Recaps

James and Azazel escaped Wakanda with Vibranium ore, Heart-Shaped Herbs, and Azzuri’s helmet after devastating the hidden nation. In the aftermath, T’Chaka swore never to seek revenge, Wakanda’s throne passed to the Jabari Tribe, and young Wakandans began leaving to learn about the outside world.

• James made Azazel teleport huge quantities of Vibranium ore out of the mine while he collected Heart-Shaped Herbs; Azazel also took Azzuri’s helmet before they left.
• Nanali made T’Chaka swear never to seek revenge on the Red and White Devils while Azzuri lay gravely wounded.
• Azzuri died, and his younger brother lost a challenge for the throne to the Jabari chieftain, leaving the Jabari Tribe in power.
• T’Chaka prepared to leave Wakanda as part of the effort to send young warriors and leaders abroad after the Red and White Blood Night.

In 1919, Tom Buchanan learned that James Howlett had arrived at his East Egg estate and arranged to call on him. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw interviewed for a job at Bethlem Royal Hospital and accepted the offer to live there, beginning his plan to advance his ambitions.

• Tom Buchanan spotted a car bearing the Howlett emblem and changed his plans to visit the Howlett Estate with Daisy.
• Tom sent a note requesting a visit the next day and told the messenger to mention his father.
• James Howlett discussed Tom Buchanan’s family with Mr. Casper and considered the unexpected visit to his estate.
• Sebastian Shaw let a group of drunken men beat him in an alley without injuring him, then returned to his inn to prepare for his interview.
• Sebastian Shaw impressed Ms. Farmer with his account of his studies and wartime service, then agreed to live at Bethlem Royal Hospital.

James Buchanan hosted Tom and Daisy Buchanan before visiting the Howlett Institute of Technology, where Dr. Varden McCall updated him on Vibranium research. The institute had made little progress on alloys or the Heart-Shaped Herb, leaving James concerned about finding a biology expert.

• Tom and Daisy Buchanan visited James, and Tom sought to strengthen the Buchanan Family's business ties with the Howlett Family.
• Tom invited James to his estate to play polo before the Buchanans departed.
• James went to the Howlett Institute of Technology after he could not find Azazel.
• Dr. Varden McCall showed James Vibranium machinery and explained the material's properties, applications, and limitations.
• McCall reported that alloy research had produced no useful combination, and James told him to prioritize research over manufacturing.
• James worried that the Heart-Shaped Herb research lacked a leading expert, though he had only vague clues about someone who might fit.

Johann Schmidt pushed Abraham Erskine to test their genetics model on live animals, while Erskine argued for more calculations first. At Bethlem Royal Hospital, Sebastian Shaw’s attempt to treat Derek Birmingham by pulling his teeth failed, but Shaw found a new direction for his experiments: targeting adolescents and people near death.

• Johann Schmidt urged Abraham Erskine to begin live animal testing, but Erskine insisted their theoretical model needed more work.
• Sebastian Shaw tried Henry Cotton’s infection theory on Derek Birmingham by pulling out one of his teeth, but Birmingham showed no improvement.
• Shaw recalled the beating that had triggered his own awakening, when pain and near-death sensations had transformed into a source of power.
• Shaw concluded that youth, suffocation, and proximity to death might be essential to his experiments, and decided to seek a transfer to the adolescent mental health department.

Remus Pitt and Azazel sparred while James promised to help Remus advance his Killing Technique and warned Azazel that Dad would not let him hide forever. Later, James ordered the Howlett Family to end its business and industrial support for Japan, despite the expected losses.

• Remus Pitt and Azazel fought to a standstill until Azazel teleported to dodge Remus's elbow, breaking their unarmed-practice rule, and James ended the spar.
• James told Remus not to rush the next level of the Killing Technique and said he might help once he understood the technique's sticking point.
• Azazel tried to leave with Remus by claiming they were going to play cards, but James warned him that Dad would not let him keep hiding.
• Herman Weddell told James that the White House and President Wilson had questioned the Howlett Family's suspension of business and support for Japan.
• James ordered Herman Weddell to stop all Howlett Family purchases from Japan and end its support for Japanese industry and manufacturing, citing Japan's occupation of territory it had not been awarded after the war.

James explained how his Evolution Technique had triggered a second awakening of his mutant ability and outlined its training levels while continuing to investigate safer methods. At Gatsby Mansion, Blake Panther worked as a waiter and resolved to understand the outside world, grow stronger, and return to reclaim his place at home.

• James concluded that his supposed Bao Dan was actually a second evolution of his mutant ability, achieved by stimulating the nodes along his spine.
• James described the Evolution Technique’s first and second levels and recognized that Azazel had mastered the first level of teleportation training.
• James continued testing his body and the Evolution Technique while hovering above his estate.
• James noticed the lavish parties at Gatsby Mansion across the shore and listened to the revelry.
• Blake Panther worked as a waiter at Gatsby Mansion, where his coworker urged him to carry hors d'oeuvres.
• Blake Panther reflected on his displacement from home and resolved to learn the secrets of strength before returning to reclaim his place.

Sebastian Shaw used a cruel experiment on Tommy, a violent teenage patient, and discovered that the boy could ignite in flames. After an explosion destroyed the hospital room and killed Tommy, Shaw absorbed the blast’s energy, gathered the surviving research, and planned to flee to Germany.

• Ms. Farmer warned Sebastian Shaw that families were protesting his aggressive treatments of young patients, and Shaw assured her he wanted them to recover.
• Shaw prepared an experiment for Tommy using serum from his own blood, a sealed oxygen mask, and sensors, then restrained the boy and injected him.
• Shaw kept Tommy conscious while restricting his oxygen, and Tommy’s skin began to glow and blister before flames erupted from his body.
• Tommy’s flames ignited the oxygen tank, causing an explosion that wrecked the room and killed him, while Shaw absorbed the blast’s heat and force.
• Shaw collected the surviving research and planned to escape under a new identity, deciding that Germany might be his next destination.

James learned that Jay Gatsby had made his fortune through illegal liquor sales and stock manipulation, then attended Gatsby’s party with Azazel and Remus. After meeting Jordan Baker and inviting her to his home, James learned Gatsby had spent years hosting parties to draw one particular person to the mansion, and he remained interested in recruiting Gatsby.

• Erskine reunited with Schmidt, who praised Hitler and asked about Erskine’s human-enhancement research.
• Remus told James that Gatsby was a former officer whose wealth came from bootlegging and stock manipulation.
• James summoned Azazel and Remus to Gatsby’s party, where Azazel danced and James watched from the balcony.
• James met Jordan Baker, who said she had met Gatsby but had promised not to discuss him.
• James invited Jordan to play golf at his home, and she later revealed Gatsby had hosted parties for years to attract someone across the bay.

James recruited Jay Gatsby to acquire land for him while keeping the Howlett Family uninvolved, then the story shifted to Brooklyn in 1933, where a young boy was beaten after standing up to a gang. A mysterious long-haired man approached the boy and offered to take him to his mother.

• James revealed Jay Gatsby’s criminal operations and offered to protect him and reward him if he obtained a piece of land.
• After Gatsby left, James told Azazel that no evidence could connect the Howlett Family to his plan.
• The 1929 Wall Street crash triggered the Great Depression, which was beginning to ease by the end of 1933.
• A group of boys stole a skinny boy’s food and beat him when he fought back.
• The injured boy explained that his sick mother had taught him never to back down.
• A handsome man with sharp canine teeth appeared and offered to take the boy to his mother.

James helped Steve Rogers by arranging hospital treatment for his mother, Sarah, and teaching him exercises to improve his health. Meanwhile, Johann Schmidt seized control of Germany’s weapons research and captured Dr. Erskine, and the chapter ended with Azazel appearing in James’s study with news.

• James noticed Steve Rogers fighting larger boys, took him home, and arranged for Sarah to be transported to a hospital for treatment.
• James invited Steve to visit the Howlett Estate and taught him exercises and breathing techniques to strengthen his frail body.
• Johann Schmidt joined Heinrich Himmler in killing Ernst Kaufmann, took control of the Weapons Research Department, and adopted Hydra as its emblem.
• Schmidt recruited Dr. Arnim Zola and later captured Dr. Erskine and his family as they tried to flee Germany, sending the family to Dachau to force Erskine to finish his serum research.
• Steve visited the Howlett Estate, learned James’s exercises, and left to prepare food for his mother.
• Azazel teleported into James’s study, and James asked him whether he had any news.

James discovered a cavern filled with the corpses of Frost Giants and continued studying them, while young Steve Rogers proved unusually quick to master James’s training and became his godson. In Germany, Johann Schmidt learned that Dr. Erskine’s research was nearly successful and prepared to pursue the power it promised.

• Azazel took James to a vast underground cavern where the bodies of Frost Giants from Jotunheim lay frozen, and James examined them for study.
• Steve visited James with stew and showed that he had mastered the basic exercise after only three days of practice.
• James offered to continue teaching Steve if he accepted him as a godfather, and Steve agreed; James told him to return with his mother after her discharge.
• Johann Schmidt watched Dr. Zola’s new tank demonstration and told him to prepare to impress Hitler at an upcoming meeting.
• Dr. Zola said Dr. Erskine’s research was nearly successful, prompting Schmidt to decide to move ahead in pursuit of greater power.

Johann Schmidt dismissed Klaus Schmidt’s mutation research while preparing to take the unfinished Super Soldier Serum himself. At James Howlett’s estate, Steve Rogers became James’s student, and Schmidt’s injection transformed him into a red-skinned monster.

• Adolf Hitler praised Johann Schmidt’s Hydra weapons department and gave him further instructions, while ignoring Sebastian Shaw, who was using the alias Klaus Schmidt.
• Johann Schmidt rejected Klaus Schmidt’s mutation research and sent him back toward work at a concentration camp.
• Sarah Rogers agreed to James Howlett taking Steve Rogers as his student, and Steve formally offered James tea as part of the ceremony.
• Abraham Erskine tried to stop Johann Schmidt from injecting the unfinished serum, but Schmidt injected it and underwent a grotesque transformation.
• Johann Schmidt snapped his adjutant’s neck, leaving Dr. Erskine convinced that the serum had created a monster.

Colonel Phillips recruited Howard Stark into the SSR after Hydra targeted him at a military expo, while James Howlett kept his distance from the new organization and warned Gatsby to protect a secret project. In Bavaria, Peggy Carter rescued Dr. Abraham Erskine from a Hydra prison, leaving him free to aid the Allied war effort.

• Colonel Phillips explained Hydra's attacks to Howard Stark and recruited him into the SSR, suggesting he work with Dr. Erskine on advanced weapons.
• Gatsby told James that Hydra had targeted Stark and that Phillips was organizing a strategic technology department; James ordered him to keep Howlett's involvement in a secret project hidden.
• Peggy Carter infiltrated Kaufman Castle in disguise and located the imprisoned Dr. Abraham Erskine.
• Carter blew open Erskine's cell, helped him escape through the castle, and led him toward the prepared rappel point.

Steve Rogers sought to enlist after America entered the war, but James tested him by sending him to confront a violent criminal, and the army rejected him as physically unfit. The chapter then shifted to Norway, where Johann Schmidt searched an ancient fortress for a legendary artifact and discovered a carved image of Yggdrasil.

• After Pearl Harbor, James ordered the Oak Ridge facility rebuilt and uranium shipped there to accelerate America's nuclear research program.
• Steve told James he wanted to enlist, and James agreed to support him if he passed a test confronting Gibson Cullen in Hell's Kitchen.
• Steve killed Cullen during their confrontation, and James later spoke with Sarah, who accepted Steve's decision to enlist.
• The recruiting office classified Steve as 4F despite his strength, and soldiers threw him out after he punched through a desk.
• In March 1942, Johann Schmidt's Hydra forces attacked an ancient fortress in Tønsberg, Norway, where Schmidt found an empty stone coffin and questioned an old man about the missing relic.
• Schmidt noticed the old man's attention on a relief of Yggdrasil and named the World Tree.

Johann Schmidt recovered the Cosmic Cube from the Norse relief and used it to power a Hydra machine, while James pursued a breakthrough in his training and prepared to help Steve Rogers. The chapter ended with Schmidt’s energy converter opening cracks in space as he vowed to change the world.

• Johann Schmidt discovered the Cosmic Cube hidden in a relief of Nidhogg and took it from the stone fortress during the massacre at Tønsberg.
• James crushed the replica Azazel had brought him, then visited the ruined fortress and realized someone else had taken the real treasure.
• James trained in the underground chamber and concluded that he needed more life energy to advance to the next stage of the Energy Realm.
• Steve Rogers tried to enlist again at the World's Fair, where he argued with Bucky before entering a recruitment physical.
• James learned that the Strategic Scientific Reserve had recruited Steve for Dr. Abraham Erskine's Super Soldier Program and ordered a visit to the institute.
• Myron MacLain showed James the Adamantium alloys, and James ordered him to forge a Proto-Adamantium shield as Schmidt tested the Cosmic Cube's energy converter.

Steve Rogers underwent the Super-Soldier experiment, but the serum’s researcher, Abraham Erskine, was shot and taken away by Azazel, while the last serum sample was destroyed. The chapter ends with Sebastian Shaw describing a brutal experiment to Amon Goeth and Oskar Schindler at Auschwitz.

• Steve Rogers proved his courage by rushing toward a grenade, convincing Dr. Erskine and Agent Peggy Carter that he was worthy of the serum.
• Azazel secretly watched Steve’s experiment as the serum and Vita-Rays transformed him, while his Jing Qi shattered the chamber.
• Fred Clemson shot Abraham Erskine, stole the last vial of serum, and fled; Azazel teleported Erskine to James, where John Coffey healed him.
• Steve failed to capture Clemson alive, accidentally killed him with a punch, and saw the final serum vial destroyed, leaving the military unable to reproduce the Super-Soldier transformation.
• Sebastian Shaw attended Amon Goeth’s party with Oskar Schindler and described freezing a prisoner’s arm with liquid nitrogen.

James Howlett reunited Steve Rogers with his teacher, tested his enhanced abilities, and recruited Dr. Erskine to develop a new serum based on the Heart-Shaped Herb. At Auschwitz, Schmidt and Shaw experimented on Mutants and discovered a boy whose power crushed the camp gate, drawing Shaw’s greedy attention.

• James told Dr. Erskine that he was the head of the Howlett Family and explained that he had rescued him after he was shot.
• James and Azazel met Steve Rogers backstage at a Captain America performance, then took him to Devils Tower to test his strength and fighting skills.
• James told Steve that Dr. Erskine was safe, promised to send him to the front, and said Azazel would answer his questions about the wider world.
• Dr. Erskine explained that the Heart-Shaped Herb could help him create a new Super-Soldier Serum, and agreed to help James pursue greater power for his own protection.
• At Auschwitz, Schmidt and Shaw showed Amon Goeth their brain-damaged Mutant experiments, which had produced several dangerous abilities.
• A boy’s power crushed Auschwitz’s iron gate as soldiers tried to drag him away from his parents, and Shaw recognized him as a valuable subject.

Steve parachuted into Asano, rescued Bucky and the 107th Regiment, and defeated a Hydra-made mutant before receiving a new Adamantium shield from Azazel. Dr. Erskine identified the dead mutant’s X-Gene, prompting James and Azazel to investigate; their search led them to Auschwitz, where they found another mutant and learned his origins.

• Steve jumped from Howard Stark’s C-47 and fought his way to Bucky, rescuing him and the red-bearded soldier from the battlefield.
• Steve defeated Hydra’s conditioned, nearly bulletproof mutant, and Azazel delivered a heavy Adamantium shield and combat gear made for Steve.
• Azazel took the mutant’s corpse to James and Dr. Erskine, who identified an X-Gene and suspected someone had deliberately created the mutant.
• Shaw tried to force Erik Lehnsherr to move an Iron Cross coin by threatening his mother, but an invitation to a weapons demonstration interrupted him.
• James and Azazel questioned a wounded German officer at a devastated battlefield, found another dead mutant, and learned the officer had come from Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

James and Azazel slaughtered the Nazi forces at Auschwitz, while the prisoners watched them as divine figures of vengeance. James then confronted Amon Goeth, who released four Modified Mutants from Schmidt’s laboratory.

• James arrived at Auschwitz, sensed its immense grief, and began attacking the Nazi soldiers with his bone claws.
• Azazel used rapid teleportation to kill nearly every Nazi soldier in the camp, and the prisoners gathered to pray and praise their deliverers.
• James sensed a hostile presence and flew toward Amon Goeth as the Nazi commander fled to Schmidt’s laboratory.
• Goeth opened four iron boxes containing Modified Mutants, and James faced them with anger and conflicted emotions.

James and Azazel liberated Auschwitz, where Erik Lehnsherr discovered his magnetic powers while trying to move his father’s body. Meanwhile, Johann Schmidt showed Heinrich Himmler Hydra’s new weapons as Sebastian Shaw noticed something unsettling about the facility.

• James and Azazel killed the Nazi guards and Mutants at Auschwitz, then left the prisoners to take revenge on Got and the soldiers.
• James and Azazel found a Jewish mother’s son in the experiment building, and Oskar Schindler arrived with plans to evacuate the survivors.
• James examined the Mutant experiment records and found Klaus Schmidt’s name throughout them.
• Erik Lehnsherr struggled to drag his father’s corpse, then unknowingly lifted it into the air with his emerging magnetic power.
• At a Hydra base in the Alps, Heinrich Himmler challenged Johann Schmidt over Hydra’s independence, and Schmidt led the inspection party through an enormous steel door as Sebastian Shaw watched uneasily.

Johann Schmidt’s Tesseract weapon awakened and greatly strengthened Sebastian Shaw’s Mutant abilities, allowing Shaw to overpower Red Skull. Shaw left Schmidt alive and considered joining forces with Hydra after Schmidt argued they could use the Tesseract to build a new world order.

• Johann Schmidt used his Tesseract-powered weapon to kill Heinrich Himmler and the Nazi officers, then fired at Sebastian Shaw.
• Shaw absorbed the weapon’s energy, unleashed a blast that wrecked the war room, and emerged younger and more powerful.
• Red Skull attacked Shaw, but Shaw absorbed his punches and hurled him into a steel pillar.
• Shaw revealed he had been called Klaus Schmidt in Germany and questioned Red Skull about his greatest weakness.
• Red Skull urged Shaw to join Hydra and use its forces and the Tesseract to usher in a new age.
• Shaw set aside his weapon and approached the Energy Converter, staring hungrily at the Tesseract.

Erik Lehnsherr began school at Meister Academy while James continued his mutant research and met President Roosevelt at the Manhattan Project. James agreed to fund the project in exchange for civilian nuclear-energy research and development rights, leaving the antitrust request rejected.

• James brought Erik, Edith, and Jakob’s bones to New York and buried Jakob at Ferncliff Cemetery.
• James took Erik to his first day at Meister Academy, where Erik entered the second year of middle school and secretly used his power to pin on his school badge.
• James returned to his Long Island estate and continued studying mutant experiments and Dr. Erskine’s genetic research.
• James disguised himself as an older man and attended the Manhattan Project briefing with President Roosevelt and Dr. Oppenheimer.
• James offered to fund the Manhattan Project with at least a billion dollars, and Roosevelt accepted in exchange for civilian nuclear-energy research and development rights; Roosevelt refused James’s request to adjust antitrust laws.

Sebastian Shaw failed to control the Tesseract, while Red Skull revealed Hydra's plan to use it in a campaign of city-destroying attacks. Shaw also learned that two unknown powerful figures had wrecked Auschwitz and freed his prisoners and research.

• Sebastian Shaw touched the Tesseract, survived its spatial force, and blasted the observation deck, triggering an avalanche in the Alps.
• Red Skull scolded Shaw for risking their lives, then placed the Tesseract in the Energy Conversion Extractor.
• Shaw demanded news about Auschwitz, and Red Skull told him that an unkillable man and a red-skinned Hell Demon had killed the German soldiers there.
• Shaw kept his knowledge of Mutants from Red Skull and wondered why the two figures had gone to Auschwitz.
• Red Skull showed Shaw the Valkyrie and explained his plan to use Tesseract-powered bombs to destroy Allied cities and seize control of the German military.

James trained Erik and explained how survival and self-acceptance shaped human communities, while Emma noticed a student using unusual powers and Charles used his telepathy to persuade his mother to take Raven in. The chapter left Emma suspecting the boy at school was special and Raven newly welcomed into the Xavier family.

• Azazel distracted Erik during his training until James sent him to investigate Klaus Schmidt with the Wolf Pack.
• James trained Erik in the Evolution Technique and told him that accepting themselves would be crucial to Mutants' survival.
• Erik asked James what they were, and James answered that they were human and urged him to survive and accept himself.
• At Meister Academy's opening ceremony preparations, a falling sign nearly struck several students, and Emma sensed that the tall brown-haired boy had controlled it with his powers.
• Charles telepathically convinced Mrs. Xavier to take Raven in, and Raven joined the Xavier family.

James encouraged Erik to play football and received Steve’s letter describing his assault on a Hydra outpost, where Red Skull escaped with Tesseract Energy Cubes. At SSR headquarters, Steve refused Howard Stark’s request to examine his gear, and Colonel Phillips revealed that Hydra’s command center was in the Alps.

• James praised Edith’s cooking, asked Erik about school, and took him outside to play football with Azazel, cheering up the boy and making Edith happy.
• Azazel delivered Steve’s letters, and James read Steve’s account of the planned attack on Hydra’s last outpost west of the Maginot Line.
• Steve led the Howling Commandos in destroying the Hydra outpost, while Bucky provided sniper support and the team planted explosives.
• Red Skull took Tesseract Energy Cubes and escaped alone, leaving Dr. Zola behind to be captured by the SSR.
• Steve refused Howard Stark’s request to study his shield and combat suit, then joined Peggy Carter and Colonel Phillips at the briefing.
• Colonel Phillips announced that the SSR had captured Dr. Zola and located Hydra’s command center in the Alps.