History Awesome / GuardiansOfTheGalaxy

* Cosmo gets one when one of his [[spoiler:Skrull]] friends is hurt.

* Gamora, Mantis, Major Victory, Cosmo and Phyla fighting against an entire world's worth of the Church of Universal Truth soldiers, and ''winning''. Until [[spoiler:Phyla finds [[OhCrap Thanos]].]]
* Another OffscreenMomentOfAwesome, when [[spoiler:Thanos lays waste to Sacrosanct]]. Despite the world-wide devastation, and the fact that everyone else died, Mantis, Major Victory, Gamora, and Cosmo all survived unharmed, despite everything in their arsenal failing to [[spoiler:so much as scratch Thanos]].
* How tough is Captain America's shield? Even a [[spoiler:completely invulnerable Thanos can't dent it. This is after it's established that Gamora's sword, which was designed to kill gods, already broke on him.]] Nothing like the old school.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:The Comics]]

* In the first issue of the 2020 series, the reborn gods of Olympus approach a planet only to find Phyla-Vell and Nova waiting for them. As Zeus reveals who he is and questions who would dare stand in his way, Phyla casually comments that she's taken on gods before while Nova quotes the Pan-Worlds Jurisdiction Treaty, essentially threatening to arrest the father god.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Film]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vlcsnap_2016_04_10_08h55m16s58.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "You said it yourself, bitch.]] [[PreMortemOneLiner We're the]] [[TitleDrop Guardians of the Galaxy."]]]]
* The movie's introduction. We're treated to a TearJerker backstory, then jump forward 26 years to a longcoat-wearing badass traversing a mysterious world. Upon entering some ruins he removes his helmet, putting on some familiar headphones revealing him to be a grown-up Peter. And then... he starts dancing to "Come and Get Your Love" -- grabbing a lizard and using it as a microphone, no less -- showing us this will be a ''fun'' movie.
* Peter Quill, after failing to intimidate Korath and his Sakaaran minions with his "Star Lord" title, kills the minions and knocks down Korath in a matter of seconds. Seeing as he was acting like a relatively goofy guy up to this point, this scene shows that he's not someone to be underestimated.
* Rocket gives an AxCrazy BadassBoast to all of the prisoners in the Kyln after his buddy Groot reduces a massive, bullying convict to a sniveling heap, who [[PrisonRape has given his rather… disturbing welcoming speech]] to Peter.
-->'''Rocket:''' Let's make something clear. ''This'' one here's ''our'' booty! You want to get to him!? You go through us! Or… more accurately… ''we'' go through ''you''.
* The breakout from The Kyln, with the Guardians all utilizing their capabilities to get what they need to bust out of there.
-->'''Quill:''' …That was a really good plan.
-->'''Rocket:''' ''[spreads arms in "what did I tell you?" gesture]''
** One moment in particular stands out, though:
--->'''Rocket:''' [[MoreDakka Oh. Yeeeaaaah.]]
--->And then, [[ScreamingWarrior Cue]] [[ShoutingShooter the]] [[BattleCry RIOT]]
** This also features an intense "I AMMMM GROOOOOOT" moment after some prison guards attack Groot, forcing him to fight back. Made even better by the voice filters failing and Vin Diesel's natural bass coming out. Yep, VD has such a BadassBaritone that no voice filter can hold it in when he goes all out with it.
** Star-Lord staying behind to [[spoiler:get his mix tape back]].
--->'''Drax:''' You are an imbecile.
* When the Guardians reach the top of the prison watchtower, the door opens to reveal them all assembled in the film's first true TeamShot.
* The [[spoiler:Celestial]] ravaging an entire planet with an [[spoiler:Infinity Stone]].
** That scene is great for two reasons: it's framed almost like a Creator/JackKirby panel, and it features [[spoiler:an actual Celestial from the comics, namely Eson the Searcher, one of the most dynamic-looking Celestials]].
* Carina [[spoiler: grabbing the Power Stone to take her revenge on the Collector, who just a few scenes ago threatened to lock her in a cage since she wasn't cleaning the cages properly. She dies in the process, but she also takes out Tivan's collection in the process reducing it to rubble.]]
* Ronan [[CurbStompBattle handily defeating Drax]] on Knowhere.
* Quill and Rocket using unarmed mining pods to fight Ronan's necrocrafts. At one point, [[spoiler:Peter tears his way into a necrocraft using the pod and then using its arms, proceeds to use the guns of the ship that he's inside of]].
* Quill saving both [[spoiler:Gamora and himself from dying in the cold void of space]] with some very quick thinking.
* Ronan [[spoiler:grabbing the Infinity Stone]] with his bare hands and surviving the experience long enough, by himself, to [[spoiler:integrate it into his Universal Weapon ''and'' challenge Thanos to boot]].
* Quill's RousingSpeech to the four outlaws who somehow got mixed up in his life. When Rocket points out that he's essentially asking them to die for his plan, at first Quill is distraught. However, one by one, they join Quill standing up, showing they're the TrueCompanions they were destined to be at last, the team that they need to be to defeat Ronan.
--> '''Rocket''': Well now I'm standing. Happy? We're all standing now. Bunch of jackasses, standing in a circle.
* The Ravagers' incredibly flashy and highly effective [[spoiler:smokescreen]].
* Drax [[spoiler:blasting Nebula with his gun (non-fatally), after she called Gamora a stupid traitor.]] The quote that follows, "Nobody talks to my friends like that", had audiences erupting in applause.
** Nebula [[spoiler: rebuilding herself after being blasted is equal parts {{Squick}}, NightmareFuel, and Awesome.]]
* Quill, Drax, Gamora, and Groot fighting their way through the ''Dark Aster''.
* Groot [[spoiler:sticking his arm through a whole line of Ronan's goons, then slamming them into the other goons, and then repeatedly slamming the ones still on his arm.]] He then turns to Quill and Drax and flashes a grin.
* [[spoiler:Nebula's escape involves timing her fall from ''Dark Aster'' to land on a Ravager ship, kick its pilot out of the cockpit and then fly out of the battlefield]].
** She [[spoiler:''cut off her own goddamned hand.'']] ''And she just keeps going.''
* The whole final showdown, including Drax and Rocket [[spoiler:destroying Ronan's hammer, letting Quill grab the stone, with him nearly being destroyed, until Gamora, Drax, and Rocket (who is grabbing onto one of Groot's twigs) join him together.]] And then, after hearing Ronan's EvilGloating of, "Behold your guardians of the galaxy!" at the start of the battle, we now hear this exchange:
-->'''Ronan:''' [[PunyEarthlings You're mortal!]] [[ThisCannotBe How?!]]\\
'''Quill:''' [[IronicEcho You said it yourself]], [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bitch]]. [[PreMortemOneLiner We're the]] [[TitleDrop Guardians of the Galaxy]].\\
[[spoiler:''[[[VillainousBreakdown Utterly furious at this remark, Ronan attempts to attack them with an enraged snarl.]] Quill opens his hand and directs the stone's energy toward Ronan, blowing the villain to smithereens.]'']]
** It really cannot be understated just how awesome [[spoiler:the Guardians' sharing of the Stone's power is. It's the epitome of ThePowerOfFriendship as a cliché, blown way out of cinematic proportion, and incredibly awe-inspiring for it.]]
** When you consider that they had all had witnessed first-hand [[spoiler: what the Power Stone could do when Carina grabbed it, and had learned from the Collector that even the group of people who had shared the power before had died too]] it makes it all the more incredible that [[spoiler: they each reached out]] in the first place. For all each of them knew, [[spoiler: they were sentencing themselves to die right on the spot, with only a slight ''chance'' that they would be able to stop Ronan first]].
** A Fridge moment of awesome: [[spoiler: Quill clearly saw Rocket and Drax planning something, since he was distracting Ronan. But Gamora might not have, if her BigNo when Peter leaped to grab the stone was any indicator. And yet she was the ''first'' person to react to Peter holding the stone, yelling for him to take her hand. It was one of the biggest moments where her concern and care for Peter shone through]].
*** For that matter, the fact that [[spoiler: Quill starts distracting Ronan in the first place. On top of being absolutely hilarious, it shows off his quick-thinking as he sees that Rocket has started assembling an improvised gun but Ronan is clearly about to kill them all before he can finish and, basically completely spontaneously, does the very first thing he can think of to give Rocket and Drax the few more seconds they need, and it works]].
** And one for Rocket: he is clearly the most reluctant of the bunch, [[spoiler: and yet in the finale, despite hearing his friends' screams of pain and seeing the power of the stone begin to rip ''each of them'' apart from the inside out, he ''still'' reached out to share the burden with them]].
*** And another: instead of being awestruck with terror and basically frozen in place by Ronan's apparently forthcoming victory, he immediately starts doing all that he can to try and stop him after his first attempt failed miserably.
** Made all the better when you notice that [[spoiler:the scattered twigs of Groot are glowing as well, he is sharing the load with the rest of them (also good foreshadowing that he did not in fact die from the crash - or rather, he did die, but he left behind a son).]]
** [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic And it's all capped off with]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wPEiaFT1-M this piece.]]
* [[spoiler: [[https://youtu.be/sSPpMb0RCFw?t=14 A grounded Yondu vs a Sakaaran platoon with a necrocraft]]. They order him to turn on the Nova Corps. Yondu just stands still, opens his coat like a Western gunslinger would to show off his guns for a shootout, and unholsters his Yaka arrow. Then he lets the arrow loose, wiping out the whole platoon in seconds, including the one still onboard the necrocraft. The poor suckers never stood a chance.]]
** Also counts as a follow up to his offscreen moment just before. [[spoiler: Surviving a crash landing that literally annihilates his ship into pieces and he didn't have any sort of escape pod since we see him standing ''in'' the wreckage.]]
* [[spoiler: Groot's building a shelter for the rest of the team inside Ronan's crashing ship, essentially sacrificing himself in the process]].
-->'''Groot:''' [[spoiler:We are Groot.]]
* Gamora [[spoiler: beating Nebula, at least for now.]]
* Thanos' first speaking scenes. [[Creator/JoshBrolin He]] [[ChewingTheScenery makes]] [[LargeHam every]] [[GreaterScopeVillain second]] [[EvilSoundsDeep count.]]
** The shot of Thanos smiling upon his throne, a familiar image for comic-book readers.
* For decades, fans of [[spoiler:Howard the Duck]] were positive that there was no chance in hell that they would ever see a worthy portrayal of the character on the big screen. TheStinger of this film proves them wrong.
** It's also been suggested that this scene represents something of a BadassBoast by Marvel, to wit: [[spoiler:the company did so poorly with films based on its properties until the turn of the century that for quite a while the 1986 ''Howard'' film was their best known one, with its status as ''the'' iconic bad comic book adaptation. After so long as a source of shame for Marvel, with the monstrous success of the MCU they now get to say "We're so big that we could even do ''this'' if we wanted."]]
* The exchange between Korath and Quill during the attack on the ''Dark Aster''. Quill finally gets the respect he's been seeking.
-->'''Korath''': ''[upon seeing Quill]'' Star Lord!\\
'''Quill''': [[BrickJoke Finally]].
* Drax: "Finger to the throat means DEATH!"
* Rocket charging at Ronan after [[spoiler:Groot's death.]] He was initially terrified of the Infinity Stone alone and when Ronan got his hands on it his plan was to literally get as far away as possible. After [[spoiler:Groot's sacrifice]] though Rocket is willing to attack Ronan head on and unarmed. Granted, it fails, but it was cool to see someone not cowering in terror of Ronan once he had reached the surface.
* The Ravagers are about to be overwhelmed by Ronan's forces when suddenly hundreds of Nova Corps pilots perform one of the best damn looking GunshipRescue / TheCavalry / BigDamnHeroes trope ever. With epic music of course!
--> '''Saal''': Peter Quill, this is Denarian Saal of the Nova Corps. For the record, I advised ''against'' trusting you here.
--> '''Peter Quill''': ''[smiles at Gamora]'' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments They got my dick message!]]\\
'''Saal''': ''[with a most [[SurroundedByIdiots hilarious expression]]]'' [[DareToBeBadass Prove me wrong]].
* Then, these hundreds of Nova Corps pilots interlock their sky flyers to create a flying energy barricade to try and slow the ''Dark Aster'' down. YouShallNotPass declared by thousands of {{space cop}}s - and until Ronan blasted their numbers with the Infinity Stone, ''it was working.'' Keep in mind, the ''Dark Aster'' is this big bulky ship that's nearly a mile wide, while the Nova Pilots' ships are roughly twice as big as a standard cockpit… but together, even with their barrier straining at the seams, they held fast and slowed the ''Dark Aster'' to an aerial crawl.
** Heck, having so many ships fly in such a close formation without anyone crashing into anyone else would be considered a CMOA by any pilot.
** When you think about it, almost everything the Nova Corps do is awesome. They completely avert PoliceAreUseless; their first action is taking four criminals prisoner without endangering any civilians, they are savvy enough not to consider a message a lie just because it's coming from a criminal, they built an empire where species seems not to be an issue (just think how we can't yet deal with different ethnicities), the first thing they do to face an incoming threat is to start an evacuation program, and their main priority in the battle is ensure the safety of civilians (also counts as heartwarming).
** Personally, the fact that Saal objects to listening to Quill only ''once''. And, when they decide to act against his advice, he doesn't object and hopes ''he'' is the one being wrong. In most movies, he'd be the obstructive asshole, here he's actually a quite reasonable guy. Which makes [[spoiler:his death later on all that more of a TearJerker]].
* Rocket and the Ravagers swoop in low on the Xandarian surface to protect fleeing civilians so that the Nova Corps can focus on slowing down Ronan. A misanthropic bounty hunter and a bunch of space pirates are unhesitatingly fighting to the death to save civilian lives, on the capitol planet of the Lawful Good space empire that was trying to arrest them all last week.
* With the Nova Corps out of the fight and the Ravagers slowly but surely losing the fight to protect Xandar, Rocket performs a kamikaze attack on the ''Dark Aster'' to end things once and for all.
** And as Rocket's ship plows through the ''Dark Aster's'' bridge, Peter knocks Groot, a solid tree creature that is much bigger and heavier than he is, out of the way and to safety.
** The fact that Rocket likely did that to [[spoiler: avenge the deaths of Saal and the other Nova Corps pilots Ronan had just killed]].
* One for the villain: in rapid succession, first Quill[[note]]via Rocket-designed {{BFG}} to-the-face[[/note]] - then Rocket[[note]]via Ravager starship [[RammingAlwaysWorks to-the-face]][[/note]] - and finally the surface of Xandar[[note]]via [[ExpospeakGag lithobraking]]… [[RuleOfThree to-the-face]][[/note]] make very creditable attempts to reduce Ronan to a greasy stain. How invulnerable ''is'' this guy? [[spoiler: It took an Infinity Stone - [[RunningGag to-the-face]] - to bring him down.]]
[[/folder]]

* [[spoiler: [[https://youtu.be/sSPpMb0RCFw?t=14 A grounded Yondu vs a Sakaaran platoon with a necrocraft]]. With that Yaka arrow, the poor suckers never stood a chance.]]

* [[spoiler: A grounded Yondu vs a Sakaaran platoon with a necrocraft, poor suckers never stood a chance.]]

* Carina [[spoiler: grabbing the Infinity Stone to take her revenge on the Collector, who just a few scenes ago threatened to lock her in a cage since she wasn't cleaning the cages properly. She dies in the process, but she also takes out Tivan's collection in the process reducing it to rubble.]]

* Quill's RousingSpeech to the 4 people who somehow got mixed up in his life. When Rocket points out that he's essentially asking them to die for his plan, at first Quill is distraught. However, one by one, they join Quill standing up, showing they're the TrueCompanions they were destined to be at last, the team that they need to be to defeat Ronan.

-->'''Cosmo''': That does it. That enough. No more Mr. Nice Dog. [[NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech Now Cosmo will hurt]] '''[[WorldOfCardboardSpeech everyone.]]'''

-->'''Cosmo''': That does it. That enough. No more Mr. Nice Dog. [[WorldOfCardboardSpeech Now Cosmo will hurt]] '''[[WorldOfCardboardSpeech everyone.]]'''

[[spoiler:''[Quill opens his hand and directs the stone's energy toward Ronan, blowing the villain to smithereens.]'']]

* The whole final showdown, including Drax and Rocket [[spoiler:destroying Ronan's hammer, letting Quill grab the stone, with him nearly being destroyed, until Gamora, Drax, and Rocket (who is grabbing onto one of Groot's twigs) join him together.]] And then, we hear this exchange:

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film Meta]]
* Let's start with the fact that Marvel had the guts to even ''try'' to make a film out of this property!
** Much of this Awesome comes from Nicole Perlman. In 2009 Marvel Studios hired her to do Research and Development, looking at some of the company's lesser known properties for the possibility of making later films from them. Much to her bosses' surprise, she selected the [=GotG=], one of Marvel's least known properties, deciding which five Guardians to use for the movie (including the raccoon and the tree!), and wrote a rough draft. The result? Nicole Perlman is now the first woman to get a screenplay credit in a movie from the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, for a critically acclaimed, box-office smash that nobody outside of Marvel could've seen coming just a year earlier; a movie that wouldn't have been made at all without her initial input. That's one helluva an Awesome way to break a glass ceiling.
** And Creator/JamesGunn being the guy put in charge of the crazy idea. This is a guy who started out in Troma, doing the shlockiest stuff he could get away with. His only other superhero flick was a NoBudget dramedy film about "[[Film/TheSpecials the sixth or seventh best superhero team on Earth]]," and yet Disney gambles on him to take the weirdest property they decide to do. And the end result is ''awesome.''
** When DC attempted their hand at the whole "superhero movie with aliens" thing in [[Film/GreenLantern 2011]], it was a critical and commercial failure. So for anyone to have ''any'' interest in this film is a testament to how much of an effect Marvel has on their audiences and how much trust people had in Marvel.
-->'''James Gunn''': If I had a penny for every time someone said making a Marvel movie with a talking raccoon was dumb and that ''Guardians'' was going to bomb, I’d probably have just about the amount of money ''Guardians'' has made so far.
* Before this movie came out, nobody expected it to get the critical praise that some of the other Marvel Cinematic Universe have attained. Once it came out, the movie received ''92%'' on Website/RottenTomatoes from ''227'' reviews - which is amazingly '''higher''' than the critically-acclaimed film that preceded it, ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'', and is thus far the second most highly-rated Marvel movie on the website together with ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and just behind ''Film/IronMan1''.
** As of September 28, 2014, it has passed ''Iron Man'' to be the third-highest grossing MCU movie (behind ''Avengers'' and ''Iron Man 3''), and eighth highest grossing superhero movie ''ever,'' behind all three ''Spider-Man'' movies, ''The Dark Knight'', and ''The Dark Knight Rises'', in addition to the former two MCU movies.
* The movie was based on a franchise so obscure that many hardcore comic fans had never heard of it. People around the world went 'Huh?" when introduced to the concept and only got more confused at the thought that the movie would include a talking raccoon and a sentient tree and there was rampant speculation that ''Guardians of the Galaxy'' would be Marvel's first proper flop. Then Marvel put together an amazingly cheeky promotional campaign to show that the project was all in good fun, drumming up significant excitement. And it worked, because the film received extremely positive reviews that got moviegoers lining up at theaters.
** To go with this, Marvel announcing that they put a sequel to a movie that hadn't even posted one dollar of revenue at the time on the books for 2017 shows they stand behind their decision to make a ''Guardians'' movie, come hell or high water. Granted they needn't have worried since ''Guardians'' was a smash hit but, regardless, that is some steadfast confidence.
* It far and away broke the record for an August[[note]]traditionally considered a slow time on the release calendar[[/note]] premiere. Worldwide, it made back most of its budget in its first weekend even before it opened in many international markets.
** The movie completely outstripped the previous major superhero release, ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', with much better reviews and box office receipts. Domestically, it made more in three weeks than ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' was able to make in its '''entire run''' in the United States. Once the film was released in some of the last international markets, it domestically made one-and-a-half times the domestic gross of ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'' in the United States alone, and surpassed ''The Amazing Spider-Man 2'''s gross overall. Wow.
** It was knocked down to number two in the US box office by ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2014'' but reclaimed the top position two weeks later and continued to stay there.
** It eventually became the top grossing film in the US for 2014, beating out the equally acclaimed fellow Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse film ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. It's also the third-highest grossing film in the MCU, only coming behind ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' and ''Film/IronMan3''.
** It even managed to out-gross ''Film/ManOfSteel'' globally.
* The film's ad campaign was gleefully cheesy and, more importantly, ''worked''. Marvel Studios really knows how to market lesser-known characters.
** [=YouTube=] media critic Jeremy Jahns summed it up perfectly: "As an ad for something absolutely nobody knew shit about, the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer did precisely what it was supposed to do: it introduced us to the characters, told us a little bit about them, and showed us that some seriously exciting shit was about to go down. The fact that it all happened to Blue Suede's 'Hooked on a Feeling' was just a bonus."
* The "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" album [[http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/20/us-music-guardiansofthegalaxy-charts-idUSKBN0GK26C20140820 has topped the Billboard charts for two weeks]], and later become [[http://marvel.com/news/movies/23940/marvels_guardians_of_the_galaxy_awesome_mix_vol_1_soundtrack_is_certified_platinum certified platinum]]. Keep in mind that this is a soundtrack comprised entirely of 60s and 70s hits, making such a splash because of how the music was used in the film. ''Awesome Mix Vol. 1'' sold so well that Marvel decided to re-release the album on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOSfM0iRLaE freaking cassette]][[note]]Purchase of the tape comes with a free digital download of the album since cassette players aren't commonplace anymore[[/note]]! Anticipating that the tape will sell like hotcakes, Marvel also preemptively promoted it with the hashtag #yourewelcome.
* The movie earned [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/08/30/al-pacino-on-the-way-hollywood-works-and-the-guardians-of-the-galaxy/ praise]] from living legend Creator/AlPacino himself.
-->"I just saw Guardians Of The Galaxy… It was amazing. I did find it the most entertaining, inventive, beautiful film."
* Watch this movie listening to what Rocket says, and he's a snarky, world-weary badass. Then watch it again watching Rocket's facial expressions, and you see how much hurt and guile he has every second he's on screen. The work the modelers, riggers, animators and Bradley Cooper did in making Rocket such a layered and nuanced character is incredible.
* ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' frames this as Marvel Studios being DrunkWithPower from their success thus far and making a film that ''runs on'' CrazyEnoughToWork... and pulling it off awesomely! "A movie about an obscure team of superheroes almost nobody has heard of! We'll take that chubby guy from ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' and turn him into [[HeroicBuild a ripped sexy action hero]]! You like Creator/VinDiesel and his [[BadassBaritone awesome voice]]? We'll have him [[PokemonSpeak repeat the same line over and over]] the whole movie!"

'''Saal''': ''[with a most [[SurroundedByIdiots hilarious expression]]]'' Prove me wrong.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch "You said it yourself, bitch.]] [[PreMortemOneLiner We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[PreMortemOneLiner "You said it yourself, bitch. We're the Guardians of the Galaxy."]]]]

** YouTube media critic Jeremy Jahns summed it up perfectly: "As an ad for something absolutely nobody knew shit about, the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer did precisely what it was supposed to do: it introduced us to the characters, told us a little bit about them, and showed us that some seriously exciting shit was about to go down. The fact that it all happened to Blue Suede's 'Hooked on a Feeling' was just a bonus."

** This also features an intense "I AMMMM GROOOOOOT" moment after some prison guards attack Groot, forcing him to fight back.

** When you think about it, almost everything the Nova Corps do is awesome. They completely avert PoliceAreUseless; their first action is taking four criminals prisoner without endangering any civilians, they are savvy enough not to consider a message a lie just because it's coming from a criminal, they built an empire where race seems not to be an issue (just think how we can't yet deal with different ethnicities), the first thing they do to face an incoming threat is to start an evacuation program, and their main priority in the battle is ensure the safety of civilians (also counts as heartwarming).