Umbrella Academy, the adaptation of the Eisner-award winning comic book series from Gerard Way (yep, the My Chemical Romance lead singer), might be one of Netflix’s most anticipated series of the year. Yet given that Netflix is cranking out content at a dizzying pace, even Dark Horse comic fans may view this trailer as an unexpected surprise — gone are the days when trailers always arrived well in advance, and this series launches in a few weeks.
Ellen Page and Mary J. Blige star within Way’s creation of a dysfunctional superhero family fighting to halt the apocalypse. As the story goes, dozens of infants are born in 1989 to women who never even knew they were pregnant. Seven of them, who have supernatural abilities, are adopted by a billionaire who launches the titular doomsday-prep academy. The story then picks up 17 years later, and the trailer looks like sheer fun. Here’s the rest of the synopsis:
[N]ot everything went according to plan. In their teenage years, the family fractured and the team disbanded. Now, the six surviving members reunite upon the news of Hargreeve’s passing. Luther, Diego, Allison, Klaus, Vanya and Number Five work together to solve a mystery surrounding their father’s death. But the estranged family once again begins to come apart due to their divergent personalities and abilities, not to mention the imminent threat of a global apocalypse.
Blige will play a ruthless hitwoman named Cha-Cha who can time travel to nab targets. She’s also a self-declared “pain artist” whose sadistic reputation promises to deliver. As for Page, she plays the black sheep of the family, Vanya, who doesn’t look thrilled to be part of the operation, but the dynamic of these siblings’ conflicting personalities could make for a solid binge watch.
Netflix’s Umbrella Academy will stream on February 15, 2019.
