Luther Hargreeves

**Luther Hargreeves**, originally labeled as **Number One**, is one of the forty-three children who were all born on the same day in 1989 to a mother without any previous signs of pregnancy. The baby was one of seven adopted by Sir Reginald Hargreeves with the intention of training them to save the world. Ranked by their individual usefulness, Luther was Hargreeves' Number One and the leader of The Umbrella Academy. He possesses superhuman strength and durability.

Luther was the only member of the Academy who did not leave, and continued to serve Sir Reginald. Sent on a mission to stop a biochemical threat, Luther is critically injured and Sir Reginald is forced to use a serum to save his life. The serum gives Luther an ape-like physiology, greatly increasing his muscle mass and strength. In an effort to give him focus, Sir Reginald sends him to the moon to watch out for threats, and Luther send regular reports back to his father.

Following Sir Reginald's death, Luther comes to believe he was murdered. As events unfold, Luther finds out that Sir Reginald never read any of the reports he sent back and believes that he was sent away for not being a good enough Number One.

Having been caught up in Five's failed attempt at dodging Vanya's apocalypse, Luther finds himself in Dallas, 1962. It is here he works as a driver for the owner of a burlesque bar and on occasion, uses his super strength to win fights in underground boxing rings.

Luther is played by Tom Hopper in the Netflix adaptation of *The Umbrella Academy*.

## Biography

### History

As the rest of the Umbrella Academy members "number one" was born on October 1st 1989, somehow he ended up in Sir Reginald Hargreeves' hands, where was raised by him and Grace — who he called dad and mom.

### Reginald's secret

Luther had been sent away to the moon by his father, Reginald, at a young age. During his time on the moon, in which he was alone, he sent numerous reports back to his father on Earth, but received no response.

When Luther returned back to Earth upon his father's death, he was shocked to find that Reginald had been ignoring all of the reports that Luther had sent back to Earth; he was especially disappointed when Pogo shows him the research and he believes to have been sent to the moon simply for not being a good enough "Number One".

### Reuniting with his siblings

After Five fails to protect the Umbrella Academy from the apocalypse, Luther finds himself transported to Dallas, 1962, where he builds up a life under the guise of Jack Ruby. He fights regularly for him in an underground boxing-ring in exchange for mentoring and a father figure.

Luther quickly becomes dissatisfied with his life, however, when he bumps into Vanya and realizes that all of his family are not dead as he had initially believed. He asks Jack to find Allison for him, and he successfully does so. This doesn't end well for Luther, however, as when he visits Allison's house he bumps into Raymond Chestnut, Allison's husband, and learns all about the life she has built for herself without him.

Luther later bumps into Number Five, who tells him about the second apocalypse they have caused by encroching on the timeline in which they do not belong — as a result, they need to find a way back home. Luther is initially reluctant to go along with Five's plans to reunite his family after finding out about Allison, and believes that he is best placed where he is and where he has built a life for himself.

Luther's mind is changed, however, when he bumps into Allison on the street and the two get talking about the lives they've built for themselves. Luther tells Allison about the apocalypse and the two agree that they must try and help Five restore the timeline; Luther begins struggling with his feelings for Allison again, however.

After a while, Luther is able to reunite his family with Five's help, and the Umbrella Academy agree to return to their own time and restore the timeline. When he arrives back in 2019 with the rest of his family, however, he is faced with a shocking discovery: he is no longer "Number One".[3]

## Personality

Luther is a loving, protective and righteous individual. He is shown to immediately throw himself in harm's way and act as a shield in dangerous situations and is shown to have a firm belief in right and wrong. He was the only of his siblings to stay at the academy and continue his work as a superhero, trusting his father's commands implicitly. Luther is shown to define himself as the leader of the Umbrella Academy and as his father's "Number 1" taking his role very seriously and devoting his life to his father's cause. As a result, he never left the Umbrella Academy or developed a life outside of it, becoming isolated and sheltered. He notable mentions that he never even had friends due to his devotion. As a result, he has a somewhat naive, almost childlike aspect to him. When he discovers his father has never read his reports from the moon, he is devastated and lost, feeling he wasted his life and causing him to spiral out of control and lash out by going to a rave, taking drugs and getting drunk.

## Powers

* **Superhuman Strength:** Luther possesses immense strength, which was further amplified by his new ape-like physiology. As a child, he could easily lift and throw a fully grown adult across a room and through a window. His strength is enough to lift up slightly a farm truck off for Diego trapped leg as a results of at least 1,000lbs he can lift up.
* **Enhanced Resilience:** Luther possesses an extremely resilience body, which was further amplified by his new ape-like physiology. He is able to shrug off most physical impacts during combat, and could even take the full weight of a falling chandelier without injury. Luther is not invulnerable, however, as Diego managed to cut him with a knife and draw blood, and he is shown to hide from bullets. Though his body was enough to survive a missile from 1963 without much injury.