Why Five's Powers In The Umbrella Academy Are More Terrifying Than You Think

Superpowers come in all shapes and sizes. There are, of course, classics like flight, super-strength, and invisibility, all of which are useful in a variety of situations. Then there are the more out-there ones like being able to eat all forms of matter (yes, Matter-Eater Lad is real and he is hungry), turning sound into light (like the X-Men's Dazzler), and the ability to concurrently transform any part of your body into an animal, vegetable, or mineral (say hello to Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man).

The Umbrella Academy, based on the Dark Horse comic book series of the same name by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, tends to lean towards the weirder side of the spectrum. Luther (Tom Hopper) is the most "normal" of the abnormal bunch, possessing super-strength at the cost of an upper body resembling that of an ape. The rest of his adoptive siblings all have much more unique abilities — including Number Five (Aidan Gallagher/Sean Sullivan), who fans on Reddit are beginning to believe is far more powerful than anyone's giving him credit for.

After reading several of the comics, Redditor EvaUsher asked for clarification regarding Five's powers. To the uninformed eye, it might seem like Five simply has super-speed, since it seems he's always moving from point A to point B very quickly. In reality, it has nothing to do with fast feet: it's all about time manipulation.

Five doesn't quite have a handle on the power (which only makes it more dangerous for him and everyone around him), but the more he uses it, the more he gets used to it. He's able to do what Redditor Anele1992 calls "spatial microjumps," which Five himself calls "blinks" on the show. He's skipping ahead in time while his surroundings stay the same, making it seem as if he's getting from one place to another in the blink of an eye.

Speaking of getting from one place to another, Five also has the ability to teleport without having to jump through time first. He can take people or objects along with him, and doesn't need to touch them to do it. Combined with his time-traveling, Five can basically be anywhere and any-when... whenever he wants. That's scary enough, but as Anele1992 points out, thanks to the Temps Commission (which confuses The Umbrella Acadmey fans), Five's "DNA [is bound] to some of history's most dangerous assassins." All together, he has the potential to be an unstoppable killing machine once he truly masters his powers.