In response to a "Brotherhood of Mutants" bombing in Washington, the government has released Sentinel robots to track and destroy mutants. The race is on to recruit new mutants. Charles Francis Xavier is rounding up X-Men, who are protected by special uniforms in his school, while Magneto is rounding up members of the Brotherhood. Xavier's team manages to rescue Bobby Drake from a Sentinel attack, but in doing so, reveal themselves to Magneto, who sends his best assassin out to take care of Xavier more permanently. That assassin: Wolverine.