I recently watched the Umbrella Academy on Netflix, and noticed a direct reference to Friedrich Nietszche during one of the flashback scenes where the billionaire step-father is teaching the mutant kids how to harness their power. It was a quote regarding mankind and his place between beast and Superman, taken from Nietszche's masterpiece "Thus Spake Zarathustra". I'll deal with that particular quote later on in this piece. But for a start, let's view the Umbrella Academy reference in respect to its larger context.

Here's another quote from Thus Spake Zarathustra:

“A polluted stream is man. One must be a sea, to receive a stream without becoming impure.”
Nietzsche – Thus Spake Zarathustra

One interpretation of this quote: human beings are filthy and weak. Only a more powerful creature, a highly evolved being, can deal with human beings without falling into the chasm of human follies. For Nietzsche, that highly evolved creature is the Ubermensch (the Superman).

But the Superman is an unattainable level for human beings. Regardless, the Superman is something that human beings should strive for, despite knowing that it is unattainable, because it is the striving itself that matters. It is surpassing yourself that counts most. Through self-surpassing, can we achieve a greater level of power. In a sense, this is a reach for the stars, touch the moon mentality.

In Thus Spake Zarathustra, when Zarathustra enters the town named Pied Cow, he meets the townsfolk. They mistake Zarathustra for an entertainer – the hunchbacked tightrope walker. Later we see the real tightrope walker. He is entertaining the people, high above the town, crossing the tightrope from one building to the other. The tightrope is a metaphor for humanity. The starting tower represents beasts, the destination building represents the Superman. For Nietszche, mankind is the “rope between beast and the Superman”. This is the quote so aptly expressed in the Umbrella Academy episode.

The tight rope walker is knocked off his perch by a mad jester, who dashes out of the first building, and jumps over the tight rope walker. The tightrope walker plummets to the ground. Zarathustra kneels beside him. The tight rope walker is dying, a bloodied mess, thinking about his life, telling Zarathustra the his life has been pointless, that he is just a beast. Zarathustra says the he should not be afraid - after all, he's lived a life with honour, of truth, of danger, unlike the townspeople who have frittered their own lives away in safety, weakness, comfort, watching others, like the tightrope walker perform great feats of daring, rather than engage in those feats themselves.

For Nietszche, the gawking townsfolk are contemptible, reprehensible. They represent the worst of humanity. They are the non-strivers, content to be weak and useless, but unable to see their own flaws. Nietsche gives these despised people the name: "Last Men".

By contrast, the tightrope walker represents the best of men, at least the best of self-surpassing men. The tightrope walker knows that he can never, ever become Ubermensch, but it is through the striving, through his acts of danger, through his constant pushing of the envelope, that he is able to find strength, honour, and power. Here then, the tightrope walker treads the line between beast and Superman.

In some ways, the heroes of Umbrella Academy represent the Nietszchian tightrope walker, in other ways, they share traits of the Last Men.

In all physical respects they are Supermen. They are able to do things that no human being can ever hope to do. But the ideal of the Ubermensch is less about physical prowess, and more about strength of mind, strength of will. It is the Will to Power.

The superheroes of Umbrella Academy all have flawed psyches - not just flawed, but weak. One is addicted to substances - he is no stranger to rehab. One is a psychopath, addicted to murder. Another is a meathead who is unable to confront his issues to the point where he runs all the way to the moon to get away from his problems. Another is a Hollywood star, and we all know how incorruptible Hollywood stars are. And the last one, an angry middle-aged man trapped in the body of a twelve-year old boy (which could almost be an interesting twist on the whole transgender, genderqueer, transhuman debate, but that's another essay).

It is their emotional flaws that bring them back to our human level. It is their emotional flaws which make us empathize with them. If they were perfect - if they were true Ubermensh - we would not find the characters interesting, because there would be nothing for us to relate to, and it would make them impossible for us to aspire to. Indeed, when we engage with these stories, a part of us inevitably fantasizes about ourselves in the same circumstances, with the same power. Their flaws make the characters all the more relatable.

Their flaws, despite their physical powers, make the characters human. All too human. As such, they are not Ubermensch. Yet nor are they Last Men, because they are not content to sit back and indulge themselves in comfort. They are the Nietszchian tightrope walker, striving to be better.

This is the lesson we can all take from Nietszche. Don't be content to sit back in comfort. Take the road to power. Walk the tightrope. Surpass yourself.