In a dystopian future, robots known as Sentinels are exterminating mutants and oppressing humans who harbor the genes that lead to mutant offspring. In an underground bunker in Moscow, a small band of mutants manage to evade the Sentinels due to Kitty Pryde, who can project a person's consciousness back in time to deliver warnings.
Pryde's group rendezvous with Storm, Wolverine, Professor Xavier and Magneto in a monastery in China. They decide to send Wolverine's consciousness back to 1973 to prevent Mystique from murdering Bolivar Trask, the lead designer of the original Sentinels. The assassination will make Trask a martyr, Mystique will be captured, and her DNA will be reverse-engineered and used to create the formidable Sentinels of the future. Xavier advises Wolverine to seek out his and Magneto's younger selves for aid.
