Chamber (character)

Chamber (Jonothon Evan Starsmore; alternatively spelled Jonothan) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually associated with the X-Men and the New Warriors.

Chamber
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Generation X #1 (November 1994)
Created by	Scott Lobdell (writer) Chris Bachalo (artist)
In-story information
Alter ego	Jonothon Evan Starsmore
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	New Warriors Clan Akkaba Generation X X-Men Weapon X Jean Grey School
Notable aliases	Decibel
Abilities	Currently: Psionic pyrokinesis Telepathy Formerly: Sound manipulation via sonic technology

A British mutant, Jono possessed the ability to cast energy blasts from his chest. He had limited control of his power and destroyed much of his chest and lower face when his powers emerged. He lost his powers on M-Day. For a time he used technology to give himself sonic based abilities. He regained his powers after the events of Age of X.

Jonothon was a member of the X-Men junior team Generation X. He was sullen and moody and had difficulty bonding with teammates. He has since been offered a permanent position in the X-Men's teaching staff.

Publication history

Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Chris Bachalo, he first appeared in Generation X #1 (November 1994).

Fictional character biography

Origin

Chamber's powers first manifest, art by Georges Jeanty

Jonothon Evan Starsmore ("Jono" to his friends) is a native of London and a mutant who possesses a furnace of psionic energy in his chest. This power first manifested in an explosion during a party he was attending with his then-girlfriend Gayle Edgerton, crippling Gayle and destroying Jonothon's chest and lower face. As a result, he is unable to speak normally and can only do so via telepathy. He does not eat, drink, or breathe; it is believed that he is sustained by or made entirely of psionic energy. This is further supported by the fact that Jono is immune to the "Death Factor" of Omega Red, meaning that he is not sustained by "life force".

The primary manifestation of his abilities is his ability to fire powerful blasts of psionic force. It has been implied at numerous times that he has the potential to become one of the most powerful mutants on Earth, but his emotional issues have apparently prevented him from significantly exploring this potential. His disfiguration also left Jono sullen and angry and his teammates have often found him difficult to get along with.

Generation X

Shortly after his mutant powers manifested, Jonothon accepted an invitation to join Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. At the airport, he was attacked by Emplate, a vicious evil mutant who feeds on mutant genetic material to survive, and the fledgling team of Generation X arrived to fight Emplate off. Shortly after, Chamber convinced the crazed Penance to stop attacking the team, as he could sympathize with her freakish appearance; she came to live with the team.

Subsequently, Chamber reconciles with Gayle and enters a relationship with Husk. Unfortunately, the relationship was strained as Jono often sabotaged the relationship, believing he could not offer her the normalcy he assumed she wanted. And despite the mutual attraction, future attempts to restart their relationship failed, as Jono's insecurities were always a hindrance. These issues also negatively impacted their ability to interact as platonic teammates.

Jono's greatest victory during the time he was with Generation X was when Banshee was attacked by the mutant serial killer Omega Red. With their teacher incapacitated, Chamber led the pursuit of the mutant and after the rest of the team was defeated, Chamber's immunity to Omega Red's death spores, as well as some tactical thinking on his part, enabled him to single-handedly defeat the killer.

Despite his time at the school, Jono was never able to gain full control of his abilities. Chamber grew even more depressed when he saw that Synch, who could duplicate a nearby mutant's powers, was more proficient with Chamber's own powers than Chamber himself was. When the school was outed as harboring mutant students, an anti-mutant group attacked the school. After Synch was killed preventing a bomb from killing nearby human students, the Generation X kids felt that their training was over, and they had to use their powers to help humanity. Chamber was the one student to be offered a place on the X-Men by Charles Xavier, but apparently failed to join the group when expected.

X-Man and Weapon X

Decimation almost destroys Chamber. Art by Scott Kolins.

After failing to join the X-Men, Chamber returned to London, where he hooked up with pop star Sugar Kane, creating a publicity blitz for the singer, but she and Chamber parted company after her manager staged her abduction by anti-mutant forces following a phony tabloid story about her pregnancy by Jono. The X-Men met with Chamber in London and persuaded him to join the team after all, after claiming that the X-Men offered a place that he could finally fit in. He remained on the team for some time, but often showed frustration with being treated as a junior member by his teammates, even after playing a role in the defeat of Vanisher and Mystique's Brotherhood of Mutants when they infiltrated Banshee's X-Corps.

Following a strained time on the X-Men, Chamber investigated the apparent murders of mutant students at Empire State University on their behalf. He became romantically entangled with the shapeshifting reptilian mutant, Amber, who was the only mutant student to remain at ESU when they shut down their mutant program, but the relationship quickly ended before it began when Amber came to believe he was only interested in her when she used her shape-shifting abilities to take on a more conventionally attractive form. After that he asked to be relieved from active duty with the X-Men, claiming that he still had much to learn.

While he was back at the school, Chamber saw Husk in the arms of Archangel. He also saw the death of his friend Skin after the mutant was crucified on the lawn of the school by the Church of Humanity. After an awkward period with Husk, the X-Men were called to a bar where Jono had apparently given into his anger. He attacked Archangel before Wolverine was able to subdue him. Chamber was turned over to the authorities and while in prison, locked in a power-dampening helmet, Chamber received a visit from Brent Jackson, who offered him an invitation to join the Weapon X program. He accepted. It was later revealed that the fight and public falling out with the X-Men had been planned to draw Weapon X into recruiting him. After infiltrating them, Weapon X restored his damaged body and he was sent on a mission to kill John Sublime. He apparently did so, convincing Weapon X of his loyalty, but after stowing aboard a transport to the Neverland concentration camp, he vanished. It was later revealed in the Weapon X: Days of Future Now miniseries that Chamber had been captured and brainwashed into loyalty to the program.

In the second Runaways series, it initially appeared Jono had damaged his face again and joined a new team of retired teenage superheroes called Excelsior, but it was revealed that this was merely Geoffrey Wilder, an enemy of the Runaways, impersonating him via a magic amulet.

Decimation

Chamber is reborn as the pride of Clan Akkaba, art by Scott Kolins

Chamber is one of many mutants who lost their powers to Scarlet Witch following M-Day. This leaves him unable to survive normally and forces him to be put on life support. However, he is abducted and healed by Clan Akkaba member Frederick Slade and transformed into a grey-skinned form resembling his distant ancestor Apocalypse. A later scan of Jono's residual energy signature has revealed that his powers have possibly evolved to Omega-level. However, if Chamber has any such abilities, they appear to be latent.

New Warriors

Decibel, art by Paco Medina

Jono resurfaced as Decibel, a member of Night Thrasher's most recent incarnation of the New Warriors. In this new persona, Jono had a hi-tech suit, which gave him the ability to create solidified sound constructs. He revealed that he chose those powers because he did not want to be a weapon of destruction anymore and could now create. He served with the group for the duration, until it was decided that they should disband. He was last seen departing in the company of Jubilee, and other surviving members of the team.

Age of X

Jono eventually made his way to the X-Men's new Island nation of Utopia. Shortly after his arrival, one of the split-personalities of Xavier's son Legion re-wrote the history of the X-Men turning himself into a hero. In this re-written world, Jono was once again referred to as Chamber and had regained his lost mutant powers, but also lost the body restorations given to him by Clan Akkaba. When normality was finally restored, Jono was one of the few X-Men who retained their physical changes from this altered reality. Now once again in possession of a gaping hole in his chest and jaw, Jono submitted to observation by the X-Men's resident biologist, Dr. Kavita Rao.

Schism

Chamber is mentioned by the Stepford Cuckoos as responding to a Sentinel threat in Berlin alongside Warpath. After the conflict of leaders between Wolverine and Cyclops, Chamber chose to join Wolverine at the new X-Mansion, now the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.

Wolverine and the X-Men

Chamber is now teaching a course on "Coping With Physical Changes" at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Chamber is entrusted with the safety and security of the students when a violent threat is roaming the halls. He is shown defending his students from an attack by Weapon Omega while giving a lecture in class. Chamber was killed while battling one of Legion's multiple personalities, but is resurrected when Legion later altered reality. When the school moves and reforms in Central Park, New York City, Chamber becomes a teacher there before being killed by Harpoon of the Marauders.

Krakoa

When Krakoa became a mutants-only nation, Jono was resurrected, and joined the newly reformed New Mutants, along with Mondo. They went on a mission to the Shi'ar Empire with the intent of bringing Cannonball to Krakoa. They were eventually made to transport Deathbird to Chandilar to be Majestrix Xandra Neramani's teacher, avoiding an assassination attempt by Oracle He was later seen working with Nightcrawler's Legionaries.

Powers and abilities

Jono's thoracic and abdominal cavities are a chamber for a furnace of psionic energy capable of nuclear fission whose output can be projected as wide blasts of concussive force or laser-like focused beams that disrupt atomic bonds. The initial manifestation of said powers has destroyed most of his internal organs along with his mouth and chest, effectively killing his body. Chamber requires no food or oxygen and is seemingly indestructible as he has disintegrated his own body along with D'spayre's down to their sub-atomic components in a kamikaze attack and later reconstituted himself.

Jono's appearance is so unusual that even other mutants are startled and repulsed. His bizarre physiology suggests he is actually a being of pure psionic energy inhabiting a dead organic shell that he can disintegrate and reassemble from memory, a hypothesis several characters have put forward in comics. Chamber can also project his thoughts into other people's minds, but cannot read the thoughts of others, which enables him to communicate without a mouth. At one point, fellow Generation X member Synch used his own mutant powers to tap into and copy Jono's powers and fly. Jono himself has never exhibited this ability before or since.

After being depowered by the events of House of M, Jono's body was rebuilt by Clan Akkaba in the image of Apocalypse and he later employed technology to mimic sonic powers as Decibel. These powers included flight, sonic blasts and the creation of solid energy constructs. He has since been restored to his original form and powers by the events of Age of X.

Reception

In 2014, Entertainment Weekly ranked Chamber 35th in their "Let's rank every X-Man ever" list.

Other versions

The Age of Apocalypse incarnation of Chamber as depicted in Generation Next #1 (January 1995). Art by Chris Bachalo.

Age of Apocalypse

An alternate universe variant of Chamber from Earth-295 appears in Age of Apocalypse. This version is the leader of Generation X whose body remains intact due to him receiving a cybernetic chest plate that regulates his powers. He is later killed by a mob during an attack on Sugar Man's lair.

Amalgam Comics

Jonothon Hex, a fusion of Chamber and DC Comics character Jonah Hex, appears in the Amalgam Comics one-shot Generation Hex.

Future X-Men

An alternate universe variant of Chamber from Earth-13729 appears in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #10 and Uncanny X-Men: Winters End #1. This version is in a relationship with Husk and is later killed in a battle with the Shi'ar.

External links

• Chamber at Marvel.com