The following post goes into everything we know about Evil Morty, including fan theories. So don’t get mad about spoilers, moron.
Cue the blissed-out sexy indie music because Evil Morty is back. In the latest episode, “The Ricklantis Mixup,” we go back to the Citadel, post-Rickstruction and now torn apart by racial warfare between Ricks and Mortys. But there’s a grand unifier on the horizon: a Morty running for president of the Citadel. At first he’s included in the election because he’s an adorable and nonthreatening Morty, but it’s clear that this Morty is different, maybe even smart. After giving an inspirational speech about unification, he wins the election. In the meantime, his campaign manager (who we’ll call Campaign Manager Morty) gets a file from Deep Throat Rick that contains information about Candidate Morty’s origins, which are unclear so far. Part of what he sees is that Candidate Morty is Evil Morty. You might have forgotten about him, so we’re taking a deep dive into what we know about the gnarly little guy. And awaaaay we go.
Wait, are you sure that Candidate Morty is Evil Morty?
God, don’t be such a Jerry. When Campaign Manager Morty is thrown out of the airlock, his papers fly about him, and we see he’s holding photos of Evil Morty.
When did Evil Morty first appear?
Evil Morty made his first appearance in episode ten of season one, “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind,” as Eyepatch Morty. In the episode, he was part of the Evil Rick and Morty team that was assassinating Ricks in other dimensions. At the end of the episode, after the Rick SWAT team apprehends Evil Rick, they realize that he was actually being remote controlled by someone else. The big reveal is that it was actually the Morty — heretofore known as Evil Morty — who had the transmitter under his eyepatch.
Oh, and that’s when they play Evil Morty’s song! What is that song, by the way?
That would be the very early-aughts-sounding indie rock trio Blonde Redhead. The song, “For the Damaged Coda,” is from their album Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons. It’s kind of perfect.
What’s Evil Morty’s origin story?
One of the prevailing theories is that Evil Morty is actually the original Morty — that is Rick’s Morty, a.k.a. Morty of Earth C-137. After they defeat the Rick assassin, Original Rick tells his Morty that he is the “Rickest Rick,” implying that his Morty is the “Mortiest Morty.” He doesn’t actually say it though (“It would go without saying…”) and lets that Morty assume he’s the Mortiest Morty when in fact it might be Evil Morty.
There’s another telling quote in that episode, when Rick tells Morty not to get arrogant: “A cocky Morty can lead to some real problems. It can be a real bad thing for everybody.” When Morty asks him, “How’s that?” he says, “I”ll explain when you’re older.”
So why do you think Evil Morty is the Original Morty?
You don’t think we just come up with these hare-brained theories without any receipts, do you? The piece de evidence also comes from that episode, when Evil Rick was zooming through all of Original Rick’s memories, one of which was actually Morty when he was a baby.
There’s another quick reference of Rick with a Baby Morty in the season-two episode “Get Schwifty,” where Morty sees a photo of Rick holding a Baby Morty on Bird Person’s wall:
The reason why this is a big deal is that the show’s logline was that Rick has returned to his family after 20 years. Morty is only 14 years old, which means that the timeline doesn’t work unless your math is real bad.
Wait, so what does this mean?
What it suggests is that Our Morty isn’t Original Rick’s Morty. This could be because Original Rick isn’t actually from the same universe that he enters into the pilot. (Also, we should mention at this point that the Pilot Universe is now the Mad Max Universe after Rick Cronenbergs the world in “Rick Potion #9,” and Rick and Morty switch over to a parallel dimension that is virtually the same, but not technically the same.) The point here is that the relationship between Rick and Morty might not be the one we think it is. The Morty from his memories could be the Original Morty that he cared for in another dimension, who later grew up to be Evil Morty. There’s a great Reddit thread that imagines how Original Morty was fully cared for by Original Rick. He lacked the insecurities of his father Jerry and instead grew up to be a boy genius who could then contend with Original Rick. He could now be on a vengeance mission. If we go back to the pilot episode, Rick tells Jerry and Beth that he should stay with Morty because, “He’s like me. He’s going to be doing great science stuff in his life.” Evil Morty could be the fulfillment of that.
Are you sure?
No. [Burps.] Who cares! Don’t think about it. It’s just a goddamn TV show.
