TheDenizen wrote:if it had appeared at the end to solve a seemingly intractable problem, it would have been a deus ex machina. Unless I'm misremembering my Latin.
That's right.
Also, I think the coolest thing about the way they did this was that we were able to see our favorite actors from the franchise all in the same movie. Everybody loves Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and Hugh Jackman, but we also love Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence. My favorite thing about the time travel was that we got all of them in one movie. The added bonus of "ret-conning" the original Trilogy is an added bonus and will provide for greater leeway in future installments.