- "People like us, we will never save enough lives to make up for the ones that we take."
- —Number Five[src]
Number Five is one of the forty-three children who were all born on the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989 to mothers without any previous signs of pregnancy. The baby was one of seven adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves with the intention of training them to save the world. Five possessed the ability to time travel and ended up trapped in the future as an old boy, where he discovered that the world was in ruins. He eventually returned to The Umbrella Academy years later with a message that the world was due to end in eight days.
After he failed to avert the apocalypse, Five found himself transported to Dallas, November 25, 1963, in the center of another apocalypse. He quickly learned that this apocalypse was a direct result of him and his family manipulating time; once again he was forced to assemble the Umbrella Academy to mitigate the threat to humanity.
Upon returning to 2019, he and his family were shocked to learn that not only had they been replaced, but that their actions had led to a Kugelblitz, a black hole that would collapse all of space and time. After teaming up with the Sparrows, the universe was ultimately reset, leading to a world where all of the Hargreeves, including Five, no longer possessed their powers.
His ability was space-time manipulation. It allowed him to travel through space and time and teleport objects without physical contact.
After landing in the Sparrow Academy timeline, Five discovered that at least one future version of himself was the Founder of the Temps Commission.
Biography
Childhood
The Umbrella Academy
- "That's one badass stapler."
- —Five to a robber[src]
Five was born on October 1st, 1989, in Dublin, Ireland[citation needed] to a butcher named Efa,[2] who had shown no signs of pregnancy at the start of the day. As the rest of the Umbrella Academy members, the newborn adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves, who, along with Grace, raised Number Five and the rest of the Hargreeves siblings.[3]
He was seen in a flashback, during a crime scene. Sir Reginald had him and the others wear their professional attire (black suits with white masks) and head to the scene of the active crime. From there they entered the bank, most likely through a back door entrance or through Five's teleportation. The remainder of his siblings had subdued most of the criminals. One robber told them to stay back. Five teleported behind him and questioned what the Robber would do if they didn't. The robber, shocked, attempted to shoot Five but Five teleported behind him again. The robber spun round to use his gun but was surprised to see he now held a stapler in his hand. Five took the stapler and pushed it into the robber's head. After most of the robbers were subdued, Five and his siblings watched as Ben used his power to kill the rest of the robbers. The Umbrella Academy was showcased outside of the crime scene surrounded by news reporters and journalists.
Time travel gone wrong
One day, Five is eating lunch when he has the sudden thought of time traveling. He approaches his father and announces that he wishes to travel in time. Reginald is shocked by his sudden exaggeration and explains that Five has not yet tamed his own ability. Five is agitated by Reginald's comment, provoked that Reginald underestimates him. With that, he leaves his home. With his ability to jump through space and time not yet perfected, Five found himself transported to a near future in which the world had been destroyed. Five attempts to travel back to the present but finds himself unable to do so.
Surviving the Apocalypse
Isolation
Five finds the Hargreeves manor turned to rubble, with all of his siblings, except Viktor, dead. Luther's corpse holds a prosthetic eyeball, which Five acquires. He accepts his fate of doom and seclusion and strives to survive in the Apocalypse as long as he can. He procures a newspaper with the date of the Apocalypse. Whilst searching through the wreckage of a local convenience store, caused in the wake of the apocalypse, Five lays his eyes upon a tattered mannequin, whose lower body was removed by means that still remain unknown. Five, alone and yearning for company, drags the mannequin along with him, naming her "Delores." Together, they venture the wrecked and ruined earth. For over 40 years, Five remains alone in the ruined place, longing for company that is not plastic or inanimate. He still investigates the cause of the apocalypse, always bearing the prosthetic eyeball and Delores. Soon, he is greeted by a peculiar woman who calls herself "The Handler." Five acquires his shotgun and positions it towards the handler, demanding why she would be so rude as to trespass into his territory. The Handler assures him that she means not to hinder him or his time, but comes with an offer, or ultimatum in a sense. She informs him that she is a member of the Temps Commission, an organization created to maintain the proper flow of time, and remove threats that terrorize the timeline. She declares that if he accepts her offer, he will maintain a safe home, away from the apocalypse. Five, with nowhere else to go, accepts.
Five's New Job
Five is transformed into an expert hitman, working to serve the Temps Commission. He secretly uses this opportunity to further probe the cause of the apocalypse. Whilst investigating, he calculates how he will be able to travel back into the present time, and return from whence he came. Soon, The Handler hires Five to be a marksman on the day of J.F.K's death. Positioned behind a desk, Five takes this opportunity to travel back in time. He forms a wormhole, from which he escapes into, being transferred back into his teenage body.
Back In The Umbrella Academy
Having managed to travel back to the present, Five explains the events but finds that Viktor does not believe him, citing that time travel has messed with his mind, just as their father had warned.[4] Five has trouble convincing his siblings of the events too, but is eventually able to convince them when they're confronted by Hazel and Cha-Cha, who attack them.[5]
With the rest of his siblings on board, Five is eventually forced to reveal their future deaths to his siblings, who question why he did not tell them sooner. Later, a flashback to the future — in which all of the Five's siblings are dead — Five is recruited by the Temps Commission who agree to allow him to retire to a time of his choosing after five years of service; he agrees, but secretly uses this time to travel to the present, eight days before the apocalypse.[6]
With the revelation that Viktor is responsible for destroying the Academy — not the apocalypse — Five is conflicted with his siblings on how best to handle the situation. Eventually, they decide that they shouldn't abandon Viktor. A fight breaks out between Viktor, Five, and the Umbrella Academy members, and all hope seems lost. Five reveals that he has a plan: he will take all of his family with him through time in an effort to avoid the apocalypse. Despite not being sure of his abilities, Five is successful in traveling through time with his family.[7]
Second Apocalypse
Hazel tells Five about the second apocalypse.
Following his attempts to avert the apocalypse, Five finds himself transported to Dallas, November 25, 1963, in the midst of another apocalypse. He witnesses as his siblings, the Umbrella Academy fight the Russians prior to a nuclear explosion that ends the world. Moments before the world ends, however, Hazel arrives and tells him to come with him if he wants to live; Five obliges and Hazel takes him back in time to before the apocalypse and explains that he caused the apocalypse by bringing his siblings back in the timeline. Hazel tells him to save the world one more time but is unable to explore more before he is assassinated by the Swedes.
Five tries to get his siblings on board with his attempt to save the world for the second time, but is instantly rebuked by both Luther — who has built a life for himself — and Diego, who is attempting to prevent the assassination of President JFK.[8] Five is later able to convince Diego to help him save the world, and the two try and talk with the 1963 version of their father about his involvement in the assassination of JFK.[9] Five is able to convince Viktor to his side shortly after he offers insight into their past, which Viktor is happy to receive due to their amnesia.[10]
After Five is able to get all of his family back together, and on his side, he realises that his only option is to work with the Handler in exchange for a briefcase from the Temps Commission that will allow him to travel back with the Umbrella Academy back to their rightful place within the timeline. Five makes a shocking discovery along the way that Lila Pitts is actually the Handler's adoptive daughter. The Handler offers Five a proposition: she will give him a briefcase if he agrees to assassinate the members of the Commission board; he agrees.[11]
Five's attempts to get his family back to their timeline fail, however, and he is forced to abandon the briefcase before it is activated.[12] Five explains to Luther that the only option is to go face a previous version of himself in the same timeline and plead with him to hand over the briefcase. Older, previous Five is initially reluctant to give Five the briefcase, but Five is able to convince him in exchange for the correct math that would return him to 2019 in his original body; Five is annoyed to find that the briefcase is destroyed in the process, however.[13]
After the members of the Umbrella Academy are able to save Viktor from destroying the world for a second time, Five and the other members of the Academy face off against the Handler and the Commission. They are successful in killing the agents, but all of the members of the Academy — except for Five — are shot to death by the Handler. Scared, Five remembers advice given to him from Reginald about traveling back in time minutes, rather than decades. He is able to travel back in time and prevent the Handler from killing his siblings and makes a deal with Herb to allow him to take a briefcase and return his family to their rightful place within the timeline.[14]
Personality
At age 13, Five became trapped in the apocalyptic future for more than 40 years. When he found a way back, his body regressed to that of his 13-year-old self, while his mind stayed the same. As a result, he has the personality of a 60-year-old and is frustrated at being trapped in the body of a child. He is shown to have a genius intellect, often dismissing others, including his family, as stupid or inferior, and expressing disinterest in their personal affairs. He is also shown to be sarcastic, pragmatic, and incredibly prideful. He also exhibits impulsive behavior due to his prideful nature, which is seen when he brazenly uses his time-traveling powers as a boy despite Reginald Hargreeves' warnings that he was not fully prepared to wield them.
Five is also shown to be a ruthless and incredibly efficient killer. While he does not enjoy killing, he seems to have no qualms about the people he has killed and is more than willing to eliminate anyone, even innocent people, whose deaths may stop the apocalypse from happening and even displays nonchalance when making plans to murder them. He gained fame in his times as an agent of the Temps Commission for his success in killing countless individuals on missions, which he did as part of his contract in order to get back home to the present. Overall, Number Five has shown to be perfectly willing to eliminate anyone who stands in the way of his goals.
Despite his antisocial behavior, he does have compassion and cares for his family deeply. He works tirelessly both in the past and future to prevent the apocalypse and is seemingly the most devoted member of the family in stopping it. He even refuses to involve his family most of the time out of fear they would die. When he "renegotiates" his contract with the Temps Commission, he demands that his family be saved as well.
Additionally, as the series progresses, he becomes disillusioned with the idea of killing. When he agrees to assassinate the Commission's board of directors, he only does so under the belief that it's to save his siblings. Following this particular massacre, he swears off killing, and he does follow through with this promise, only fighting back when it's to defend himself or his family.
In the third season, he seeks a life of retirement and peace, and expresses the desire to not intervene in any more time travel, refusing to mess up the lives of himself or his siblings any further. He is only forced back into work when the threat of yet another apocalypse emerges, and even then decides that the best option is to step back and accept his fate.
Powers and Abilities
Number Five currently does not have any powers after the reset of the universe.[15][16]
Former Powers
- Space-Time Manipulation: Five could manipulate space and time, which allowed him to teleport through space and time, travel through time and even manipulate time. As a result of the universe being reset, he, along with the rest of his family, no longer possess their powers.
- Teleportation: Five had the ability to teleport both short and long distances, which he used frequently to evade Hazel, Cha-Cha and the Temps Commission. Despite being able to travel at will, multiple travels within a short time exhausted Five frequently, and the Handler noted that "even you [Five] have limits". In addition to teleporting himself, he is also able to take other people with him when he teleports, as shown when Diego teleported with him as they were running from Commission agents.[14] He is also able to teleport objects without physical contact, which is shown where he replaces a robber's gun with a stapler. In the same episode, he was also able to teleport his tie around one of his attackers' neck.[3]
- Chronokinesis: Five was able to travel through time. However, he had not yet mastered this ability, and the first time he used it, he accidentally traveled to the end of the world and was unsuccessful in traveling back. Despite being less adept at time travel, Five was a quick study and he was able to travel through time and take his siblings with him on his first attempt.[7] Five was able to reverse time by a couple of minutes, undoing events during that time so that only he remembers them and can alter events.[14]
Abilities
- Master Combatant: Five is a great combatant even as a child. After he teleported into the future, he learned advanced techniques from the Commission. He became a skilled assassin and fighter.
- Master Assassin: Five was the most deadly assassin in the Temps Commission, able to use his powers he was able to kill multiple people in a matter of seconds, even after regressing his body to his teenage form.
- Genius-Level Intellect: Five is extremely intelligent and perceptive, mostly regarding his tactical and scientific skills.
- Expert Tactician: Five is a brilliant tactician capable of quickly formulating battle strategies and new plans if the situation changes, like being able to elaborate different complex plans in order to defeat different enemies in difficult situations, and be victorious.
- Expert Intimidator: Five knows how to be quite intimidating, because of his mental instability and aggressive way of acting he manages to intimidate others even after he assumes his adolescent form.
Relationships
See also: Five and Dolores and Number Five and Viktor
Differences Between Comics
- In the show, Five has space-time manipulation, which allows him to teleport and travel through time. In the comics, Five only has the power to teleport through space and time.
- In the comics, Luther and Five are twin brothers. In the show, during Season Three, Luther and Five are confirmed to have different mothers, as revealed by the newspaper clippings regarding their mothers' deaths.
- Five's appearance quite differs from his comic book counterpart. Five has dark brown hair and green eyes, while in the comics, he has black hair and blue eyes.
Appearances
- The Umbrella Academy
- Season One
- "We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals" (First appearance)
- "Run Boy Run"
- "Extra Ordinary"
- "Man on the Moon"
- "Number Five"
- "The Day That Wasn't"
- "The Day That Was"
- "I Heard a Rumor"
- "Changes"
- "The White Violin"
- Season Two
- Season Three
- Season One
Gallery
- See more here
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References
- ↑ "The Day That Wasn't"
- ↑ "Kugelblitz"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "We Only See Each Other at Weddings and Funerals"
- ↑ "Run Boy Run"
- ↑ "Extra Ordinary"
- ↑ "Number Five"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "The White Violin"
- ↑ "Right Back Where We Started"
- ↑ "The Frankel Footage"
- ↑ "The Swedish Job"
- ↑ "A Light Supper"
- ↑ "Öga for Öga"
- ↑ "The Seven Stages"
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "The End of Something"
- ↑ "Oblivion"
- ↑ Chitwood, Adam (2022-06-24). "‘The Umbrella Academy’ Season 3 Ending Explained by Showrunner". TheWrap. Archived from the original on 2022-06-24. Retrieved on 2022-07-20.
See More
| The Umbrella Academy Characters on Netflix | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Umbrella Academy | Luther • Diego • Allison • Klaus • Five • Ben • Viktor • Lila Pitts • Sir Reginald Hargreeves • Grace • Pogo | ||
| The Sparrow Academy | Marcus • Ben • Fei • Alphonso • Sloane • Jayme • Christopher • Sir Reginald Hargreeves | ||
| Villains | Hazel • Cha Cha • The Handler • Leonard Peabody • The Swedes • A.J. Carmichael | ||
| Other | Harlan Cooper • Sissy Cooper • Raymond Chestnut | ||