Little Emos, Never Forget That ‘Umbrella Academy’ Comes From My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way

This weekend, Netflix will unveil yet another superhero show, The Umbrella Academy. But this time things are different. This time, Netflix’s story about conflicted young adults and crazy superpowers isn’t coming from someone only your obsessive comic book friends know. No, this time it’s coming from the king of smudged eyeliner and gloomy parade gear himself, My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way.

Ever since the screeners for Umbrella Academy landed in my inbox weeks ago my colleagues have tried to convince me this 10-episode end-of-the-world drama is something I would enjoy. “It’s fun.” “It’s what would happen if Wes Anderson did superheroes.” “Ellen Page is underutilized but you’ll like it.” “Just watch the damn show.” They told me, all of these people who wanted me to enjoy something nice. I ignored them all.

It was The New York Post‘s Lauren Sarner who finally made me see the light. “You know it’s from My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way, right?” No, I did not know that. And that information has changed everything.

Emotionally, I don’t have the capacity to invest in another superhero team. There are always so many characters, so many lackluster betrayals, so much comics-only lore dedicated fans want to explain to me. It’s exhausting. But do you know what I always have emotional energy for? The snarky brand of angst that defined my teenage years and turned me into an absolute nightmare to my parents. And The Umbrella Academy has a whole cemetery’s worth of angst.

As soon as I started watching The Umbrella Academy not as another too-serious superhero show about special people who are sad about being too special but as an extension of Way’s brand, it became better. MCR and Way in particular have made a name from themselves for their broody yet surprisingly buoyant and self-aware brand of darkness. And there are just so many MCR tells baked into the series. I mean just look at Robert Sheehan’s Klaus:

Smudged eyeliner. All black with strategic conductor-esque trim. Random necklace placement. Flippantly being shirtless in inappropriate spaces. A ton of booze. Daddy issues. This man is the “The Black Parade” music video wrapped into a person.

That doesn’t even touch on Aidan Gallagher’s mysterious time-traveling character, The Boy:

Is there anything more MCR than slicked back hair and a black schoolboy uniform with red details? As the classic “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” video proves, no there is not. There’s even a talking monkey butler in Umbrella Academy and at least one soulful violin rendition of “The Phantom of the Opera.” Those are two vaguely insane elements that shouldn’t go together in any show; and yet they work under the grinning darkness of Way’s aesthetic. Even the series’s constant use of umbrellas that somehow manage to be both gloomy and knowingly pretentious feels on brand.

As much as My Chemical Romance clearly loved its own misery, the band never took its pain that seriously. Its songs were angst-ridden but filled with charged shouts and joyful tempo changes. Even the band’s most morbid numbers about death and hatred were accompanied by ambitious music videos filled with over-the-top costumes and bouncing dance numbers. As a musical group, My Chemical Romance was uniquely skilled at putting a fun, ironic spin on self-hatred. And that’s why I’m watching The Umbrella Academy.

Another superhero series is whatever, but binge-watching an extension of the only world that understood me at 14 years old? That’s priceless.

Watch The Umbrella Academy on Netflix