History TearJerker / GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014

*** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', when Peter finally comes back to Earth, we never learn if Peter and his grandfather finally reunited. If Peter even remembers him at all. Or if his grandfather is even still around. Thankfully ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3'' has the two of them finally reunite.

'''Rocket:''' ''[points at Drax]'' He called me vermin! ''[points at Gamora]'' She called me rodent! ''[cocks his gun]'' Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots ''to your '''freakin' faces!'''''

'''Rocket:''' ''[points at Drax]'' He called me vermin! ''[points at Gamora]'' She called me rodent! Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots to your ''freakin' faces!''

-->'''Rocket:''' "YOU KILLED ''GROOT''!"

* An intoxicated Rocket rants about how he's sure that everyone considers him to be a monstrous, freakish joke and implies that he was all too lucid when the scientists were experimenting on him. He also gets a wobbly lower lip after calling Gamora and Drax out. Watching this scene again after seeing ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3 Vol. 3'' makes this even more tragic.

* An intoxicated Rocket rants about how he's sure that everyone considers him to be a monstrous, freakish joke and implies that he was all too lucid when the scientists were experimenting on him. He also gets a wobbly lower lip after calling Gamora and Drax out.

*** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', when Peter finally comes back to Earth, we never learn if Peter and his grandfather finally reunited. If Peter even remembers him at all. Or if his grandfather is even still around.

-->'''Rocket:''' I DIDN'T ASK TO BE MADE! I DIDN'T ASK TO BE TORN APART AND PUT BACK TOGETHER OVER AND OVER AND TURNED INTO SOME… SOME LITTLE ''MONSTER!''

-->'''Rocket:''' I DIDN'T ASK TO BE MADE! I DIDN'T ASK TO BE TORN APART AND PUT BACK TOGETHER OVER AND OVER! Turned into some... Some little monster.

'''Rocket:''' ''[points at Drax]'' He called me vermin! ''[points at Gamora]'' She called me rodent! Let's see if you can laugh after five or six good shots ''in your freakin' faces!''

** Gamora's words "Whatever nightmares lay ahead are dreams compared to what's behind me." And when she's in her cell, she's ''smiling''. In other words, she considers being locked in a prison with hundreds of people who ''hate'' her the better option opposed to being with Thanos and Ronan. Think about that.

*** In LiveActionFilms/Avengers: Endgame, when Peter finally comes back to Earth, we never learn if Peter and his grandfather finally reunited. If Peter even remembers him at all. Or if his grandfather is even still around.

*** [[spoiler: In Avengers: Endgame, when Peter finally comes back to Earth, we never learn if Peter and his grandfather finally reunited. If Peter even remembers him at all. Or if his grandfather is even still around.]]

*** This is also a meta-example. This was the first role Vin Diesel took since friend Creator/PaulWalker's death.
** Just, really, if you went to a movie theater and didn't see someone cry at Groot's sacrifice, it was because YOU were the one doing so.
*** In a exchange on Twitter on February 27th, 2018, Creator/JamesGunn revealed that Groot did die and the sapling seen at the end of the movie and who appears in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'', is actually his son.

** At the end of the film, only after the death of the original Groot, did Rocket realize what he had really lost. By the time he realized who Groot ''really'' was to him, it was too late for Rocket to return or even really acknowledge that same unselfish love. Quill's sarcastic "Giving Tree" moniker from earlier in the film winds up being ''incredibly'' and hearbreakingly appropriate.

!!Meta:
* Drax's trouble with language [[http://www.upworthy.com/that-awesome-moment-when-a-superhero-is-a-role-model-to-a-little-boy-who-needed-one won him over with an autistic fan]].

** The last words of the letter contained within: "My little Star-Lord]. Even more of a tearjerker is when you realize he hasn't been using the name due to an outsize ego, but in memory of his mother.

* One of the less obvious emotional moments is watching [[spoiler:Drax the Destroyer charge in screaming to save protagonist Star-Lord from Korath, the right-hand muscle of antagonist Ronan the Accuser.]]

** You want an off-screen TearJerker? The reaction of Peter's grandfather when he discovers that his grandson is gone...

-->'''Quill:''' ''[screaming at a guard while being tasered]'' That song belongs to ''me!''

** Also notice how [[spoiler:the camera briefly hovers on Gamora for a second during Rocket's rant. At that point in the movie, we had just learned Gamora's own origins; how her family was killed by Thanos, who then trained her (through torture) to be a living weapon. You can tell that Gamora ''instantly'' knows what Rocket is talking about.]]

-->Oh baby give me one more chance / (show you that I love you) / ... Oh darling I was blind to let you go...

*** Amplified even further [[spoiler:in the MeaningfulEcho at the end of the film; after grabbing hold of the Infinity Stone to keep it from Ronan, it begins tearing him apart from the inside out; Gamora then reaches out to him begging for him to take her hand. Peter momentarily finds himself standing at his mother's bedside again with her repeating her request from the beginning of the film]].

* An intoxicated Rocket [[spoiler:rants about how he's sure that everyone considers him to be a monstrous, freakish joke and implies that he was all too lucid when the scientists were experimenting on him.]] He also gets a wobbly lower lip after calling Gamora and Drax out.

* [[spoiler:Groot's delivery of "''We'' are Groot..." followed by his sacrifice to protect the other Guardians as Ronan's ship crashes. While he may have begun to regenerate by the end of the film (or rather, his son), seeing him give his life for his friends truly is a TearJerker.]]
** [[spoiler:To add to the impact of that scene, right before he speaks, Groot uses a vine to wipe away one of the tears from a crying Rocket.]]
** [[spoiler:Rocket's reaction to Groot's sacrifice, as he, who previously treated Groot like a servant and an idiot, is devastated by Groot's death.]]
** [[spoiler:Rocket sitting by himself sobbing pitifully while clutching a handful of Groot's remains, looking smaller than he has for the entire film. It doubles as a crowning moment of heartwarming when Drax comes to sit beside Rocket and gently pet him on the head, earning a genuinely surprised and touched look from Rocket.]]
** It hits even harder when you remember [[WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant a certain other voice acting role of Vin Diesel's]] who also [[spoiler:pulled a HeroicSacrifice and was able to rebuild himself after being blown to pieces.]]

** [[spoiler:Just, really, if you went to a movie theater and didn't see someone cry at Groot's sacrifice, it was because YOU were the one doing so.]]

* [[spoiler:The destruction of hundreds of Nova Corps ships]] is enough to even give Rocket pause.
** Worse? [[spoiler:As Saal is about to get crushed into paste, he calls Rocket "Rocket" and not by his experiment number.]]
** Worse still? [[spoiler:He's asking for ''help''. Rocket, unable to leave the aerial defense of the capital, gets to helplessly listen to him die.]]
*** Kudos for Cooper too since [[spoiler:Rocket actually replies to Saal's plead for help. He says "Saal, just hold on!" but not as a call for heroic willpower. Rather, the way Rocket says it is more like "Hold on, I'm coming for you as soon as I can." only for Saal to die shortly thereafter.]]
* Quill finally opening [[spoiler:his mother's last birthday present to him]].
** The last words of [[spoiler:the letter contained within: "My little Star-Lord"]]. Even more of a tearjerker is when you realize he hasn't been using the name due to an outsize ego, but in memory of his mother.
*** The first song on [[spoiler:Awesome Mix Vol. 2]] is Marvin Gaye's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough." Just think about some of the lyrics: ''My love is alive/Way down in my heart/Although we are miles apart''.
* Drax's MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment over [[spoiler:his extremely ill-considered call to Ronan to get his revenge over with.]]

* Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling", PlayedForLaughs in the trailer, is used for some depressing SoundtrackDissonance when Quill sees the prison he has just been put in. One of the prisoners can be seen sitting at a table and crying as she looks at a photo of her family. [[spoiler:She's seen again just before Ronan orders everyone in the prison [[DeadlyEuphemism cleansed.]]]]

** As if things couldn't get worse, [[spoiler:Ronan arrives there and orders the entire prison cleansed. Sure the prisoners and guards were as far from good people as you get but there was the old man from whom Peter got the leg. The guy from whom Drax took his favorite knife. Rewatching those scenes is heart-wrenching because every single person in that prison is a dead man walking.]]

** [[spoiler:Drax is a berserker on a sad quest to avenge his family's death at the hands of Ronan the Accuser. His quest is sad not only because Ronan far exceeds Drax in power, but also because killing Ronan will not bring Drax back his family.]]
** However, [[spoiler:Star-Lord enabled Drax to be part of a team, and in doing so gave Drax a kind of new family and thus a reason to fight and live, not simply fight and die.]] Thus, watching [[spoiler:Drax charge in to save Star-Lord magnifies his character, making him more meaningful because he has grown to care for his allies and will bring his full strength and fury to bear to keep those allies from any harm.]]
* Meta-example. Drax's trouble with language [[http://www.upworthy.com/that-awesome-moment-when-a-superhero-is-a-role-model-to-a-little-boy-who-needed-one won him over with an autistic fan]].
* Peter's insistence that he is 'Star-Lord'. Through much of the movie it comes off as him trying to create a nickname/code name for himself, something that he thinks is badass but to most comes off as weird and clunky. The ending reveals the origin of the name: [[spoiler:it was the nickname his mother had for him. He wants to be called it because his mother is likely the only person who called him Star-Lord and he wants to hear it again]].
** [[spoiler:And then he ''does'' hear it again, at the end... from Gamora, whom he'd previously envisioned as his mother while grasping the Power Stone.]]
* A subtle Fridge Tearjerker hidden within the otherwise awww-cute [[spoiler:dancing Baby Groot]] scene: Pay attention to what words from ''I Want You Back'' are sung over the scene:

** [[spoiler:At the end of the film, only after the death of the original Groot, did Rocket realize what he had really lost. By the time he realized who Groot ''really'' was to him, it was too late for Rocket to return or even really acknowledge that same unselfish love. Quill's sarcastic "Giving Tree" moniker from earlier in the film winds up being ''incredibly'' and hearbreakingly appropriate.]]