Nick Fury informs Wolverine that Magneto has stolen technology once used to create the super-soldier Captain America. Wolverine, Rogue (who knows the location, having absorbed Magneto's memories in "On Angel's Wings") and Nightcrawler (whose teleporting capabilities are able to get him inside Magneto's base) go to recover it.
Tropes included:
- The Bad Guy Wins: The X-Men destroy the Rebirth chamber, but only after Magneto has used it to restore his body to the prime of his youth.
- Bash Brothers: Logan and Cap are a deadly pair.
- Dented Iron: Magneto needs the formula to stay alive. As he says, he's an old man; he was a child during World War II, and his mutancy could only prolong his life for so long.
- Flashback: A few to Logan's time in World War II and teaming up with Captain America.
- Foreshadowing: Xavier says there's been a surge in developing mutant genes lately. Logan suspects mutants won't be able to stay under wraps for much longer. He's right.
- Fountain of Youth: As it turns out, Rebirth works just fine on Mutants.
- Hero of Another Story: Captain America fought against the Germans in World War 2 alongside Logan.
- Heterosexual Lifepartners: Implied with Wolverine and Captain America.
- Human Popsicle: At the end, it's revealed that Captain America is encased in a cryogenic chamber. Nick Fury states that they are waiting to find a cure to fix the damage done to him by Rebirth.
- I Owe You My Life: Because Logan saved him during the war and Nightcrawler spared him in the present, Magneto lets the X-Men go this time.
- If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: Magneto uses this to convince Nightcrawler not to destroy the Rebirth machine with him inside it."Are you that much like your mother?"
- It's Personal: Wolverine goes on the mission because Captain America was his friend and didn't want anyone else to suffer from the cellular breakdown.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Nick Fury is not the nicest person, but he lets Logan visit Cap's stasis chamber and say his peace.
- Master Race: Logan and Xavier’s discussion on the super soldier experiment used on Captain America. Logan says it wasn't meant like that, but Xavier points out that such things never are...at first.
- Mythology Gag: Captain America has been on ice since the end of the war, just under different circumstances than in the comics.
- Older Than They Look: Xavier knew Logan was old, but he's amazed to learn he was serving in World War II.
- Sadistic Choice: For Nightcrawler, it's either blow up the facility or let an old man die.
- Super-Soldier: Captain America is every bit the badass he is in the comics, but in this version, the process was flawed and leads to cellular breakdown. Cap didn't want anyone else to go through the same cellular breakdown, so he rigged the lab to explode. According to Magneto, however, mutants are safe from the breakdown.
- Unreliable Narrator: When explaining what happened to the original lab, Wolverine says Captain America and "someone else" rigged the place to blow. Viewers, however, see Logan helping rig the explosives.
- The Voiceless: Captain America never says anything, not even during the flashback sequence.
- Wham Line: "Captain America was dying."
- Wham Shot: As Cap runs from the camp with a young prisoner in his arms, Nazi soldiers throw grenades at him. The boy throws out his hands, redirecting the grenades in mid-arc with a familiar sound effect.
