It should be noted the fight isn't even remotely close to fair. Byron demolishes the Ambassador; the Ambassador doesn't land a single hit, and Byron just toys with him until the others get away, at which point he shatters the Ambassador's helmet with a single punch. In fact, it becomes very apparent no single Martian is capable of so much as touching him and they have to Zerg Rush him to stand a chance. And again, he still lives and crushes them all after it appears they had beaten him to death.
Just the brass balls he had to walk toward a crowd of armed Martians when any one of them could've easily fried him on the spot, yet he still disarms himself and tosses away the rifle he had and asks them for a boxing match with no guns whatsoever. The Martian Ambassador likewise decides to honor his request for a proper and fair boxing match and orders his fellow Martian Warriors to do the same by tossing away their guns. The Martians might be evil, but they know honor and fair play when they see it.
Or, just watching all those Martian heads pop like pimples inside their helmets, to the lilting refrains of Slim Whitman.
Byron's wife and her badass parenting skills. She causes every passenger on the bus she's driving to break into applause.
Byron's sons grabbing dropped Martian ray guns and covering the Secret Service agents escorting the president. seeing them go from fighting aliens in a game to fighting them in real life (and actually doing better than most of the soldiers) is pretty sweet.
It should be noted that up until the Martian's weakness was revealed, the Williams family were able to kill off the most number of Martians through sheer grit. Every Martian up until that point was only killed by flukes, and that's the military and Secret Service we're talking about.
Also props to the one stone-faced agent who managed to gun down two Martians in the initial White House attack.
Also the agents gunning down the disguised Martian after it tried to kill the President.
The President's peace-making speech to the Martian Leader. He'd spent his entire term letting his aide write his speeches, but when the chips are down it turns out he really had it in him all along.
Even though the Martians kill him, he did accomplish moving the Martian Leader to tears. That should account for some awesome.
Unless you read the novelization, where it's revealed that crying is the Martian equivalent of puking.
The USA's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner", being played by a Mariachi Band.
Richie successfully outrunning and defeating the Martian controlling a mech in his old pickup truck while going to rescue his grandmother.
General Decker blazes away at the Martians, Guns Akimbo style, even after being shrunk to the size of a mouse. He's unsuccessful, but it's still pretty cool.
Trading Card Series
As the card series progressed, scenes of Humanity being slaughtered by the Martians are steadily replaced by Humanity rallying and fighting back with increasing success. Rather than getting annihilated in the end or only surviving/winning by some last-minute miracle or daring-do, 'Mars Attacks' is one of the few Alien Invasion works that has Humanity collectively prevailing through unparalleled courage, determination and sacrifice against overwhelming odds. No head-exploding songs or Superweapon Surprise here, but hard-earned victories won with iron and blood.
Card 18: The Human military fight desperate battles against Martians in the countrysides to protect civilians who had fled from the burning cities. The card depicts a US soldier charging out of cover and attempting to stop Martian soldiers destroying fleeing cars. He's killed before he could do anything, but nevertheless he dies heroically and Defiant to the End, his last moment having him swinging his rifle with intent to crack a Martian's helmet and skull wide open.
Card 25: A squad of Human soldiers managing to successfully ambush and capture a Martian for interrogation via a fishing net and bayonets.
Card 31: A soldier and a scientist woman risked their lives to remain in one of the evacuated cities to research ways to beat back the Martians. When one of the Martians' mutant insects attack them in the scientist's lab, the soldier manages to fight it off and escape with her. The card's lore mentioned even after this they stayed to continue their work.
Card 35, 38-40, 43-45 depicts Human armies fighting tooth and nail against the hordes of giant mutant insects unleashed by the Martians. Highlights include troopers with flame-throwers burning bugs away, rampaging bugs blown to pieces by grenades, bazookas and tanks, Humans improvising daring tactics like turning high-voltage electric power-lines into insect-zapping death fences and blasting them from helicopters, and the best scene had Human military taking on an entire army of mutant insects and winning.
Card 46: Human armies are depicted gathering at rocket bases and blasting off for Mars all over the world. Let that sink in for a moment: the implication is that by that point, the Humans had not only successfully managed to drive the Martians off Earth, they're actively taking the fight to them.
Humanity takes their sweet, sweet revenge against Mars for allthe horrors the Martians unleashed on them in Cards 47-54, starting with an attempt to Nuke 'em from orbit, followed by paratroopers landing and securing a beachhead for other armies, all-out assaults on their cities by Human armies, crushing all defenses with powerful war machines and reducing Martian civilization to ruins all over the planet. They even managed to get off Mars in time to watch Mars explode as its core underwent cataclysmic atomic meltdown which drove the Martian invasion to begin with.
