====== Tempus (Eva Bell) ======
===== Part 1: The Dossier: An At-a-Glance Summary =====
  *   **Core Identity:** **Eva Bell, codenamed Tempus, is an Australian Omega-level mutant with the power of chronokinesis, allowing her to create localized spheres of frozen time and, with immense difficulty, travel through the timestream itself.**
  *   **Key Takeaways:** (Use an unordered list `*` to provide 3-4 of the most critical, high-level points.)
    *  **Role in the Universe:** Tempus represents a new generation of mutants who emerged after the devastating effects of M-Day. She is a key member of [[cyclops_scott_summers|Cyclops']] post-//Avengers vs. X-Men// revolutionary faction, serving as both a powerful strategic asset and a moral compass for the team. [[x-men]].
    *  **Primary Impact:** Her most significant impact comes from a harrowing accidental journey through time, where she lived for over seven years in various eras—including a dystopian future and the magical past—before returning to her present mere moments after she left. This experience transformed her from a naive teenager into a seasoned veteran with a unique and tragic perspective on time and consequence.
    *  **Key Incarnations:** Eva Bell is a character exclusive to the Earth-616 comic book universe and has **not appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)** or any of its associated properties. Her powers and origin are deeply tied to the specific lore of mutant genetics and the fluctuating X-Men comic timeline.
===== Part 2: Origin and Evolution =====
==== Publication History and Creation ====
Tempus first appeared in **//All-New X-Men// #1**, published in November 2012 as part of the //Marvel NOW!// relaunch initiative. However, her full debut, origin, and recruitment occurred in **//Uncanny X-Men// (Vol. 3) #1**, released in February 2013. She was co-created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Chris Bachalo.
Eva Bell was conceived as one of the first new mutants to manifest powers following the Phoenix Force's repopulation of the mutant gene in the //Avengers vs. X-Men// storyline. Bendis's run on the X-Men titles focused heavily on the emergence of these new, often disoriented and terrified, young mutants. Tempus, along with characters like Triage (Christopher Muse) and Goldballs (Fabio Medina), was designed to be a "man-on-the-street" perspective, a stark contrast to the seasoned and often jaded veteran X-Men. Her creation provided a fresh lens through which to view the complicated and morally gray world of Cyclops's mutant revolution, and her time-based powers were deliberately introduced as a wild card with immense, unforeseen potential and danger.
==== In-Universe Origin Story ====
=== Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) ===
Eva Bell was an ordinary teenager from Gold Coast, Australia. She lived a relatively normal life, focused on school, friends, and defying her mother. Her life changed irrevocably when her mutant powers manifested for the first time. During a tense moment with her mother and a friend, she panicked and instinctively trapped the two of them inside a "time bubble"—a sphere of influence where time was completely frozen. Unable to control this new ability, she was left terrified and isolated outside the bubble, watching her loved ones suspended in a single moment.
This public manifestation of mutant powers immediately drew the attention of both the Avengers and Cyclops's rogue faction of X-Men. While the Avengers approached with caution, Cyclops's team, consisting of [[emma_frost|Emma Frost]], [[magik_illyana_rasputina|Magik]], and [[magneto_max_eisenhardt|Magneto]], acted decisively. Magik teleported directly to Eva's location and, after a brief and intimidating "interview," offered her a place at their New Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters. With few other options and her mother still trapped, Eva reluctantly agreed. Magik then demonstrated the severity of the situation by teleporting Eva to a near-future Earth ravaged by Sentinels, a grim potential outcome of mutant inaction.
Upon joining Cyclops's team, Eva's powers were instrumental in several early missions. However, her control remained precarious. During a training exercise, her powers flared uncontrollably, and she vanished from the present. This accident became the single most defining event of her life, catapulting her on an unintended odyssey through the timestream that would shape her into the hero she was destined to become.
=== Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ===
**Eva Bell, or Tempus, does not exist within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).** There has been no mention of her, nor has any character with her specific name or power set appeared in any MCU film, television series, or related media to date.
The concept of adapting a character like Tempus to the MCU presents several interesting creative challenges and opportunities, particularly given the MCU's established rules for time travel and temporal mechanics.
  *   **Power Set vs. MCU Lore:** The MCU's rules on time travel, primarily established in //Avengers: Endgame// and expanded upon in the //Loki// series, are quite different from the often more fluid and paradoxical nature of time travel in Marvel Comics. //Endgame// posits that changing the past creates a new branched timeline, rather than altering one's own future. The Time Variance Authority (TVA) introduced in //Loki// takes this further, treating such branches as incursions to be "pruned." Tempus's ability to create localized time bubbles and her later ability to jump through the main timeline would need to be carefully reconciled with this lore. Her powers could be re-contextualized as the ability to briefly and unstably create micro-branches or to manipulate time within a contained reality, similar to the [[doctor_strange|Doctor Strange]]'s use of the Time Stone, but on a biological and more volatile level.
  *   **Mutant Introduction:** The MCU is in the process of gradually introducing mutants and the [[x-men]]. A character like Eva could serve as an excellent entry point. Her origin story—a sudden, public, and terrifying manifestation of powers—is a classic X-Men trope that would resonate well with audiences. Her recruitment could be a pivotal moment in the formation of an MCU X-Men team, showcasing the divide between different mutant ideologies (e.g., a Charles Xavier figure versus a Magneto-like figure) vying to protect and guide these new, powerful individuals.
  *   **Potential Storylines:** If adapted, her "lost in time" arc could form the basis of a compelling solo project or a major subplot in an X-Men film. It would allow the MCU to explore different eras of its own history or even glimpse potential futures without disrupting the main Sacred Timeline, as her journey could be framed as a series of chaotic, temporary incursions. This could provide a unique narrative device for world-building and exploring "What If?" scenarios within the main continuity.
Ultimately, while Tempus remains a comic-exclusive character, her powerful abilities and compelling character arc make her a prime candidate for future adaptation as the MCU continues to expand its roster of mutants.
===== Part 3: Abilities, Equipment & Personality =====
=== Earth-616 (Prime Comic Universe) ===
Eva Bell's abilities and personality underwent a drastic transformation as a direct result of her experiences. She evolved from a frightened novice into one of the most experienced, albeit young, members of the X-Men.
==== Powers and Abilities ====
As a mutant, Eva's primary power is **Chronokinesis**, the ability to manipulate time. She is considered an Omega-level mutant, indicating that her potential in this field is limitless. Her application of this power has grown significantly over time.
  *   **Time Bubbles (Temporal Stasis):** This was the first manifestation of her powers. Eva can create spheres of influence, ranging from a few feet to the size of a city block, within which time is completely frozen. Everything and everyone inside is suspended in a single moment, unharmed but completely unaware. She can maintain these bubbles for extended periods and can choose who is affected, sometimes leaving herself or her teammates able to move freely within the frozen zone. This is her most-used and most-controlled ability, serving as a powerful tool for crowd control, rescue operations, and creating strategic advantages in battle.
  *   **Temporal Displacement (Time Travel):** Initially an uncontrolled side effect of her powers, Eva eventually gained a degree of mastery over time travel. Unlike other time travelers who require technology, Eva's power is biological. Her method involves "jumping" along the timestream. Early on, these jumps were accidental and unpredictable, sending her to random points in time and space. Through training and immense focus, she learned to target specific time periods, though it remains an incredibly taxing and dangerous feat. She was able to travel back in time to prevent the birth of an immensely powerful and dangerous mutant, a feat that required her to rewrite a part of history.
  *   **Temporal Awareness:** Due to her extensive travels, Eva possesses a limited awareness of the timestream's flow. She can sometimes sense disturbances or paradoxes, though this is not a precise or controllable sense.
  *   **Accelerated Experience and Skills:** Though biologically a young adult, Eva has lived through an additional seven years of life due to her time displacement. During this period, she received advanced training in magic from a young [[agatha_harkness]], learned survival skills in a war-torn future under the tutelage of [[killraven|Killraven]], and gained profound wisdom from a future [[sorcerer_supreme]]. She returned with knowledge of advanced combat techniques, mystical principles, and a deep understanding of historical and future events.
==== Weaknesses and Limitations ====
Eva's powers, while immense, are not without significant drawbacks.
  *   **Lack of Control:** Especially early on, her powers were highly volatile and prone to activating under stress, often with disastrous consequences like her initial time-jump.
  *   **Physical and Mental Strain:** Time travel is incredibly draining for Eva. Major jumps can leave her exhausted, disoriented, or even unconscious. The psychological toll of her experiences, particularly remembering a future family she had to leave behind, weighs heavily on her.
  *   **Paradox Risk:** As a living time machine, Eva is a potential walking paradox. Her actions in the past have the potential to drastically alter the present, a responsibility she finds terrifying. Her final act in the story of Matthew Malloy—going back 24 hours and then telling her past self to go back to prevent his parents from ever meeting—is a complex bootstrap paradox that highlights the inherent dangers of her abilities.
==== Personality ====
Eva's personality is defined by the stark contrast between her chronological age and her experiential age. On the outside, she is a young woman, but her mind and soul are that of a much older, world-weary veteran.
  *   **Initial:** When she first joined the X-Men, Eva was brash, insecure, and easily overwhelmed. She was quick to anger and often questioned Cyclops's authority, acting like a typical rebellious teenager thrust into an impossible situation.
  *   **Post-Time Jump:** After returning from her seven-year journey, she became calm, mature, and introspective. She possesses a quiet confidence and a level of patience far beyond her years. She is fiercely protective of her teammates, viewing them with the wisdom of an older sister or even a parent. This transformation can be jarring to those who knew her before, as she effectively went from a rookie to a veteran overnight. She also carries a deep-seated sadness and a sense of loss for the life and family she had to abandon in the future to return to her present.
=== Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) ===
As Tempus is not in the MCU, her abilities, equipment, and personality can only be projected based on how similar concepts have been treated.
==== Projected Abilities and Limitations ====
If introduced, her powers would likely be visualized in a manner distinct from the Time Stone's green energy or the TVA's temporal technology.
  *   **Powers:** Her time bubbles might appear as shimmering, glass-like spheres, visually warping the light around them. Her time-jumping ability would likely be depicted as a chaotic, glitch-like effect, emphasizing its biological and uncontrolled nature. To align with MCU rules, her jumps might be explicitly shown to create new "branches" on the Sacred Timeline, immediately attracting the attention of entities like the TVA or a future version of [[kang_the_conqueror]].
  *   **Limitations:** The MCU would likely impose stricter limits on her powers to maintain narrative stakes. Perhaps each time jump physically ages her or causes a "temporal sickness." The risk of creating a Nexus Event and being pruned by the TVA would be a constant, looming threat, making every use of her time travel a desperate gamble.
==== Projected Personality ====
An MCU Eva Bell would likely follow a similar character arc. She could be introduced as part of a "Young Avengers" or "Champions" style property, initially a reckless and frightened teenager. A film or series could then adapt her "lost in time" story, using it as a coming-of-age narrative. Her return would establish her as a seasoned and powerful figure, potentially a mentor to other young heroes, carrying the burden of knowledge about futures that may or may not come to pass. This would make her a fascinating foil to other characters, a young hero with the wisdom and trauma of an old soldier.
===== Part 4: Key Relationships & Network =====
==== Core Allies ====
  *   **[[cyclops_scott_summers|Scott Summers (Cyclops)]]:** As the leader who recruited her, Cyclops was Eva's first mentor in the mutant world. Initially, their relationship was tense; Eva viewed him as a reckless revolutionary and openly challenged his decisions. However, after her return from her time journey, her perspective shifted entirely. With her newfound maturity, she understood the weight of his responsibilities and became one of his most loyal and capable soldiers. She saw the bigger picture he was fighting for and offered him a level of understanding that few others could.
  *   **[[emma_frost|Emma Frost]]:** Emma served as a more direct instructor for Eva at the New Xavier School. As a powerful telepath, Emma was one of the few who could comprehend the psychological trauma Eva endured after her time jump. She helped Eva process her memories and integrate her past, present, and future selves, providing a crucial pillar of mental and emotional support.
  *   **[[magik_illyana_rasputina|Illyana Rasputina (Magik)]]:** Magik was the one who personally recruited Eva, and their relationship is one of mutual respect built on shared experience with time displacement. Magik, having spent her childhood trapped in the demonic dimension of Limbo where time flows differently, was uniquely qualified to understand Eva's predicament. They share a bond as two of the team's "heavy hitters" whose powers operate on principles beyond conventional understanding.
  *   **Christopher Muse (Triage) & Fabio Medina (Goldballs):** As fellow new mutants recruited at the same time, Christopher and Fabio were Eva's first real friends on the team. They were the "new kids" together, learning to control their powers and navigate the treacherous world of the X-Men. While Eva's accelerated development quickly surpassed theirs, she remained fiercely protective of them, viewing them as a link to the innocence she lost.
==== Arch-Enemies ====
Tempus does not have a traditional arch-nemesis in the vein of a Sabretooth or Mister Sinister. Her conflicts are more ideological or situational.
  *   **Matthew Malloy:** While not a villain in the classic sense, Matthew Malloy was arguably Eva's greatest antagonist. An Omega-level mutant with reality-warping powers far beyond even his own comprehension, his very existence threatened the planet. After Malloy effortlessly killed Cyclops and most of the X-Men, Eva was forced into a desperate, last-ditch effort. She jumped back in time to prevent his parents from ever meeting, thus erasing him from history. This act, while necessary to save the world, was a profound violation of the timeline and a decision that haunted her, solidifying her understanding of the terrifying responsibility her powers carried.
  *   **[[shield|S.H.I.E.L.D.]]:** In the period following //Avengers vs. X-Men//, S.H.I.E.L.D., under the direction of Maria Hill, adopted a more aggressive stance toward mutants, particularly Cyclops's renegade team. They frequently clashed with the New Xavier School, viewing them as a terrorist organization. For Eva, S.H.I.E.L.D. represented the oppressive human establishment that feared and hunted mutants simply for existing, making them a primary institutional adversary.
==== Affiliations ====
  *   **New Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters:** This was Eva's first home in the mutant world. Based in an old Weapon X facility in Canada, it was the headquarters for Cyclops's revolutionary X-Men team. It was here that she received her initial training and bonded with the other new mutant recruits.
  *   **[[x-men|X-Men]]:** Following the events involving Matthew Malloy and the subsequent restructuring of the X-Men, Eva joined the main team at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Her immense power and unique experience made her an invaluable member of the unified X-Men roster, bridging the gap between the veteran members and the younger students.
===== Part 5: Iconic Events & Storylines =====
==== Uncanny X-Men: The New Revolution ====
(//Uncanny X-Men// Vol. 3, #1-5)
This storyline details Eva's origin and recruitment. After her powers manifest in Australia, she is brought into Cyclops's fold. The story highlights her initial fear, confusion, and distrust of Cyclops's revolutionary methods. Her role is primarily that of a powerful but untrained asset. During a battle against a new model of Sentinel, she single-handedly saves the team by trapping the giant robot in a time bubble, demonstrating the sheer scale of her abilities for the first time. It is during a training session within this arc that a latent Sentinel attack causes her powers to overload, leading to her accidental first jump through time and setting the stage for her most important character arc.
==== Lost in Time ====
(//All-New X-Men// Annual #1 (2014) & //Uncanny X-Men// Annual #1 (2014))
This two-part story is the definitive Tempus narrative and the key to understanding her character. After vanishing from the present, Eva is catapulted on an uncontrolled journey through the timestream.
  *   **2099 A.D.:** Her first stop is the future timeline of Earth-928. She is immediately captured by the forces of that era's [[doctor_doom|Doctor Doom]] and meets a future [[magik_illyana_rasputina|Magik]], now a powerful Sorcerer Supreme. This future Illyana helps Eva escape and gives her a crucial piece of advice: to find a "witch" in the past to teach her control.
  *   **Salem, 1692:** Following this advice, Eva jumps to the past and finds a young [[agatha_harkness]]. Though initially reluctant, Agatha agrees to train Eva in the mystical arts, helping her understand the nature of time and focus her abilities. This period provides Eva with a foundational understanding of her powers beyond just mutant biology.
  *   **Dystopian Future (Earth-7484):** Her next jump lands her in the 22nd century, in the war-torn future of the hero [[killraven|Killraven]]. Here, humanity is enslaved by Martian invaders. Eva spends years fighting alongside the resistance, honing her combat skills and learning the brutal realities of survival and warfare.
  *   **A Family:** After years of fighting, she finally finds a moment of peace. She falls in love with a man named Ben, marries him, and has a daughter named Elodie. For a time, she lives a complete life, finding happiness amidst the chaos of the future.
  *   **The Return:** The X-Men of her present, with the help of Doctor Strange, finally manage to locate her. They open a portal, giving her a choice: stay with the family she has built or return to the moment she left. In an act of heartbreaking sacrifice, she chooses to return, leaving her husband and child behind forever. She reappears in the present mere seconds after she vanished, but now as a completely different person, carrying the weight of seven years of experience, love, and loss.
==== The Last Will and Testament of Charles Xavier ====
(//Uncanny X-Men// Vol. 3, #23-31)
This arc centers on the discovery of Matthew Malloy, a mutant of unprecedented power whom Charles Xavier had hidden away years ago using psychic blocks. When the blocks fail, Malloy's power erupts, and he becomes an uncontrollable threat to the entire planet. He casually murders Cyclops, Emma Frost, and many other powerful mutants. Eva, one of the last survivors, makes the ultimate gamble. With the help of the Stepford Cuckoos and a time-displaced young [[beast_hank_mccoy|Hank McCoy]], she executes a complex temporal pincer movement. She jumps back 24 hours to warn her past self, who then uses that knowledge to jump back several decades to the point where Charles Xavier first met Matthew's parents. She convinces them to never be together, thus preventing Matthew from ever being born and completely erasing the catastrophic events from the timeline. This act saved the world but came at the cost of rewriting reality, a burden only she and a few others remember.
===== Part 6: Variants and Alternative Versions =====
Due to her relatively recent creation and her story being intrinsically tied to the main Earth-616 timeline, Tempus does not have many prominent or well-documented variants in major alternate realities like the Ultimate Universe (Earth-1610) or Age of Apocalypse (Earth-295).
Her own "Lost in Time" journey can be seen as her interacting with variants of the main timeline's future. The future Sorcerer Supreme Magik and the world of Killraven are potential, not definite, futures for the Earth-616 universe. Her existence in these timelines for years essentially made her a temporary "variant" of herself, living a life that would ultimately be erased upon her return to the present.
The concept of a "variant" for a time traveler like Eva is philosophically complex. Any alternate version of her would likely be the result of a different choice made during one of her temporal jumps, potentially leading to a version who never returned from the future, or one who altered the past in a different way. However, as of now, these possibilities have not been explored in Marvel Comics.
===== See Also =====
  * [[cyclops_scott_summers]]
  * [[x-men]]
  * [[magik_illyana_rasputina]]
  * [[chronokinesis]]
  * [[avengers_vs_x-men]]
  * [[brian_michael_bendis]]
===== Notes and Trivia =====
((Eva's codename, Tempus, is Latin for "time." It was suggested to her by Emma Frost.))
((Her creators, Brian Michael Bendis and Chris Bachalo, intended for the new mutants of their //Uncanny X-Men// run to represent the ground-level consequences of the grand-scale conflicts that defined the Marvel Universe at the time.))
((The annual issues detailing her time travel journey were designed as a single, cohesive story, with //All-New X-Men Annual// #1 showing the present-day X-Men's search for her, and //Uncanny X-Men Annual// #1 showing the journey entirely from her perspective.))
((Her decision to erase Matthew Malloy from existence is one of the most significant and morally ambiguous acts performed by a young X-Man. It places her in a category similar to characters like Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch, who have used immense power to alter reality, albeit on a smaller, more targeted scale.))
((Despite being classified as an Omega-level mutant, the full extent of her powers remains largely unexplored. Her ability to rewrite history suggests she has the potential to be one of the most powerful beings on Earth, limited primarily by her own restraint and fear of the consequences.))