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Jonothan Evan Starsmore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Decibel (Jonothon "Jono" Evan Starsmore), better known as Chamber is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Chris Bachalo, he first appeared in Generation X #1 (September 1994).
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. Recently, these powers have been removed and replaced with sonic based abilities.
Jono was a member of the X-Men’s junior team Generation X, although he was sullen and moody and had difficulty bonding with teammates. He was briefly a member of the X-Men as well.
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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 then girlfriend Gayle Edgerton. Its initial manifestation destroyed much of his chest and lower face and crippling Gayle Edgerton. As a result of his disfiguration, Jono can only speak via telepathy. He does not eat, drink, or breathe; it is believed that either the psionic energy sustains him without needing his vital organs, or that his body is merely a shell, and he is actually made up 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 psychokinetic force. It has been implied at numerous times that Jono is potentially one of the most powerful mutants to walk the earth (most notably the scale of his mutagenic aura as seen by Emplate in Generation X #1, also at times when he is seen to 'cut loose' with his abilities) 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.
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 (M, Husk, Synch, Skin, and Jubilee) 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.
Emplate captured Chamber with Gayle's help, and then imprisoned both of them. Gayle blamed Jono for ruining her life, but the two managed to get over the pain after the rest of Generation X freed them. Chamber later became romantically involved with Husk, although their relationship was awkward and strained, and was terminated on more than one occasion.
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 harbouring 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.
When the students moved on from the Massachusetts Academy of Higher Learning, Jono was offered a position with the X-Men. He declined however and 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 to Jono.
As an X-Man, Chamber investigated the apparent murders of mutant students at Empire State University. He got to know a reptilian mutant, Amber[1], who was the only mutant student to remain at ESU when they shut down their mutant program.
Returning to the X-Men, Chamber saw Husk in the arms of Archangel. He attacked Archangel, destroyed the bar they were in, and left. Having had enough of his antics, the X-Men decided to police their own and turned Chamber over to the authorities. 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, though in reality he infiltrated the group on behalf of the X-Men. Weapon X restored his damaged body, but the Weapon X series was cancelled before his story could continue.
It was believed Jono had damaged his face again and joined a new team of retired teenage superheroes called Excelsior, but it was revealed (to the reader, not to the rest of Excelsior) that this was merely someone posing as Chamber.
Following the warping of reality by the Scarlet Witch, Jono was one of the many mutants who were depowered when reality was restored. His lower face, chest and heart missing once again, the X-Men left him to be cared for at a hospital on life support while things cooled down at the mansion.
Jono was moved to a hospital in England, but was abducted by his therapist a few weeks later - his therapist being Frederick Slade, a member of the Clan Akkaba. Under orders of Ozymandias, Jono was afterwards completely healed by the Clan and was transformed into a young version of Apocalypse. A scan of Jono's energy signature has revealed that his powers have possibly evolved to Omega-level.
Jono has yet again resurfaced, and is now using the codename Decibel as a member of the New Warriors.
Decibel is first seen in issue 3 of New Warriors vol. 4 as a member of Night Thrasher's most recent incarnation of the team. In the issue, former Generation X member and apparent second in command of the new team, Jubilee (now called Wondra), implies that his new powers involve sonic blasts and he needs further training to control these new abilities. Though the details have yet to be specified, it has been revealed that several of the team members have received their new abilities as a product of technology, though he had his powers given to him before joining the team. In issue four, Jubilee called him by his real name, Jono, thus confirming his identity to the readers.
Previously, Jono possessed a vast furnace of psionic energy in his chest and mouth. He was able to concentrate these energies as concussive blasts of energy or—when properly focused—dilated to the size and strength of a laser. Although these powers removed otherwise vital parts of his body, Jono's powers have compensated for this loss: he possesses limited telepathic abilities which allow him to communicate, and has no need to eat or even breathe. On one occasion in Generation X Annual '97, Jono blew up—and was able to reconstitute—his entire body by sheer force of will, including repairing his damaged body. However the results did not last as his powers were too much for his frame to contain. This has led to the suggestion that his physical form was actually simply a shell for pure psychic energy. At one point, fellow Generation X member Synch used his own "synching" ability to tap into and copy Jono's powers and flew. Jonothon himself had never exhibited this ability before or since.
Due to the events of House of M, Jono had been depowered. He currently possesses sonic powers as a result of Clan Akkaba mixing his blood with that of Apocalypse. Using these powers he is able to fly, create sonic blasts and create force fields around himself and others. His new power level has been estimated by Pete Wisdom to possibly be at the omega level.
In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, Chamber was a much different person than his mainstream counterpart. He was the leader of Generation Next under the training of Shadowcat and Colossus, who had rescued Chamber from Mikhail Rasputin, one of Apocalypse's Horsemen. His power had been discovered earlier and was placed under his control via a cybernetic chest plate used to regulate his power usage, his face and body were whole with no parts lost to his power. He also had an open and passionate relationship with fellow mutant Husk. He was killed along with the rest of his team when they infiltrated Sugar Man's lair and were abandoned by Colossus.
- Chamber #1-4
- Generation M #1
- Generation X #1-15, 31-55, 60-61, 63
- Generation X 1995
- Generation X 1997
- Generation X 1998
- Generation X 1999
- Generation X: Crossroads
- Incredible Hulk 1997
- Marvel Team-Up vol. 2 #1
- New Excalibur #9
- New Warriors vol. 2 #5
- New Warriors vol. 4 #3-4
- Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 2006 #2
- The Order #5 - 6
- Uncanny X-Men #395-400, 402-405, 407, 422-423
- Uncanny X-Men Annual 1995, Annual 2001
- Weapon X vol. 2 #15-18
- Wolverine vol. 2 #94, 141
- X-Man #50
- X-Men vol. 2 #49
- X-Men Annual 1996
- X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #20, 23