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In the world ofNetflix’s The Umbrella Academy, time travel, alternate realities, and apocalyptic events are a common occurrence, and it’s hard to keep track of everything sometimes. The series follows the extraordinary Hargreeves siblings, each having their own unique powers and a life that’s full of challenges thanks to their traumatic childhood.
There are multiple timelines where they live out years of their lives separately before banding together against a common threat. The original timeline of Season One is where they try to prevent the apocalypse and the 1960s is where they get stranded when they fail. Almost every timeline has a world-ending event that the siblings try to prevent. In the end, there are multiple realities and timelines, and it’s important to keep track of each one as we go through the episodes.
The Original Apocalypse Timeline (Season One)
The timeline that started it alland was perhaps the most confusing was theoriginal apocalypse timeline from Season One. It introduces the Hargreeves siblings, each with their ownunique powers and traumatic pasts, reuniting after their adoptive father, Reginald Hargreeves himself, dies.
Everything gets even more confusing withFive’s return from the future, bearing a warning of an apocalypse that willdestroy everything in a couple of daysand setting the stage for the umbrella academy tothwart their first apocalypse.
With the commission trying to preventFive from stopping the apocalypse, the siblings are distracted and have no idea what causes it alltill Victor’s untapped powers spiral out of control, and eventually destroys the moon,which in turn destroys the planet.
The academy fails,but with this new knowledge, they go back in time again to prevent it from happening and get stranded in the 1960s,the stage for the next apocalypse.
The 1960s Apocalypse Timeline (Season Two)
The 1960s Apocalypse Timeline in Season Two seesthe siblings scattered across different years in Dallas, Texas.
Adapting to their new realities, they forge new lives and relationships, unawarethat their siblings are actually right there with them. However, they bring the apocalypse with them again,this time tied to a nuclear disaster.
As Five tries to figure out moreabout the Commission, the time-traveling agency determined topreserve the timeline, the Umbrella Academy has to reunite again toduke it out with a second apocalypse, and prevent history from repeating itself.
This timeline introduces anew member of the family as well, Lila,who also has powers like the Hargreeves siblings,but works for the commission as their enemy.
The reason for the apocalypse in this timeline is, yet again, Viktor,and the siblings try to stop him, but mess with the flow of time bypreventing historical events and meeting with their fatherbefore he releases the Marigold that made them.
After they travel back to their original time in 2019,they don’t find a prevented apocalypse, but a different reality all together.
The Sparrow Academy Timeline (Season Three)
The Sparrow Academy Timeline in Season Threethrows the Umbrella Academy into a reality where their actions in the past have triggeredthe creation of the Sparrow Academyinstead of themselves, an alternate group of super-powered individuals raised by Reginald Hargreeves,as he chose different children this time around.
They are at oddswith their displaced existence and confront their Sparrow counterparts, while the apocalypse has leveled up and become a universe-ending threat:the Kugelblitz. Because of the time paradox, the siblingshave to ally with the Sparrow Academy, to stop the universe from ending, and have toenlist the help of their despised father on the way.
After entering a hole in spacetimeand using the Marigold within themto bring the universe back, the siblings once again enter a new timeline that doesn’t includetheir powers or the Sparrow Academy, a move by Reginald torevive his deceased wifeand become an extremely rich and powerful figure in the world.
The Reginald Hargreeves Reset Timeline (Season Four)
In the latest timeline,Reginald Hargreeves has essentially reset the universeand molded it to his liking, stripping the siblings of their powers and plunging theminto a reality devoid of the Umbrella and Sparrow Academies.
The Siblings don’t have a conventional apocalypse to face this time, but there are numerous glitchesand an event called the cleansethat threatens the world yet again. Forced to confront their vulnerabilities,they adapt and make new lives for themselvestill they are tricked into being powered up by Ben.
They have new powersthat are amped-up versions of their old powers. The events in the timeline prevent the normal apocalypses that were meant to happen, but in doing so, Five figures out with his new powersthat they have shattered space-time to create infinite timelines.
The Umbrella Academy then works together to prevent the cleanse, a reaction between Ben and Jennifer thatcreates a Lovecraftian monster capable of destroying everything in its path, only to be thwarted by Abigail,who forces the siblings into making a decisionthat saves everyone.
The Phoenix Academy Timeline (Season Four)
The Phoenix Academy Timelinewas one of the timelines that Lila and Five accidentally enter wherethere is no Umbrella or Sparrow academy, but a mix of the two that is called the Phoenix Academy.
They have different uniformsand are essentially the same conceptof super powered individuals fighting crime, but theydon’t get much screen time. Lila and Five leave to try and go back to their original timeline, but not before the Phoenix Academyalmost attacks them for entering their house.
Lila And Five’s Timeline (Season Four)
Lila And Five’s Timelinewas a place where they both lie low andembrace the love they have for each otherafter being lost in the timeline subwayfor years. They nearly give up and live in this timeline wherethey have their own little cabin and place they call home.
They stay there for months as a respite, until Five finds a notebook that a version of him left for himselfthat details the path home. The place seemed to be devoid of life, withno one but Lila and Five.
