EMPYREAN

Real Name: Jonathan Chambers

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Author, owner of "leper colony" for those stricken with the Legacy Virus

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Avalanche (Dominikos Petrakis), Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (Blob/Fred J. Dukes, Phantazia/Eileen Harsaw, Pyro/St. John Allerdyce, Toad/Mortimer Toynbee), Crimson Commando (Frank Bohannan)

Enemies: Henry Peter Gyrich, X-Men (Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Gambit/Remy LeBeau, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Revanche/Kwannon, Rogue/Anna-Marie)

Known Relatives: Timothy Chambers (father, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: A tiny island in Florida's Big Pine Keys, which he named "Empyrean"

First Appearance: first mentioned: X-Men Unlimited I#2 (September, 1993); first seen: X-Men Annual II#2 (October, 1993)

Powers/Abilities: Empyrean was a mutant who could absorb the agony and painful emotions given off by dying individuals around the world and project it outward in energy blasts that caused those affected by them to feel the same agony that was being absorbed.

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 195 lbs.
Eyes: Green
Hair: Blond

History:

(X-Men Annual II#2 (fb) - BTS) - When Jonathan Chambers was thirteen, his father Timothy died in a car crash.

(X-Men Annual II#2 (fb) - BTS) - Years later, Jonathan Chambers wrote the book about mutants, Fatal Attractions: Mutants & Men. To promote the book, Jonathan went on various television talk shows, where he was hit by a chair on The Geraldo Rivera Show. Chambers then used the money from the sales of his book to purchase an island in Florida's Big Pine Keys and hired Dr. Josef Kleinbaumm and Dr. Nancy Alter to work on the island.

(X-Men Unlimited I#2) - While on route to New York to meet Gabrielle Haller, Adrian Eiskalt read the book Fatal Attractions: Mutants & Men by Jonathan Chambers. Sitting aboard the airplane Eiskalt suddenly noticed a passenger, whom he believed to be Magneto himself. Eiskalt nearly stabbed the old man with a poisoned needle-pen when he realized it wasn't the mutant.

(X-Men Annual II#2) - Jonathan Chambers broke up a fight between Avalanche, Commando, and Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, as Avalanche and Commando claimed to have come to Chambers' Florida island to visit their old teammate Pyro, who was a member of the Brotherhood. He explained to the Brotherhood that Avalanche and Commando that their reason for being there was as friends, not as enemies. Later, as the Brotherhood relaxed inside Chambers' mansion and began to argue, Jonathan warned the Blob to act civilized and when the Blob asked Jonathan what he planned to do about it, Jonathan blasted Blob with an energy blast that forced him to feel the agony that was being felt around the world. After explaining what he had done to Blob, Jonathan explained that he was only seeking to create a haven for those in pain.

Soon after, Jonathan welcomed Cyclops, Rogue, and the Beast of the X-Men to his Florida island, where he invited them to stay the night. Once inside, Jonathan met with the X-Men and discussed his interest in reading a book written by Cyclops. Cyclops then claimed that he would like to believe that Chambers meant his claims about helping diseased mutants, but that Chambers' association with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants did not look good. The Beast then asked about the Brotherhood's whereabouts, to which Jonathan replied by informing them that the Brotherhood were currently in the sub-basement levels of his mansion. Realizing that the Brotherhood were battling Revanche, Gambit, and Psylocke (who were secretly sent to spy on Jonathan while the other X-Men distracted him) down in the sub-basements, the other X-Men rushed to their teammates' aid. As a battle began to erupt, Jonathan used his mutant powers, forcing both the Brotherhood and the X-Men to stop in their tracks with agony. He then explained that he would stop fighting between mutantkind by draining the powers from those who fuel the fighting. Cyclops demanded to know what was going on, but Pyro interrupted him and revealed that he was dying of the Legacy Virus, and that Chambers' island was a haven for those waiting to die. The Beast reminded them all that Chambers did not appear to be as noble as he put on, and that he was simply just an energy vampire of sorts, draining the energy from those in agony to fuel himself. Chambers responded by saying that his absorption of the agony brought nothing but peace to those in agony, but the X-Men argued that Jonathan was just using mutants as guinea pigs. Revanche interrupted the arguments, claiming that the X-Men had no right to judge how anyone should die and then revealed that she had also contracted the Legacy Virus. Chambers, or Empyrean, as he had begun to call himself, agreed with Revanche and admitted that he could not deny that he had ulterior motives in creating the haven. After admitting that, Empyrean asked what difference it made if he made a profit from the suffering of mutants, as long as the mutants got comfort of body and peace of mind from the haven. Just as Empyrean finished his speech, Henry Peter Gyrich and a group of government agents arrived on the island, accusing Empyrean of forcing people to stay on the island against their will. The X-Men could not say that they were being kept against their will and Empyrean decided not to press charges against Avalanche and Commando, who had, in reality, been hired by Gyrich to infiltrate the island, since they had decided to stay as well. Gyrich refused to allow Avalanche and Commando stay, as he had wasted several billions hiring them. Empyrean replied that his talk show friends would love to hear about how Gyrich had stolen a Drug Enforcement Agency helicopter to enter the island and how taxpayer money was being spent on projects like Project: Wideawake. Gyrich agreed to leave without Avalanche or Commando, grunting that Empyrean had not seen the last of him.

After Gyrich left the premises, Empyrean explained to the X-Men that no matter how they perceived his motives, mutants were welcome on his island. He then invited Revanche to stay, but she declined, instead wanting to die fighting the virus as opposed to staying on the island awaiting death. The X-Men then took their own leave of the island, warning Empyrean to practice what he preached in his mutant books.

(X-Men: Time Gliders#1) - As the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants spied on the X-Men from the home of Jonathan Chambers, they discovered that the Beast had designed a Time Glider that he thought would aid him in curing the Legacy Virus. Desiring the machine so that he could travel back in time and release the Legacy Virus earlier to create new victims, Empyrean managed to dupe the Brotherhood into stealing it for him. That night, Commando broke into the Xavier Mansion and was temporarily halted by Cyclops until he managed to escape back to Chambers' island home with the Time Glider.

(X-Men: Time Gliders#2) - Since Commando's last known whereabouts were at the island of Jonathan Chambers, the X-Men travelled there, where they split up. While Wolverine battled the Blob on the island, Jonathan and Commando attempted to operate the Time Glider. At the same time, the Beast began working on a second Time Glider to replace the one that was stolen.

(X-Men: Time Gliders#3) - As Beast finished work on the second Time Glider, Empyrean and Commando managed to get the stolen one working as well.

(X-Men: Time Gliders#4) - While the X-Men battled the organized Brotherhood of Evil Mutants on Jonathan's island base, the Beast arrived to stop Commando and Empyrean from using the stolen Time Glider. Just as Beast defeated Commando, Jonathan activated the stolen Time Glider and escaped into the timestream. Once Empyrean had arrived in the prehistoric era, the Beast activated a retriever for the Time Glider, calling it back to the present and leaving Chambers stranded in the age of the dinosaurs, about to become food for a hungry tyrannosaurus.

Comments: Created by Fabian Nicieza, Aron Wiesenfeld, Al Milgrom, Bob Wiacek, and Keith Williams.

X-Men: Time Gliders was given away at Hardee's restaurants with action figures in 1995.

Profile by Proto-Man

CLARIFICATIONS:
Empyrean has no known connections to

• Empire-1 of Earth-UV, also known as Supra, @ Prototype (UV)#5
• Empire-7 of Earth-UV, Vietnamese ultra, @ Prototype (UV)#5
• Empire Books, book publishing company that published the Phil Sheldon book, Marvels, @ Marvels#2
• Empire Chemical Enterprises, multinational corporation, @ Super Soldiers#1
• Empire Hotel, deluxe hotel built by Kong Lomerate, located on the Swamp City Boardwalk, @ Howard the Duck Magazine#7
• Empire State University, university in New York which Peter Parker and others attended, @ Amazing Spider-Man I#31

Timothy Chambers

  Timothy Chambers was the father of Jonathan Chambers and also a mutant unable to control his own powers. At age thirty-three, he appeared thirty years older than his actual age. When his son Jonathan was thirteen, Timothy died in a car crash.

Timothy's actual powers were unrevealed, but his quick aging may have had been them. I, personally, believe that Jonathan's manifestation of his powers drained the life from Timothy for some reason. The story did not really show any connection between Timothy's aging and Jonathan.