Following the news that Netflix would be losing Marvel's movies and shows in its split with Disney, it looks like the streaming service is going to make some superhero fare of its own. For its latest announcement, it's snagged a veteran superhero for an unlikely role. Variety reports that Ellen Page is the first actor attached to Umbrella Academy with her role as Vanya.
Announced earlier this year, Umbrella Academy will draw from Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá's series fromDark Horse comics. While Page has plenty of experience with superpowers, having appeared as Kitty Pryde in the X-Men franchise, this new character actually has no powers at all. Vanya is one of five — and the only one who doesn't have any abilities. She does, however, have excellent violin skills, which are a major part of the original storyline.
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She, along with her brothers and sisters, will have to come together to figure out who killed their father. Of course, having (or not having, in Vanya's case) powers makes things a little complicated, so it's not just a straightforward whodunnit. Add to that the fact that the family is pretty reticent about their powers — they're mostly adults and pretty traumatized by the fact that they have special abilities — and there's plenty going on to sustain a series.
The A.V. Club describes the motley crew as such: "There's a guy with a gorilla body, a woman who can make anything she says become the truth, a little boy who travels through time" along with a character who can summon monsters from another dimension and another that can call spirits from the other side. There's no news on which ones will make the cut for the Netflix series or how closely Umbrella Academy will follow its source material, so anything could happen with the cast and story.
So fear not, superhero fans: Even without Marvel's stuff, Netflix is going to be full of caped crusaders and some unexpected takes on the superhero narrative.
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