Sir Reginald Hargreeves is an explorer, eccentric billionaire, interdimensional being and the head of the Umbrella Company. He adopted seven of the forty-three children who were all born on the same day in 1989 to mothers without any previous signs of pregnancy. He intended to train the children to save the world, creating the Umbrella Academy.
Biography[]
Sir Reginald came from a time long ago from another dimension devastated by nuclear war.[citation needed] In 1928, he traveled to the United States and purchased the D.S. Umbrella Manufacturing Company from its owner J. King.[1] In the 1950s and 1960s, he contributed to the advancement of space technology as the space race between the USA and USSR was underway. He was also involved with the Majestic 12 but broke ties with the organization over its role in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
When forty-three women gave birth to children with unique feats and abilities on October 1, 1989, he adopted seven of the children and founded the Umbrella Academy in hopes of training a team of superheroes to prevent another apocalyptic scenario that would befall the world, which he had predicted to occur sometime after the Umbrella Academy broke up. He orchestrated his own suicide to reunite his adopted children to bring back the Umbrella Academy in order to prevent the end times.[2][3]
Personality[]
Hargreeves was an incredibly complicated individual. He was cold, distant, and emotionally abusive towards his "children", treating them more like lab rats than humans. He never gave them real names, only referring to them as numbers he assigned in order of how useful he viewed them. He blatantly played favorites, called Viktor useless, and locked Klaus in a mausoleum in order to test his powers.
His treatment of the Umbrella Academy is the cause of their dysfunctional relationships, multiple neuroses, and destructive behavior.
At the same time he showed moments of deep concern for his children, he gave Viktor his violin, despite it being a memento of great importance to Reginald. He also expressed sincere guilt and concern about Luther's well being while talking with Klaus in the afterlife.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Longevity: It is unclear how old Sir Reginald is, but he has a much longer lifespan than humans, living for over 90 years in New York since his arrival in 1928. Since his outward human appearance is a prosthetic disguise, his aging is likely artificial to avoid suspicion.
Abilities[]
- Master Combatant: Sir Reginald possesses extensive physical and combative ability, with him being a skilled athlete and martial artist. He managed to fight on equal terms against Diego taking advantage at the beginning of the fight.
- Master Acrobat: Sir Reginald is an excellent acrobat able to make jumps and acrobatics that allowed him to dodge some of Diego's attacks during his confrontation, even a knife thrown by him.
- Master Assassin: Sir Reginald is a skilled assassin who almost killed Diego during his confrontation and brutally killed all members of the Majestic 12 after revealing his real identity.
- Genius-Level Intellect: Sir Reginald is a genius in various fields of science having created the serum that would later have cured Pogo of his accident and increased his intelligence to the point of being able to speak the human language, he was also the one who provided the technology to the Majestic 12 in exchange for their assurance that they would not engage in activities on the dark side of the moon.
- Expert Tactician: Sir Reginald is a tactical genius having orchestrated The Umbrella Academy's action plans during the missions, he had also orchestrated their meeting in the past for him to meet his pursuers and after learning that Diego was going to intervene in his plans with President Kennedy he orchestrated a plan to deceive him even though he didn't know that the Majestic 12 would kill the president later.
Relationships[]
In a flashback to his previous life, Sir Reginald is seen with a woman who is either his beloved one or wife and is visibly sick. She is not named at the time but she calls him 'Reg' and tells him to leave her to die, as the world 'needs him'. Sir Reginald does as asked but never speaks of her again.
In the 1960s, he is seen in a relationship with Grace, with whom he worked to take care of Pogo and send him to space. Grace breaks off the relationship when Sir Reginald is unwilling to divulge the scope of his involvement with the Majestic 12 once she finds evidence of it. Later in his life, he modeled the robot caretaker of the Umbrella Academy children after Grace.
Trivia[]
- Reginald Hargreeves shares his full name with the husband of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland.
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 Three
- World's Biggest Ball of Twine (Mentioned only)
- Season One
Gallery[]
References[]
| 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 | ||