Theory: Rick and Morty Is Building Its Own Legion of Doom
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Could Rick and Morty be sowing the seeds of a supervillain team up? We look at the most likely candidates to take on the drunken super scientist.
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Rick and Morty has largely avoided major recurring antagonists over its first three seasons, but enough seeds have been planted that it’s conceivable the show is setting up its own spin on the Legion of Doom. The beloved Adult Swim series – created by Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland – was recently renewed for a staggering 70 episodes after protracted contract negotiations had fans a bit skittish about the show’s future. That level of creative freedom could potentially open the door to some long game plotting, one of the most intriguing being the chickens coming home to roost for Rick.
Rick and Morty is unlike anything else on television. The series mixes some pretty complicated, high minded science fiction concepts with scatological humor and somehow manages to say some profound things about depression, the nature of family, and Szechuan sauce. The show has a deeply devoted, occasionally toxic fanbase, and it became a mainstream sensation during its triumphant third season; thesis papers will be written on “Pickle Rick” alone. The show occasionally revisits concepts and characters, but it’s eschewed the serialized storytelling of other popular shows of its era, never building toward any sort of big bad or massively hyped confrontation at season’s end. Part of the show’s greatness has been the way its utilized all kinds of different story structures and concepts while maintaining the same themes of bleakly hilarious existential despair. There is really no show that captures the surreal mood of 2018 America quite like Rick and Morty.
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But over three seasons, Rick has left a trail of emotional and literal destruction in his wake. There’s always been a sort of dark inevitability to the fact that Rick is so much smarter than everyone else in the universe that he can escape any jam – even the ones he’s for which he’s wholly responsible – largely unscathed; it’s like if Doctor Who had a very flexible moral compass and a serious drinking problem. But that path of destruction has yielded plenty of survivors, ostensibly powerful people with an axe to grind against Rick. An obvious way to take him on would be the classic comic book trope of the villain supergroup – perhaps most famously in the Legion of Doom, which Warner Bros. appears to be prepping for their DC Extended Universe films. There are a lot of competing agendas among these people, but if they could manage to put those aside to rid themselves of a common foe, they could get on with their various forms of universal conquest. Let’s run down the most likely candidates for Rick and Morty’s potential spin on a cabal of evildoers.
Evil Morty
Any list of terrifying Rick and Morty villains has to begin with Evil Morty. Introduced in Season 1’s “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind,” Evil Morty was first seen using a remote control device to have Rick murder other Ricks throughout the multiverse (and torture and kill quite a few Mortys as well). He eluded capture, slipping into a crowd of Rickless Mortys who were rounded up and sent to the Citadel of Ricks. Evil Morty survived our Rick’s attack on the Citadel, which resulted in the death of the Council of Ricks and a new, democratic society. Through some ingenious subterfuge, Evil Morty managed to win election as the new President, and swiftly murdered all of his political rivals, promising a dark new direction for the multiversal society.
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Evil Morty’s personal animus toward our Rick (or the Rick of C-137, if we’re being technical) hasn’t really been established – he was framing him for murder due to his relative amorality compared to the other Ricks – but he likely understands that he’s a more powerful Rick than the standard issue, and that taking him off the board could make his plans go much smoother. But unlike a lot of entries on this list, Evil Morty is likely to continue being a treacherous little snake whether or not he runs afoul of our beloved Rick.
Supernova
Even by Rick’s considerably dubious standards, the undoing of the intergalactic superhero team the Vindicators was horrendous. Jealous of Morty’s idolization of the group, Rick gets blackout drunk and ends up trapping himself, Morty, and the Vindicators in a Saw-esque death trap puzzle. Vance Maximus, Alan Rails, Million Ants, and poor, sweet Crocubot all end up dead by Rick’s indirect hand; many of them are pitted against each other in the process, with the team’s sole survivor, Supernova (voiced by the brilliant Community alum Gillian Jacobs), pushed over the edge into homicidal mania. Having murdered her lover Million Ants, Supernova is forced to flee before she can kill Rick and Morty.
Despite the fact that she allowed her relationship drama to fuel her bloodlust, Supernova has a pretty valid reason to want Rick dead; he very clearly detonated her entire world for no real reason other than the fact he’s a jerk. She’s both powerful and motivated, and even has experience in supergroups. She’s an obvious candidate to join any group bent on Rick’s destruction.
Tammy Guetermann and Phoenix Person
Tammy was introduced in the Season 1 finale “Ricksy Business” as a popular schoolfriend of Summer’s who finds herself hooking up with Birdperson, Rick’s alien best friend, at a party. The relationship turns out to be an enduring one, with the pair tying the know in the Season 2 finale “The Wedding Squanchers.” The marital bliss is short-lived, however, as Tammy is revealed to be a covert agent for the Galactic Federation, who have lured Rick there to answer for his myriad crimes against the universe. Tammy ends up gunning down Birdperson, much to Rick’s horror.
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Rick of course toppled the Galactic Federation in the Season 3 premiere “The Rickshank Rickdemption”, but Tammy survived and had Birdperson rebuilt as the cyborg Phoenix Person. This is another case where Rick is more than a little responsible, since he not only introduced Tammy and Birdperson, but is almost certainly guilty of at least some of the horrible things the Federation wanted him imprisoned for. Birdperson was also one of the few people Rick had a genuine emotional connection with, and having to deal with the undead version of his best friend would likely be harrowing even for him.
Page 2 of 2: More Rick & Morty Villains Who Could Team Up
Dusty Stowe has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016. A native of Yorktown, Virginia, he moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He currently writes lists, features, and news articles covering movies, comics, and television. He is a devoted fan of Doctor Who, DC Comics, and whatever David Lynch deems us worthy of viewing. Star Trek: The Next Generation lit up his five year-old brain like a firework, ensuring he’d be a progressive nerd for the rest of his life. His current focuses are on covering the Arrowverse, Star Trek: Discovery, and the DC Cinematic Universe. He is also a trained audio engineer with a degree from the Los Angeles Film School, and manages multiple corporate social media accounts. He really, really wants a new Green Lantern movie. You can talk to him about football, politics, and his weird nerd takes on Twitter @dustystowe.
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