The 10 Worst Things Rick Has Done to Morty in ‘Rick & Morty,’ Ranked
Rick Sanchez (Justin Roiland and Ian Cardoni) is the top in his field as a scientist, but as a grandfather, he’ll probably be the first to receive a restraining order. Rick’s views on family are slightly skewed based on his experience in multiple universes, which partially explains why he has no issue subjecting his grandson, Morty (Justin Roiland and Harry Belden), to the most dangerous corners of the galaxy.
Although their partnership may be unorthodox, the two have proven to be an effective team, despite the fact that Rick has done some fairly terrible things to Morty. Although there are surely horrible moments in store for the future, we’ve compiled a list of the worst things Rick has ever done to Morty in Rick and Morty. From pettiness taken to an unimaginable level to base-level hostility, these moments were the ones that made viewers want to give the teen a hug.
10
Rick Tricked Morty Into Licking an Apeborg’s Nose
Season 7, Episode 6 “Rickfending Your Mort”
Morty tries to help break Rick out of a post-killing Rick Prime depression, but a dispute over Morty’s adventure punchcards brings in The Observer (Dan Harmon) to verify Morty’s claims. This leads to the floating alien being auditing Rick and Morty’s past adventures in a format that looks suspiciously like a clip show of moments the viewer has never seen. However, it doesn’t take long before The Observer shows them moments they didn’t ask to see and probably would have cared to forget.
The Observer, jilted after being asked to leave, continues to reveal embarrassing moments, including the time Rick tricked Morty into licking the inside of an Apeborg’s nose. First, before anyone starts to look it up, an Apeborg is a cyborg ape, and second, this one is gross but harmless. Rick was still awful for leaving Morty with a confused and somewhat violated Apeborg, but this one’s also pretty funny.
9
Rick Bullied Morty at School
Season 2, Episode 4 “Total Rickall”
The Smith family becomes infected by an alien parasite that creates false memories in the fantastic Season 2 episode “Total Rickall.” The parasite manifests as new characters that create false memories, leaving Rick and the gang unsure who is real. The situation looks to be out of control, but Morty realizes the parasites can only exist in pleasant memories, so they’re able to weed out who is real by the terrible memories they have of them.
What follows is a montage of instances where Rick was terrible to Morty, and many of these are great candidates for mention, but the one that stands out happens at Morty’s school. Morty is at the top of a flight of stairs when Rick comes from behind and pulls down his pants, causing Morty to fall down to the bottom step. As Morty tears up, Rick joins a group of girls to point and laugh at the humiliated teen. No context is provided for this, but it’s doubtful there’s any that would make this moment better.
8
Rick Made Morty Be His Drug Mule
Season 1, Episode 1 “Pilot”
The first episode of Rick and Morty sets the tone of the pair’s relationship by showing Rick as a newly returned chaotic form of nature. Although Beth (Sarah Chalke) is happy to have her father back home, her husband, Jerry (Chris Parnell), is irritated by Rick taking Morty out of school without asking. While Morty’s parents debate the impact of Rick’s influence, the inebriated grandfather takes his grandson on a quest to retrieve large mega-seeds.
When Rick and Morty’’ quest leaves Rick without the use of his portal gun, Rick forces his grandson to shove the massive seeds in his rectum to sneak them past the interdimensional customs. Morty is reluctant to do as Rick asks, because the seeds look to be about a fifth of the size of his body, but he caves to the pressure. Later, when the seeds have stayed inside Morty’s body so long they’ve broken and dissolved, Rick stands over Morty, ignoring the boy’s pain as he talks about future adventures.
7
Rick Wiped Morty’s Mind
Season 3, Episode 8 “Morty’s Mind Blowers”
Revelations come fast and frequently in the Season 3 episode “Morty’s Mind Blowers.” After their latest adventure leaves Morty traumatized, Rick offers to wipe the memory from his grandson’s brain. Rick leads Morty down to a chamber filled with different colored vials and explains that they are all memories Rick wiped and preserved from their time together, nicknamed Morty’s Mind Blowers.
At first, it would seem Rick had done this as an act of mercy for his grandson, but on closer inspection, the scientist uses the memory wipe liberally, sometimes just in moments that embarrass Rick. The sheer volume of the memories on display is evidence in itself that the amount of trauma Rick inflicts on Morty on any given day is too much for anyone to handle. Ignoring the actual events depicted in the memories, Rick’s abuse of his technology allows him even more power over Morty, opening the opportunities for endless manipulation.
6
Rick Tricked Morty Into Killing Multiple Versions of Himself
Season 4, Episode 8 “The Vat of Acid Episode”
For many, “The Vat of Acid Episode” is one of Rick and Morty‘s best episodes, but it’s also an example of how awful Rick can be to Morty if he feels insulted. After Morty insults Rick’s escape plan by sitting in a fake vat of acid, the two enter a heated exchange where Morty says all of his ideas are ignored. The argument leads back to Morty’s idea for a device that can save a moment in time, goading Rick into making the invention after implying he couldn’t make it. The device works as promised, and Morty tries a number of outrageous things, assuming all of his choices are consequence-free.
Of course, anything Rick does comes with a catch, and he eventually reveals to Morty that the device doesn’t actually save a moment in time; it uses alternate universe Mortys as replacements, resulting in the death of numerous Mortys across different timelines. Rick agrees to merge the affected universes, thus drawing the authorities ready to arrest Morty for his crimes. Morty can escape, but to do so, he’ll need to fake his death in the vat of acid he criticized at the start of the episode. The entire story is one long spiteful act by Rick to make a point, regardless of the collateral damage caused.
5
Rick Left Morty for Two Crows
Season 5, Episode 9 “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall”
Tensions are high between Rick and Morty at the start of “Forgetting Sarick Mortshall,” and Rick, tired of hearing Morty’s complaints, makes a show of replacing him for future adventures. Rick reveals a wheel with random things more valuable than Morty, and after spinning it, lands on “Two Crows.” Morty leaves hurt and disgusted as Rick trains two crows to replace Morty, but an unlikely attachment soon grows to the birds.
Initially, this is another case of Rick taking his spitefulness to an extreme level, something he’s known to do frequently. Surprisingly, though, Rick actually picks the two birds over Morty as a replacement, and the episode ends with Rick moving out of the house as his grandson tearfully watches. The pair don’t stay separated for long, but the pain caused by Rick leaving, and the deeper insult of only returning after the crows abandon him, sticks with Morty.
4
Rick Sabotaged Morty’s Future
Season 4, Episode 3 “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty”
Rick expresses his frustration with complicated heist movies by deconstructing the concept in “One Crew Over the Crewcoo’s Morty.” Irritated by losing out on loot to a heist artist, Miles Knightly (Justin Theroux), Rick makes it his mission to use the convoluted nature of heists against those who support it. Meanwhile, Morty is working on his heist script that he plans to sell to Netflix, a development the boy is excited about.
Unfortunately for Morty, the exhausting heist-centric adventure burns him out, and he enters the Netflix meeting disillusioned and no longer interested in pursuing the script. This was no accident, because, as it turns out, Rick planned to ruin his grandson’s enthusiasm and tank his potentially lucrative meeting. Fearful that he would lose his companion, Rick secretly ruins Morty’s dreams, smugly celebrating that he broke the spirit of someone who trusts him.
3
Rick Destroyed Morty’s Universe
Season 1, Episode 6 “Rick Potion No. 9”
One of the darkest episodes of Rick and Morty begins with Morty asking Rick for help making his crush Jessica (Kari Wahlgren) fall in love with him. Rick quickly concocts a potion for Morty to use, but when the effects are mixed with the flu virus, their hometown is overcome with an obsessively dangerous lust for Morty. Rick half-asses a solution to the problem, tinkering around with an antidote without thinking the problem through, eventually resulting in a world overrun by monsters.
Although Morty’s family is unaffected, Rick decides to cut his losses and takes Morty to a world where the global disaster was averted, but Rick and Morty die in a freak accident. Rick forces Morty to leave his old world and family behind, unbothered by the overwhelming loss of life he left in his wake. Adding insult to injury, Rick makes Morty bury his own body in the backyard before they assume the identities of the recently deceased. Everyone knows, when you destroy someone’s world, the polite thing to do is bury their double’s dead body for them.
2
Rick Was Incapable of Saying “I Love You”
Season 6, Episode 2 “Rick: A Mort Well Lived”
In “Rick: A Mort Well Lived,” Morty becomes trapped inside a video game during a terrorist-caused power outage, causing his psyche to fracture across all the characters in the game. While Summer (Spencer Grammer) does a Die Hard to stop the real-world threat, Rick enters the game and tries to convince Morty’s shattered consciousness to leave together so his grandson can wake up. After a prolonged inner conflict within Morty’s psyche, the majority are ready to leave, and Rick is satisfied with leaving 8% of Morty to die in the game.
A piece of Morty, who was named Marta in the game, is disgusted at Rick’s callousness, but is ignored when voicing her opinion. Marta tells Rick she can make sure 100% of Morty leaves the game, but he needs to tell them that he loves Morty. Rick hesitates, ultimately never saying it, and another struggle begins between the pieces of Morty. Rick later feels remorse and purchases the game to take home with him, preserving the piece of Morty, but his inability to say he loved his grandson ensured Morty didn’t leave the game in one piece.
1
Rick Trapped Morty in a Virtual Prison Over a Phone Charger
Season 8, Episode 1 “Summer of All Fears”
An adult Morty and Summer live in a future where she’s president and everyone has strong opinions about phone chargers. “Summer of All Fears” isn’t a jump into the future; rather, it’s a virtual simulation that Rick put his grandkids into after they took his phone charger and failed to give it back. It was meant to teach them a lesson, but as a result of falling asleep, Morty and Summer were trapped in the alternate reality for the equivalent of 17 years.
While Summer thrived in the basic world of Rick’s creation, Morty’s experience was filled with 17 years of hardship that included him going to prison and joining the army. Now essentially an adult trapped in a young teen’s body, Morty is left to carry around painful emotional scars from an existence that never happened. Morty faces a lifetime of PTSD, and all because Rick didn’t get his phone charger back fast enough.
Rick and Morty
- Release Date
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December 2, 2013
- Network
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Adult Swim
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Justin Roiland
Rick Sanchez / Morty Smith
