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Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá’s The Umbrella Academy series is a wonderfully eclectic story that reads like The Uncanny X-Men by way of Wes Anderson. In the series, the titular academy is for gifted children and run by Sir Reginald Hargreeves AKA The Monocle.
While it may seem like Hargreeves is a headmaster in the same vein as Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men, the two teachers are extraordinarily different. However, they do share some enough qualities that comparing the two isn’t a stretch.
Updated on December 6, 2021 by Anya Wassenberg: As the twists and turns unfold in The Umbrella Academy, more details have come out about the illustrious Reginald Hargreeves. By comparison, Professor Xavier and the X-Men have had decades to fill in their backstories. While this might mean Professor X has far more history to pull from, Hargreeves isn’t exactly hurting for depth.
10 Same: Both Are Genius-Level Inventors And Innovators
A key characteristic of both Professor X and Sir Reginald is their inarguable genius intellects. While his adventures with the X-Men typically focus on Xavier’s powerful telepathy, it is not to be forgotten that he is a celebrated geneticist, the world’s leading expert on mutation, and the inventor of Cerebro.
Sir Reginald is an interdimensional being of great intelligence, and he invented the Televator (a teleportation elevator), the Mobile Umbrella Communicator (Cell-Phone), and of course Clever Crisp Cereal. He devised the serum that transformed Pogo from the animal world into the talking household member he was later, giving him human-level intelligence.
9 Different: Hargreeves Is An Alien Who Ages Very Slowly
For most of his life, Professor X hid the fact he was a mutant from the rest of the world. This led to him being condemned by critics and bigots as a “Mutant Sympathizer” for years before he revealed the truth to humanity. Sir Reginald had a completely different secret…
It turned out that the celebrated scientist/entrepreneur/Olympic athlete was, in reality, an extraterrestrial. While his true identity was never revealed to the public in the story, fans saw him take off his human mask and slaughter The Majestic Twelve after they questioned his methods.
8 Same: Both Run A School For Gifted Children
Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and the Umbrella Academy are both institutions that seek to help children born with extraordinary powers hone their gifts. Both “schools” are overseen by Professor X and Sir Reginald, respectively.
While controlling their abilities is the primary purpose of the schools, with extensive one-on-one training, both places seem to actually function as places of learning as well, with students learning regular academic disciplines like math, science, and history.
7 Different: Hargreeves’ School Isn’t Really About Student Education
Professor X has only the good of his students at heart, with a few possible lapses of judgment. He founded the school in order to protect young mutants, and help them hone their gifts, so they could choose to become part of society if they wanted. The school is a refuge, and its true purpose is secret.
Reginald Hargreeves, on the other hand, has essentially collected the specially gifted kids for his school for an express purpose: to save the world. He educates them, yes, and helps them hone their powers, true, but he also manipulates them, sometimes heartlessly. He parades their abilities to the world, and loves the publicity.
6 Same: Both Are Fabulously Wealthy, And Use Their Riches To Finance Their Operations
Both Sir Reginald and Professor X are exceedingly wealthy individuals. Hargreeves derived his fortune through the patents on his aforementioned incredibly successful inventions. This allows him to maintain the mansion in which his academy is housed, host a Moon mission, and many other things.
Professor X is also fairly rich, with the X-Mansion being his ancestral family home in upstate New York. His father Dr. Brian Xavier was a wealthy nuclear scientist, and after his untimely death, Professor X inherited his vast fortune along with the family estate.
5 Different: Their Results As Mentors Are Dramatically Different
Hargreeves is an alien, after all, with apparently few, if any, human emotions. His methods of educating his students are harsh and driven by his secret goals. He’s interested in results only, never their feelings. In the end, though, his influence actually drives them all apart, many with feelings about him that border on traumatized.
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Professor X is highly respected and loved by his students and alumni of his school. He inspires love and loyalty from his students. The atmosphere he creates at his school results in a group of mutants who are, despite their arguments and disputes, a dedicated team with a sense of purpose. After his death in the AvX event, his funeral was attended by hundreds of his current and former pupils, with other heroes like the Avengers sending their condolences as well.
4 Same: Both Want to Save The World Using Unique Methods
When the press asks Sir Reginald why he has gone about adopting so many of the special children who have been born across the globe, he replies, “To save the world, of course.” The cataclysmic end of the world, however, just seems to follow them wherever they go, and in the end is actually caused by him.
Likewise, Professor X began his school to foster better human-mutant relations, and famously, to protect the very humans who may fear and hate mutant-kind. He recognizes that the true enemy are those who want to take over and dominate from either side, and that the best defence for all are the trained X-Men working for good.
3 Different: Professor X Is A Humanitarian Who Loves Both Mutants And Humankind
Long before Professor X revealed himself to the world as a mutant, he was known throughout the world as a champion for the rights of mutantkind. His goal of peace between humans and mutants have often led writers to use civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King as an inspiration for his characterization (though he does stumble morally a few times.)
Hargreeve’s goals in creating the Umbrella Academy are far more ambivalent beyond his stated intention of using the school as a means to save the world. He doesn’t seem like a particularly benevolent figure, and his creation of the Hotel Oblivion, an extralegal prison for supervillains placed in another dimension, makes it seem as though he sees little value in individual rights.
2 Same: Both Saw Their Original Classes Disband After Graduation
While the first graduating class of the X-Men and the Umbrella Academy were both active for a lengthy period, they both eventually disbanded, albeit for different reasons. The original X-Men solemnly let Professor X know that they planned on leaving and making names for themselves outside the school, as his years of guidance had taught them to accept their powers and their potential.
The exact reason why the Umbrella Academy disbanded isn’t made known, (possibly something to do with the death of their teammate The Horror), but it clearly left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. When the first series picks up, the team has not spoken in years.
1 Different: Sir Hargreeves Is An Athlete And Martial Artist, While Xavier Was Never A Fighter
Sir Hargreeves is highly skilled in combat, including martial arts as well as athletics. He’s fought toe-to-toe against Diego. He’s also an acrobat, which allows him to dodge blows. Sir Reginald uses those skills as an assassin, and with his alien strength, was able to eliminate all members of the Majestic 12 easily.
Professor Xavier, on the other hand, was an academic, a professor of Genetics in the UK before starting his own Academy. He was never a fighter. Of course, he’s spent much of his history in the comics as a paraplegic who is physically inactive
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