Chapter Summaries

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.

James arranged to recruit Arnim Zola for research while forbidding human experimentation, and Steve and Bucky began their assault on a Hydra supply train in the Alps. The chapter left Shaw waiting aboard the train as Steve and Bucky landed on its roof.

• Dr. Erskine explained the proposed Greek-letter classification of Mutants and told James the serum was ready, pending a choice of energy source.
• Azazel reported that Hydra had eliminated Klaus Schmidt and that the SSR had captured Dr. Zola and located Hydra’s base.
• James found Zola in a New York safe house and compelled him to work for the Howlett Family, warning him against live experiments.
• Azazel teleported James and Zola away from the safe house to Zola’s new research environment.
• Steve, Bucky, and the Howling Commandos prepared to intercept a supply train bound for Hydra’s Alpine base.
• Steve and Bucky dropped onto the train roof, drawing Sebastian Shaw’s attention.

Steve and Bucky confronted Sebastian Shaw aboard a Hydra train, but Shaw overwhelmed them with his energy powers and left Bucky badly injured in a landslide. Azazel rescued Bucky and joined Steve, then rapidly cut Shaw to pieces.

• Steve and Bucky found Sebastian Shaw waiting in an empty train car, and Shaw revealed that he wanted to experiment on Steve.
• Steve and Bucky attacked Shaw, but he absorbed their blows and blasted Steve into the steel wall.
• Steve split the train with his shield, and Shaw attacked them with energy blasts as the train wrecked along the mountainside.
• Shaw’s assault severed Bucky’s arm and triggered a landslide that swept him from Steve’s sight.
• Azazel found Bucky among the falling rocks, teleported him to the Howlett estate, and returned to Steve.
• Azazel teleported around Shaw and cut him to pieces before he could finish speaking.

Steve and Azazel fought Sebastian Shaw as the Hydra Valkyrie bomber launched its Tesseract-powered suicide aircraft. Azazel brought James to the bomber’s flight path, where James and Azazel began destroying the aircraft, while Steve confronted Red Skull aboard the Valkyrie.

• Azazel’s daggers failed to penetrate Shaw, who absorbed energy from Steve and Azazel’s attacks and overpowered Steve.
• Steve restrained Shaw long enough for Azazel to teleport them high into the atmosphere, leaving Shaw to fall as the Valkyrie emerged from its mountain hangar.
• Azazel teleported Steve onto the Valkyrie, where Steve broke into the cabin and faced Red Skull after the bomber had released all twelve bomb-carrying aircraft.
• At a secret facility, James learned from Dr. Arnim Zola that Klaus Schmidt had survived Tesseract-powered energy attacks unharmed by absorbing them.
• Azazel teleported James to the launched aircraft, and James and Azazel began destroying the suicide bombers before they could reach their targets.

Steve Rogers stopped Johann Schmidt from using the Valkyrie’s bombs against the Allies, and James recovered the Tesseract from the sinking bomber. As the war in Europe ended, Sebastian Shaw escaped from a cottage in Poland.

• Schmidt unleashed the Tesseract’s energy, and it disintegrated him as Steve shielded himself and called Peggy Carter for help.
• Steve steered the damaged Valkyrie toward the Arctic Ocean and jumped into the sea as the bomber crashed near Greenland.
• James arrived with Azazel, recovered the Tesseract from the sinking Valkyrie, and discovered that carrying it disrupted Azazel’s teleportation.
• James flew south while Steve and Azazel teleported away, and Sebastian Shaw left a cottage in Poland wearing a stolen coat.
• The Soviet Union captured Berlin, Germany surrendered unconditionally, and the war in Europe came to an end.

James prepared to test the Styx Serum and energy chamber while Steve and Bucky considered their lives after the war. Steve decided to pursue Peggy Carter, and Bucky stayed at the Howlett estate to work and learn.

• Bucky watched the Howlett estate's young men train and spoke with John Coffey before Steve returned from visiting his mother and uncles.
• James reviewed Arnim Zola's Vibranium energy chamber and Dr. Erskine's Styx Serum findings, learning that ordinary recipients faced a success rate below fifty percent even under ideal conditions.
• Steve brought Bucky to James and discussed his next steps, while James encouraged him to pursue the woman he cared about and offered him a choice of paths.
• Steve said he would explain that the Red Skull had shot the Tesseract and it had fallen from the Valkyrie into the icy sea.
• James offered Bucky work at the estate and the chance to learn whatever he wanted, then warned both men to take care of themselves in peacetime.