Umbrella Academy Wiki

“Why does everybody keep looking at me like that?”

—Ben Hargreeves

Ben Hargreeves, designated as Number Two, is one of the sixteen 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, and became a member of the Sparrow Academy.

Biography

The boy who would become Ben Hargreeves was born on a subway in Seoul, South Korea on October 1, 1989. His mother, a high school student, was one of sixteen women to give birth that day despite showing no signs of pregnancy at the start of the day. The boy, along with six other children, was adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves and raised to be part of a team of superheroes dubbed the Sparrow Academy.[1]

In 2014, Reginald’s long-time assistant and friend Pogo left the Academy after a dispute with Hargreeves. While the Sparrows were all devastated at Pogo’s departure, they were given medication by their former mentor to subdue Reginald. With this, Ben and the other Sparrows spent the next five years running the Sparrow Academy as they saw fit.

Meeting The Umbrella Academy

Resetting the universe

After finding himself in a reset universe without any powers, Ben went to Seoul.[2][3]

Personality

Ben Hargreeves is “scheming, tactical and vicious, determined to gain his status as leader.”[4]

However, when Ben is left out of Luther’s bachelor party because of his constant attitude, Sloane recognizes that, despite her brother claiming not to care about the rejection and his complaints, he had wanted to be accepted more than anything, instead being left alone. Ben admits that the reason he cares so much about being a Sparrow is because he has nothing else in his life. After getting drunk, Ben shows his genuine hurt and confusion at being left out and tries to understand what separates him from the other Ben whom the Umbrellas all deeply love. As the wedding goes on and he gets more drunk, however, Ben unwinds enough to have fun and dance with his family after at first keeping to himself for the most part. Later, calling himself “the new, new Ben,” he gains acceptance with the Umbrellas with Klaus’ help. However, after he sobers up, Ben reverts back to his old self which Klaus believes to be a defense mechanism – pushing away the people that care about Ben so that they can’t hurt him.[5]

Powers and Abilities

Ben currently does not have any powers after the reset of the universe.[2][6]

Former Powers

• Eldritch Tentacles: Ben could summon eldritch tentacles from a portal in his stomach. After the universe was reset, Ben and the rest of the Hargreeves found they could no longer access their powers.

Abilities

• Expert Combatant: Ben, like most of the Sparrows, has shown to have highly skilled hand-to-hand combat.
• Expert Leadership: Despite failing to become an official leader of the Sparrow Academy, Ben did indeed show some expert skills in being a leader.

Appearances

• The Umbrella Academy
  • Season Two
    • “The End of Something” (First appearance)
  • Season Three
• Season Two

Gallery

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Meet the Family”
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedS03E10
3. ↑ Polk, Milan (2022-06-24). The Umbrella Academy Showrunner Steve Blackman Answers Your Season 3 Questions. Men’s Health. Archived from the original on 2022-06-24. Retrieved on 2022-07-17.
4. ↑ Netflix on Twitter: “JUSTIN H. MIN will play BEN … but not the one we know. This Ben is scheming, tactical and vicious, determined to gain his status as leader.”
5. ↑ “Seven Bells”
6. ↑ 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.