yeah, the aztecs had a prophecy that the gods would return

but it was just the spanish, who were still pretty brown, but a lot less brown than the aztecs

so they were convinced it was the gods, and these gods had boomsticks just like the stories of the previous gods who shot lightning

noncombatants mostly survived, it was only the aztec government soldiers who got slaughtered by Cortez and his army, and the officials and king

life has been better since then but not as good as it could have been... the vicious violence of the mexican gangsters (and the government) are relics of this same mindset and probably cult of power (which is now spanning the globe)