Posted in: Adult Swim, TV | Tagged: rick and morty

Rick and Morty Season 9: Evil Morty's More Dangerous Than Ever Before

Here's why Evil Morty getting his butt beat badly during the opener to Adult Swim's Rick and Morty Season 9 makes him deadlier than ever.

Adult Swim's Rick and Morty Season 9 wasted little time bringing back Evil Morty  – and in a very big way. It seems that Evil Morty has been blackmailing Rick into going on missions with him between seasons, threatening to kill the Smiths across the multiverse with the Omega Device if he refuses. But by the time the end credits rolled on S09E01: "There's Something About Morty," we learned that Rick was using the missions as a ploy to destroy the Omega Device across all universes. Rick's plan succeeded so well that it brought an onslaught from Evil Morty in retaliation, some hard personal truths, the Smiths kicking the crap out of our big bad, and the Time Cops showing up to arrest Evil Morty. But is that really it for the eyepatch-sporting villain?

No. In fact, despite some fans on social media complaining about what went down with him over the course of the season opener, I think it makes Evil Morty deadlier than ever. He always thought of himself as a different Morty, but that lack of self-awareness was what let Rick play him. Even if he had to blackmail him to do it, Evil Morty turned out to be just another Morty who likes going on adventures with Rick. At least he was. I think it all went away the moment Rick and Morty not only exposed it but also humiliated him for it. As for any kind of sense of family, that was pretty much wiped clean once the Smiths started putting the boots to him. The Evil Morty that was taken away by the Time Cops wasn't the same one who began the episode – and that should be a serious concern. That dude's mission now is to hurt all of them. On top of that, he's being held in a Time Cops prison – basically, he's being kept alive in the middle of a place that would give him access to more time travel power – on top of whatever he and Rick discussed during their time together. Just look at what he did to the Citadel.

Rick and Morty: Marder & Harmon Discuss Evil Morty's Return

Showrunner Scott Marder and series co-creator Dan Harmon addressed the return of Evil Morty, the season's dive into canon, and if this is the last we'll see of Rick's new arch-nemesis. "I think 'canon' is a wide-reaching term. I think canon doesn't need to only be Evil Morty. It could be a lot of things that just have lore or things that people care about that are kind of harkening back to the DNA of the show," Marder explained, noting that the writers have a much broader approach to handling canon.

"But in terms of the premiere, like Harmon had the excitement of trying to find a cue, like someone that could be kind of a shit-stirrer that Rick would have to answer to, which was a cool character. And then it might have been [writer Albro Lundy] that was just like, 'Evil Morty is in a window right now where he could afford to be that guy.' He holds all the cards; he's got the Omega Device. We're like, 'That's cool.' And we just found this really high-octane thing, and we were excited that it would be this explosive way to kick off the season.

The showrunner also appreciated how it evened the score between Rick and Evil Morty. "It was a really great check-in with Evil Morty. And it was a good way to get Rick back on the board with a win because he had otherwise taken a loss with that guy. So it checked all the boxes. We didn't do it because we owed it; we did it because we had a great idea that serviced him and gave him a good reason to come back," Marder added.

But in terms of Evil Morty's future, Marder noted that the interviewer was "on the money with all that" when they noted that Evil Morty's fate wasn't nearly as definitive as Rick Prime's. Harmon took the tease one step further, adding, "Are you suggesting that the Time Lord [Time Cops] prison system is in any way flawed? I think you should have more faith in fourth-dimensional due process and penalization! I mean […] it's very possible."

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