Here's What Fans Should Know About Vanya Before 'The Umbrella Academy' Season 2
When The Umbrella Academy premiered in 2018, it introduced a new band of superheroes. These were mutant children forced into a faux "Xavier's School for Gifted Children" all grown up and desperately in need of therapy from their experience. But none of the Hargreeves kids were more broken by their childhood than Vanya, the one without superpowers and Number 7 of seven kids. Except, by the time the show was a few episodes in, it was clear there was more to Vanya than met the eye. So, what happened to Vanya in The Umbrella Academy Season 1? Her powers finally manifested.
Vanya was the "normal" Hargreeves sibling. She has no super-strength like Luther, no reflexes like Diego, no ability to manipulate like Allison. She can't commune with the dead like Klaus, she can't bring forth monsters like Ben, and she doesn't time travel like Five. And yet, when Vanya feels emotions, the world shakes, even if she's trained herself not to notice. When she plays the violin, something magical happens, even though she's trained herself to play without passion, as if something inside her knows what it will unleash.
In Season 1, Vanya had never been in a relationship, so when Leonard Peabody, a new student, showed up and sparks flew, she was hesitant. But Leonard seemed to care for her in a way she never experienced, and he made it clear he didn't care she was ordinary. He appeared to see the special inside of her, when she had been told her whole life there was none.
Except, Leonard was lying to her. He was an Umbrella Academy wannabe named Harold Jenkins, born on the same day as the rest of the siblings and obsessed with being one of them. When Allison tried to warn Vanya, Vanya's denial and rage at the idea she was being used brought her powers out for the first time, and she slit Allison's throat with her violin bow.
When Vanya confronted Harold, he admitted Allison was right. Unlike Vanya, he said, he deserved to be in the Umbrella Academy. Vanya then murdered Harold with her powers and ran away.
The rest of her siblings went after Vanya, and it was then revealed Hargreeves abused Vanya into suppressing her abilities. She was so strong and dangerous; she could not be controlled. Luther and the rest of the Hargreeves siblings then decided to follow their father's plan, locking Vanya away.
But not even bars could hold Vanya once she realized she could access her powers. She broke out and destroyed the Academy, killing Pogo, the chimpanzee who guarded the secret of her abilities for years. She then headed to the theater for her recital and took up her violin, playing her powers into a frenzy.
Realizing the years of abuse Vanya experienced and their betrayal is what causes the world to end, the Hargreeves siblings raced in to get Vanya to stop. But their distraction caused the laser beam shooting out of her instrument to go wide. It hit the moon, breaking it into a million pieces, and ending the world.
As The Umbrella Academy Season 1 ended, Five and the rest of the siblings grabbed Vanya, determined to time travel back to where it all started. As they disappeared, the world exploded behind them.
The Umbrella Academy Season 2 hits Netflix July 31.
