Storm Hawks meets X-Men: First Class

**Storm Hawks meets X-Men: First Class**

## Plot

In a German camp in occupied Poland during World War II in 1944, Nazi Germany scientist Dr. Klaus Schmidt observes young Erik Lensherr telekinetically bend a metal gate when the child is separated from his mother. Meanwhile, at a mansion in Westchester County, New York, child telepath Charles Xavier meets young shapeshifter Raven Darkholme, whose natural form is blue-skinned and scaly. Overjoyed to meet someone else "different", he invites her to live with his family as his foster sister. In his office in Germany, Schmidt orders Lensherr to move a coin on a desk, and kills the boy's mother when Lensherr cannot. In grief and anger, Lensherr's magnetic power manifests, killing two guards and destroying the room.

In 1962, Lensherr is tracking down Schmidt while Xavier is graduating from the University of Oxford with a thesis about mutation. In Las Vegas, Central Intelligence Agency officer Moira MacTaggert follows U.S. Army Colonel Hendry into the Hellfire Club, where she sees Schmidt (now known as Sebastian Shaw), with mutant telepath Emma Frost who can also turn her body to diamond, cyclone-producing Riptide, and demonic-appearing teleporter Azazel. Threatened by Shaw and teleported by Azazel to the Joint War Room, Hendry advocates deployment of nuclear missiles in Turkey. Shaw, an energy-absorbing mutant, later kills Hendry.

MacTaggert, seeking Xavier's advice on mutation, takes him and Raven to the CIA, where they convince Director John McCone that mutants exist and that Shaw is a threat. Another CIA officer sponsors the mutants and invites them to the secret "Division X" facility. MacTaggert and Xavier find Shaw as Lensherr is attacking him, and rescue Lensherr from drowning as Shaw escapes. Xavier brings Lensherr to Division X, where they meet young scientist Hank McCoy, a mutant with prehensile feet, who believes Raven's DNA may provide a "cure" for their appearance. Upon hearing this, Raven voluntarily provides McCoy with a blood sample. Xavier uses McCoy's mutant-locating device Cerebro to seek recruits against Shaw. Xavier and Lensherr recruit stripper Angel Salvadore. Later, taxi driver Armando Muñoz, Army prisoner Alex Summers, and Sean Cassidy join, and code-name themselves Darwin, Havok, and Banshee, respectively. Raven dubs herself Mystique.

Xavier, MacTaggert and Lensherr track down Frost, who is meeting with a Soviet general in the USSR. Lensherr enters the premises, hoping to locate Shaw and kill him, with Xavier closely following. They instead encounter Frost, who they capture and unveil Shaw's intentions to start World War III and trigger mutant ascendency. Meanwhile, Azazel, Riptide, and Shaw attack Division X, killing everyone but the mutants, and invite them to join him. Angel accepts; when Havok and Darwin retaliate, Shaw absorbs Havok's energy blast and uses it to kill Darwin.

Torn by the death of their new companion, the mutants decide to avenge Darwin, and Xavier takes them to his family mansion for training. In Moscow, Shaw compels the general to have the USSR install missiles in Cuba. Wearing a helmet that foils Xavier's telepathy, Shaw shadows the Soviet fleet in a submarine to ensure the missiles break a U.S. blockade.

Later, McCoy visits Raven with the completed 'cure' for their appearance. Raven, thinking McCoy approves her natural form, tells him not to use the cure. When she later attempts to seduce Lensherr by making herself look older, Lensherr instead tells her she is beautiful in her blue mutant form. McCoy uses the cure on himself but it backfires, giving him blue fur and leonine aspects. With McCoy piloting, the mutants and MacTaggert take a jet to the blockade line, where Lensherr uses his magnetic power to lift Shaw's submarine from the water and deposit it on land. During the ensuing battle, Lensherr seizes Shaw's helmet, allowing Xavier to immobilize Shaw. Lensherr tells Shaw he shares Shaw's exclusivist view of mutants but, to avenge his mother, kills Shaw — over Xavier's objections — by forcing the Nazi coin of his youth through Shaw's brain.

Fearing the mutants, both fleets fire missiles at them, which Lensherr turns back in mid-flight as Xavier tries to stop him, allowing some of the missiles to explode before reaching the fleets. MacTaggert tries to stop Lensherr by shooting him but he deflects the bullets, one of which hits Xavier in the spine. Lensherr rushes to help Xavier and, distracted, allows the remaining missiles to fall into the ocean. Xavier informs Lensherr that they have contradicting opinions for mutants, and a hurt Lensherr leaves with Angel, Riptide, Azazel, and Mystique. Later, Xavier, who is now wheelchair bound, expresses his intentions to transform his mansion into a school for mutants. MacTaggert, who supports the idea, promises never to reveal his location and they kiss; at a CIA debriefing later, she says she has no clear memory of recent events. Lensherr, now calling himself "Magneto", frees Frost from confinement.

## Transcript

Storm Hawks meets X-Men: First Class/Transcript