Who created the commission umbrella academy

Sir Reginald Hargreeves is one of the biggest mysteries in The Umbrella Academy, as well as the origins of The Commission, and a fan theory suggests there’s a connection between them, as Reginald could be the founder of The Commission. Based on the comic book series of the same name, created by Gabriel Bá and Gerard Way, The Umbrella Academy was released on Netflix in February 2019 and became a big success, and was renewed for a second season that same month.

The Umbrella Academy introduced viewers to a unique team of superheroes, their mysterious father and mentor, and an organization that can and will travel through time to make sure everything happens according to plan. On October 1, 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth at the same time, but none of them was pregnant when the day began. Seven of those children were adopted by eccentric billionaire Sir Reginald Hargreeves, and as each kid developed a unique set of superpowers, he trained them and formed a team of superheroes called “the Umbrella Academy”. However, Reginald wasn’t a good father figure, and the kids eventually went on their own ways, reuniting years later for his funeral and to stop the fast-approaching apocalypse.

The series also featured The Commission, an organization that did all it could to make sure the apocalypse happened as it was supposed to, thus clashing with the Umbrella Academy’s efforts to stop it. The Commission works in mysterious ways, and their motivations can be a bit shady, which has made some fans believe that Reginald was the one who started it all, but left as things at The Commission got out of hand.

Reginald Hargreeves & The Commission Explained

The Umbrella Academy TV series didn’t explain the backstory of Reginald Hargreeves, and only gave viewers a very brief look at what he did before he adopted the kids. In episode 10, “The White Violin”, a flashback scene shows a younger Reginald with a woman, who is very sick, and tells him to leave her to die as the world needs him. Before leaving, Reginald releases the lights that were kept in a jar next to the woman’s bed. It’s in that scene where viewers can see that the setting isn’t planet Earth, as there are rocketships and the atmosphere is not like the one from this planet. This is a big hint at Reginald’s nature, which isn’t explicitly said in the series but it’s not a mystery for those who have read the Umbrella Academy comic books. Reginald is actually an alien, who literally wears a mask to appear human. His monocle also had some powers of its own, as it allowed him to see a person’s inner nature. The series didn’t spend much time exploring this, including the monocle, which was taken by Diego and tossed into the ocean in the first episodes.

On the other hand, The Commission is an organization that oversees and manages the space-time continuum. Its main job is to make sure all events happen as they are supposed to, and for that it has many agents that travel to different points in time. The Commission calculates and determines who needs to be eliminated and who needs to be protected so that everything happens according to plan. Season 1 of The Umbrella Academy introduced The Handler (Kate Walsh), a high-ranking member of The Commission who personally dealt with all matters concerning Five (Aidan Gallagher), Reginald’s son with the ability to jump through time and space. The Handler was seen going to extreme lengths to maintain the timeline, showing that The Commission took all this very seriously.

Did Reginald Hargreeves Found The Commission?

The series has taken some liberties when adapting the Umbrella Academy characters and events, and the absence of a proper backstory for Reginald and the origins of The Commission have prompted fans to come up with their own theories. Among those is one that suggests Reginald is the one who founded The Commission, though reasons for that vary. Given that Reginald doesn’t age like a human and is a very intelligent scientist with knowledge of time-traveling, it’s possible that he created The Commission after seeing what happened to his home planet (the flashback scene could be set many years into the future, and he went back in time when he landed on Earth) or after seeing/calculating the apocalypse, and the organization was a way to stop these events.

Why Reginald Hargreeves Turned Against The Commission

Founding The Commission with a noble purpose in mind – whether to stop the apocalypse or save his home planet – doesn’t mean that it was going to stay that way forever. The Commission won’t hesitate on going to extremes to make sure everything happens as it’s supposed to, and that might have not been in Reginald’s plans when he created the organization. The Commission’s increasingly extremist ideas on space-time continuum, how to handle threats, and the extermination of humanity could have driven Reginald to abandon the organization completely, as he didn’t share those ideas – but he wasn’t going to just sit, watch, and wait.

Hargreeves Could Have Created The Umbrella Academy To Stop Them

Reginald Hargreeves created the Umbrella Academy to fight many types of threats and eventually save the world, but there might be more to that. As Reginald was aware not only of the impending apocalypse but also of how The Commission intended to deal with it, his only hope and solution was a team of superheroes powerful enough to prevent the end of the world – and so the Umbrella Academy was born. As mentioned above, Reginald wasn’t the best father, and was always cold and distant, which eventually drove the children away (along with all the abuse most of them went through, of course). Some fans have pointed out that this could have been as he convinced himself that the existence of the Hargreeves siblings was for the greater good of the human race, and growing attached to them would compromise the mission. Others believe that part of his plans for the Umbrella Academy was to fight The Commission, something that was eventually achieved through Five.

Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy has already made some big changes to the characters and their stories, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they continue doing so in season 2 and beyond (besides, The Umbrella Academy series risks running out of source material). With that in mind, Reginald’s origins as well as those of The Commission could be changed as the writers please in order to fit the story they want to tell, and it wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that Reginald and The Commission have a connection.

Next: Umbrella Academy Theory: The Real Apocalypse Hasn't Happened Yet