still very different to the comics. There, Klaus does indeed have the power to levitate - an ability The Umbrella Academy season 2 references, although in the show he's secretly being lifted by Ben at the time.
1. The End Of The World Is An April Fools Joke
The Umbrella Academy season 1 released in February 2019, but season 2's opening scenes reveal the apocalypse originally happened on April 1 of that year. That means the end of the world was the biggest April Fools Joke in the history of the human race. It's still odd that it involved the Moon cracking like an egg, when Sir Reginald Hargreeves was obsessed with the Moon for so long.