Main image via IGN
The Umbrella Academy might look like another comic-book superhero franchise, but if you’re anything like us, you would have binged watched all 10 episodes and haven’t been able to stop gushing over it.
The show even showed up on Malaysia’s Top 10 trending searches on Google from February 15-21! Talk about trendy!
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The show premiered on February 15, and is based on a comic book series created by Gerard Way (the same guy from My Chemical Romance!) and Gabriel Ba about a ‘dysfunctional family of superheroes’.
But for those of you who still need that little push to watch it, here are some need-to-know facts about the show!
1. It takes place in an alternate history.
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You might have guessed that the show takes place in a universe where superheroes exist, but what you might not know is that it also takes place in a universe where U.S. President John F. Kennedy was never assassinated!
Expect tons of references to the butterfly effect and time travel.
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2. Mary J. Blige plays an assassin
Image via SyFy
We all know Mary J. Blige as an incredible singer and performer, but we almost forget that she is also a fantastic actress, with an Oscar nominated role in 2017’s Mudblood.
She took on the fun role as Cha-Cha, an assassin in the series, where she did a lot of her own stunts. She also purposefully chose the contrasting character to diversify her acting credits.
3. Ellen Page and Robert Sheehan have already been in superhero productions before
Image via YouTube
We remember a young Ellen Page starring in X-Men: The Last Stand as Kitty Pryde, and fans of the British television show “Misfits” will know Robert Sheehan as Nathan Young.
On The Umbrella Academy, the two star as Vanya and Klaus Hargreeves, two of the seven Hargreeves siblings in the show!
Also starring as the siblings are David Castaneda (Sicario: Day of the Soldado), Emmy Raver-Lampman (Broadway’s Hamilton), Tom Hopper (Game of Thrones) and Aidan Gallagher (Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn).
4. Pogo was designed by the team from Planet of the Apes
Image via Bustle
Voiced by Adam Godley, Pogo is the intelligent and fatherly chimpanzee butler at the Hargreeves household.
Showrunner Steve Blackman said, "Pogo would have been a man in a suit 16 years ago, eight years ago, even five years ago."
However they turned to the Oscar-winning team at Weta Digital, a company founded by Peter Jackson, who developed their motion capture technique used on “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” and its sequel “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”.
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"They were able to do a really beautiful job," said Godley. "Still, it was challenging to do it on our budget – and we had a good budget, but not like a ‘Game of Thrones’ budget."
So, were there any facts in here that surprised you?
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Written by Dzamira Dzafri