One franchise that's been the butt of Rick and Morty jokes time and time again has been
Marvel.
From Hulk references to Avengers jokes, here’s all the times Rick and Morty poked fun at
Marvel.
In the season two episode "Total Rickall," the Smith family finds themselves plagued
by an interstellar parasite that has the ability to implant false memories into its hosts.
Each time they have a flashback, a new parasite joins their midst in the form of a wacky character.
"Wait.
Don't leave without letting Photographer Raptor take a picture."
In one such dubious memory, the family, along with their friend Mr. Poopybutthole, is seen
leaving a musical play based on the life of the Hulk.
They seem pretty excited about the play, and Jerry is even wearing a pair of fake Hulk
hands.
This is actually a two-for-one reference that not only gives a nod to the big green guy
but also seems to be an allusion to the real, disastrous Spider-Man Broadway musical that
injured several stunt performers starting back in 2010.
A number of these injuries were life-threatening, and the play experienced a range of other
calamities.
With a price tag of $75 million dollars, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is the most expensive Broadway
musical ever made, and even though it holds the Broadway box office record for single-week
sales, taking in $2.9 million over a span of nine performances, it still lost nearly
$60 million.
In a show with as rabid a fanbase as Rick and Morty, it's hard to pick any single episode
as a "fan favorite," but two that stand out are the Interdimensional Cable anthologies.
In the second installment, we're briefly introduced to Octopus-Man as he somewhat nonsensically
gets into a car with a mysterious driver bearing a scar across his face.
Claiming to be a marine biologist who was bitten by an octopus which thereby turned
him into a half-human, half-octopus Octopus-Man is obviously a riff on Spider-Man.
But while Spidey is a good guy, Octopus-Man claims to "save people," which basically translates
to him stabbing random people on the street.
So maybe he's really more akin to Spider-Man's nemesis, Dr. Octopus?
Or maybe in an episode as openly nutty as this particular one, it's best not to dig
too deep for logic.
"Well Summer, maybe people that create things aren't concerned with your delicate sensibilities,
you know?"
When Rick and Morty find themselves on the Purge Planet in season two's "Look Who's Purging
Now," a moment comes when it seems like they're cornered once and for all.
Then Rick's earlier message to Summer pays off, and suddenly, Rick and Morty are decked
out in a pair of battle suits that seem suspiciously similar to those worn by Iron Man and War
Machine.
Not only do these suits come packed with a seemingly endless series of gadgets used for
attacking an adversary in every way imaginable, and not only are their wearers practically
invincible, but even the delivery method is strikingly similar to something Tony Stark
would have designed.
"Morty, time to purge."
The real kicker is the song that plays when the suits are first activated "Feels Good"
by the R&B group Tony!
Toni!
Toné!
If that's not a sneaky Tony Stark reference, we don't know what is.
In the show's third season, we're introduced to the Vindicators, a team of oddball superheroes
that are about as obvious a knockoff of the Avengers as it gets.
"Rick.
Is that the Vindibeacon?
We're being called to assemble by the Vindicators!"
"I refuse to answer a literal call to adventure, Morty, let it go to voicemail."
First of all, there's the name, as "vindicate" and "avenge" are basically synonyms.
Then there are the two groups' symbols, because when you turn the Vindicators' symbol upside
down, it looks suspiciously similar to that of the Avengers.
The story of the Vindicators is in itself extremely Avengery.
We meet the team in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender," in which it's made clear that
there was a first Vindicator team-up that included Rick and Morty, as well as a second
one they skipped for reasons that remain vague.
"This article says the reason we weren't involved was 'personality conflicts.'"
Could this be a reference to the second Avengers film, Age of Ultron, which many agree was
one of the lesser MCU installments?
At one point, Rick also explicitly refers to Morty's Vindicators "phase," and as we
all know, the MCU releases are broken up into a series of phases.
As the episode "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender" makes blatantly clear, said
superhero group has assembled to do battle against a being called Worldender.
Little is known about the villain, other than the fact that he possesses great power and
a taste for genocide.
"Vindicators, Worldender is back, and this time, he's out to end more than worlds."
Sound like anyone familiar?
This is almost certainly a teasing rip-off of Thanos or Galactus or maybe even both.
He's the cliché mega-villain who's supposedly unstoppable unless facing the combined might
of the uh, the Vindicators.
His on-the-nose name also seems to point out how tired audiences are becoming of these
over-the-top baddies.
If Worldender is supposed to be some kind of Thanos-style enemy who verges on invulnerability,
Rick and Morty sticks its tongue out at this concept once again by revealing that Rick
has effortlessly defeated him off-screen while blackout drunk.
"No offense, but I've always suspected that a lot of what you do in a year could be knocked
out in a couple of hours."
Among the most popular of the MCU's leading characters is Star-Lord, leader of the Guardians
of the Galaxy.
Played by one of the most beloved superstars in Hollywood, Star-Lord is known for his charm,
good looks, humor, and bravery.
His courage has been instrumental in saving the galaxy on multiple occasions, even if
his lack of self-control did directly result in the Thanos snap, which erased half of all
the life in the universe.
But that's a different conversation.
In any case, Star-Lord got the Rick and Morty treatment in "Vindicators 3: The Return of
Worldender" with the appearance of Vindicators member Vance Maximus, Renegade Starsoldier,
voiced by the hilarious Christian Slater.
Like Star-Lord, he flies around with a jetpack, wields some kind of ray gun, and seems to
offer plenty of swagger and wit.
"Sorry I'm late.
It was happy hour."
However, unlike Star-Lord who spends much of his screen-time acting in his own self
interest before coming through as the hero in the end Maximus does the opposite, selfishly
attempting to save his own skin before getting brutally slain for his efforts.
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