Every time The Umbrella Academy was completely different to the original comic

There are spoilers in this article

There are two kinds of people in this world – those who displayed incredible control by watching an episode or two of The Umbrella Academy every day in the evenings, and normal people. Seriously though, this show is binge-able Netflix at its absolute prime and there’s no way that you couldn’t have completely rinsed this in a time period longer than a couple of days. However, the reason for that may well be that the series shows a completely different and often dramatised version of the comic books.

Did you know that Klaus never forms a cult? Or that Luther and Five are twin brothers? The Umbrella Academy that we know couldn’t be any more different to the comic books, so let’s take a look at the most dramatic differences between the Netflix series and the comic book series.

Vanya is supposed to be paralysed from the neck down

That’s right. At the end of one of the graphic novels, Five shoots her in the head. In the next book, Dallas, which is the equivalent of series two in the Netflix version, she not only suffers from amnesia but is paralysed from the neck down too.

And we thought it was bad enough that she couldn’t remember that she had powers when her OWN brother gave her paralysis.

Allison isn’t a civil rights activist but rather the assassin of JFK

Allison’s story in the comic book series greatly differs from her role in the Netflix production in a number of ways, but probably the biggest narrative difference is that she is not a civil rights activist but rather an assassin.

Pretending to be JFK’s wife, she uses her power to completely explode his head. Mindblowing.

Klaus never forms a cult

But it sure was fun watching him become a hippy for a while, right?

Diego, Luther and Klaus all fight in the Vietnam War

We know already that Klaus goes off to fight in the Vietnam War, fighting alongside his boyfriend Dave until his death. However, in the novels, Diego, Luther and Klaus accidentally end up travelling to the 1960s where they all end up fighting in the Vietnam War.

Oh, and Klaus’ boyfriend from that time? He doesn’t exist

In the comics, Dave doesn’t exist, and Klaus ends up having a very different experience in Vietnam…

…such as owning a nightclub!

Whilst in Vietnam, Klaus somehow manages to own a nightclub which, to be quite honest, many people probably would’ve swapped out for the whole cult thing as a storyline. He then leaves this behind after building a device with young Pogo to bring them forward to 1963.

The Swedish Assassins simply… don’t exist

We can only guess that the writers wanted to add a little bit of spice to the series without seriously altering the foundations of the storyline. Tada!

Klaus is actually a father

Is there a way that the comic book version of Klaus could be weirder than the Netflix version? Yes, as it happens.

Through the Dallas issue of the comic, Klaus is seen carrying a baby. Then, just before they head off to the future, it’s revealed that the child in fact belongs to Klaus, making him a dad. Strange.

Diego has no journey with Lila or The Handler

There is no romance with Lila, nor does he engage with The Handler. In fact, Diego played such a minor role in the Dallas comic book that he was written into a number of different events in the book to ensure that he had a stronger storyline, including his romance with Lila.

Allison has a husband and kid, that she’s now separated from

In the Netflix series, we know that Allison has a husband that she endeavours to hide her powers from, instead engaging in civil rights demonstrations with him and trying to live as normal a life as possible.

However, in the novels, Allison has separated from her husband as well as her child, as she tries to rehabilitate Vanya after her paralysis.

Klaus has telekinesis

In another “why didn’t they include this in the Netflix version?!” moment comes the fact that in the comics, Klaus could lift people and things with his mind alone. Things would likely have turned out very different for everyone if he had this power too.

Vanya isn’t homosexual in the comic and neither is Klaus

Neither Vanya’s or Klaus’ same-sex partners appeared in the original comic book. Robert Sheehan spoke to Attitude, where he told them that the role had been completely rewritten: “In truth, at the time, the story was that Klaus had had a relationship with a Vietnamese woman, who has a child in the 1960s, and then he goes to find a daughter who’d be quite old and make contact. Then it became, ‘Well, what if he had a gay relationship in Vietnam?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, definitely.’

“You have to follow your nose to find the most interesting road to take. And I found that really, really interesting and quite subversive of the Vietnam that’s been depicted before.”

That sweet goodbye between Ben and Vanya? It didn’t happen

Ben wasn’t even in the Dallas comic book, let alone this scene happening at any point. Also, Klaus and Ben are never even friends which seems weird considering the foundation of Klaus’ power is to talk to the dead. Must’ve been lonely.

Number One and Number Five are twin brothers

Now, this may be something revealed in future series of the show, but probably not seeing as everyone thought it would be explored in season two.

It is revealed in the comic series that Luther and Number Five are in fact twin brothers, being born from the same mother on that same fateful day. There’s uncertainty whether this will even be included in future storylines.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• PSA: Number Five from Umbrella Academy makes music and it’s… interesting

• QUIZ: Are you more similar to Klaus from The Umbrella Academy or Nathan from Misfits?

• These 23 Umbrella Academy Season 2 memes are so good they could stop an apocalypse