Rick And Morty Co-Creator Justin Roiland Is Obsessed With Marvel's Expanding Multiverse [Exclusive]
Hollywood's hottest club this year is the multiverse. It's in everything, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Cinematic Universe (live-action and animation), "Everything Everywhere All At Once," and even Warner Bros. and Player First Games' "MultiVersus" game (where you can play Arya Stark and punch Superman in the face while Bugs Bunny stands and watches). Then there's "Rick and Morty," a show that has spent years exploring sci-fi concepts both high and low, both simple and complex, using the idea of the multiverse for hilarious and very dumb jokes like a sofa sitting on a human and calling the phone delivery using a slice of pizza.
Say what you will about the show's fandom or its repetitiveness, but "Rick and Morty" did help introduce the idea of alternate universes and dimensions to the mainstream. Sure, there may be inconsistencies here and there, but what other show has a literal council of alternate dimension versions of the main character as a recurring villain?
Now that everyone and their studio executive are entering the multiverse game, how does "Rick and Morty" co-creator and executive producer Justin Roiland feel about big budget franchises also dealing with the multiverse? /Film's Ethan Anderton attended a roundtable interview and heard Roiland himself share his enthusiasm for this trend.
Pedal to the metal
"Personally, I actually am f**king stoked," Roiland said about Marvel exploring the multiverse, adding:
"I'm like, 'Let's go. F**king pedal to the metal, let's do it.' I want to see them do it. I want to see more."
Granted, Roiland does acknowledge it is not easy to keep track of all the details when dealing with multiple timelines and universes. "If you're going to get really logical about it, they've got inconsistencies and there are things in the Marvel multiverse canon that are in incongruent with each other," Roiland continued, going on to say:
"But I just turn that part of my brain off and just enjoy. As long as they're doing it and they're going to go there and really commit to multiverse s**t, I'm so there for it. 'Spider-Man,' the most recent one, that was f**king amazing. I know, canonically, it doesn't quite — don't even get me started."
Roiland also points out one big inconsistency in the MCU — just how the hell did Steve Rogers appear at the end of "Endgame" as an old man?
"Did that mean he went back in time for real in that same exact timeline because I thought they were crossing into other realities, right? How does that make sense?" the animator said. "But I just go, 'Okay, well, you know what? Maybe he somehow figured out a way to get back to that reality as an old dude and who cares?' And I just flip that switch and just enjoy the f**king thing. It's really well-crafted [...] So I think it's all really cool, I'd want to see more of it, and I'm excited that it's happening."
"Anyway, multiverse stuff is just f**king endlessly fascinating to me, and I want to see Marvel just go full-blown hardcore multiverse," he said."
"Rick and Morty" season 6 premieres September 4, 2022, on Adult Swim.