Walter

Origin

Walter Lambert was born paraplegic, requiring him to live his life in a wheelchair. He struggled with his handicap over the years but did his best to overcome it nonetheless. Without any outside aid he was able to earn his way into the prestigious Empire State University. When ESU enacted a new policy though that openly allowed mutants to attend the university with a full scholarship, Walter grew increasingly resentful for this affirmative action favoritism mutants received simply for their genetics, whereas he had actually worked for his own admittance.

Creation

Walter Lambert was created by writer Brian Vaughan and artist Lee Ferguson. He first appeared in issue one of the 2002 Chamber mini-series.

Major Story Arcs

The Hollow Man

After six mutant students died in what was believed to be a racist bombing at ESU, X-Men member Chamber volunteered himself to investigate the incident as a new student at the university. One of the mutants who'd died had been Walter's former roommate, and he made it clear that he was not pleased to have Chamber as his next mutant roommate.

Walter's dislike of mutant students made him seem like a viable suspect as the perpetrator of the bombing, but Chamber gradually came to see Walter in a different light. The two roommates even managed to find some common ground over their respective disabilities, in Chamber's case his disability being how his mutation had blown away much of his upper body and left him without any sense of normalcy.

Chamber eventually discovered that the bomber had actually been one of the mutant students who'd lost control of his powers and exploded, unintentionally causing the death of the other five students who'd been trying to help him. This prompted ESU to rescind their open mutant policy. The university instead set up a new student exchange program with Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Walter became the first (and perhaps only) ESU student to participate, claiming that Chamber had shown him that the school couldn't be all that bad, and also that he looked forward to studying chemistry under the esteemed Dr. Hank McCoy.

As an Xavier student started giving him a tour of the school, Walter queried on the wheelchair access at the school, to which the student merely replied, "Uh, you do know who our founder is, right?..."

Powers & Abilities

Walter is not a mutant and has no superhuman powers. He does however possess a considerable knowledge of chemistry, claiming to be able to name the atomic weight of any element off the top of his head.