How Alphonso's Powers Really Work In The Umbrella Academy
WARNING: Spoilers ahead for The Umbrella Academy season 3
Alphonso is one of seven Sparrow additions for The Umbrella Academy season 3, but how do his strange superpowers work? Reginald Hargreeves' alternate timeline Sparrow Academy kids are a morally mixed bag, and although Ben (Number Two) is clearly the most treacherous, Jake Epstein's Alphonso (Number Four) isn't far behind. Unkindly referred to by Diego as "blob," Alphonso not only forces Reginald into signing away his fortune, but shows much less understanding toward the Umbrellas than the likes of Marcus and Sloane.
Across the course of The Umbrella Academy season 3, Alphonso engages in two major fights - one against Allison, another versus Diego. His bout against Allison comes in the Hargreeves mansion (after Footloose but before "dickheads") and perfectly demonstrates the basic principle behind Alphonso's weird superpower. Allison smacks him square in the face, and Alphonso's body sends the kinetic energy recoiling back from whence it came, down his opponent's arm and bang onto Allison's own face. Essentially, any damage that would be done to Alphonso is done to the person attacking him. Allison might as well be punching herself.
A better demonstration of Alphonso's powers comes during The Umbrella Academy season 3's supermarket scrap against Diego, but questions are raised over how Alphonso's damage countering is actually activated. Some of Diego's strikes (as well as Stan's knife throw) are reflected, but other attacks, such as when Diego kicks off his enemy's chin, are not. Diego can't simply be toughing out the pain, because young Stan gets away with a cheap can throw at Alphonso's head without feeling a thing. Stan's thrown knife proves skin-to-skin contact isn't required, and Diego's unpunished chin kick rules out drawing blood as a trigger. The only explanation is that Alphonso must consciously "activate" his power like raising a shield - sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't.
When Diego lands a few quick blows to Alphonso's torso or catches a punch and cranks back Number 4's arm, therefore, he escapes the pain transfer. And when Alphonso gets tired and starts panting, Diego can boot him in the mouth and his own chin stays perfectly in place. Meanwhile, Stan whacks Alphonso with a well-aimed food can as the Sparrow lies almost unconscious on the supermarket floor. The Umbrella Academy strongly hints that the more worn out Alphonso becomes, the less able he is to counter blows, as one key moment shows the Sparrows' Number Four desperately pulling out an asthma inhaler in the middle of battle, attempting to catch his breath before Diego kicks the medicine away.
Also worth considering is whether Alphonso's physical appearance is a result of his masochistic power. The Umbrella Academy season 3 never addresses why Sparrow Number Four looks the way he does. Maybe it's simply a condition from being spontaneously conceived. More likely, all the attacks Alphonso doesn't feel still impact his body. If Allison punches Alphonso in the nose and he reflects the pain back upon her, for example, his nose cartilage and bones still crack and become misshapen. Alphonso does, after all, look like a guy whose superpower depends entirely on letting himself be punched in the face, and his visage is considerably less disfigured during the dojo flashback of The Umbrella Academy season 3, episode 6.
Regardless of how he activates and controls them, The Umbrella Academy proves Alphonso's powers are spectacularly useless against sonic attacks. Not only does Elliot Page's Viktor knock him flying with an energy outburst during the Hargreeves Mansion battle, but Harlan's bigger wave later kills Alphonso outright. Maybe these blasts were simply too great to counter (meaning there's a limit to what he can reflect), or perhaps the ability only applies to physical attacks (punches, blades, etc.) leaving Alphonso vulnerable to assaults psychic or sonic in nature.
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