I'm so glad you enjoyed this, because I was worried that although I LOVED it immensely, I was going to be the crazy outlier by the time it was released for everyone else.

You know, I think there's always been some debate about whether Mystique collaborated in X3 - she sends them to the camp, but only Jamie Madrox is there, so it's unclear whether she knew that would be the case or not. I think. I haven't watched it in a while.

I can definitely buy Charles' initial venom towards Erik, given ten years of bitter introspection. (Erik on the other hand seems in perfect shape, mentally and physically, after ten years in a hole.) And yes, there should be Charles/Hank fic by the bucketload.

You're a lot more positive about Mystique's role here than I was, and I'm actually glad you brought up the points about it all still hinging on Mystique's decision, and that she saved the day without having to die or sacrifice her freedom. My problem was really with how they ended up at that point - Mystique's actions came across to me like a petulant young woman going against the two father figures in her life (okay Charles is her brother and Erik was probably her lover, but as you say, there's a distinct paternal bent to both relationships). She's told by multiple people not to do it, for good reasons, and has the chance to work alongside friends to take down the Sentinel program in other ways... and yet she perseveres.

Still, reasons aside, she's presented as super-competent as a spy working alone.

The stinger! The Egyptians were chanting EN SABAH NUR, which is the name of the villain known as Apocalypse (the kid moving the pyramids), who was the first ever mutant and is immortal and has various awesome powers and is a major villain from the comics. And the next movie is called X-Men: Apocalypse. So I think you can see where this is going.