'Rick and Morty' Season 4 theory may reveal how they kill Evil Morty

Evil Morty may be the baddest of Big Bads to ever emerge across the central finite curve of the multiverse, but if one Rick and Morty Season 4 fan theory is correct, the hero that’ll rise to defeat him will be none other than Morty. That’s right, the nervous and fretful kid in a yellow shirt that Rick Sanchez affectionately calls a “little piece of shit.”

Earlier this week, Reddit user u/AnWitlessWit posted to the r/FanTheories subreddit a lengthy and exhaustive theory titled “The Rickest Universe, C-137.” In Season 1’s “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind,” we learned about the Council of Ricks and Evil Morty, establishing him as a serial killer of a sort that targeted Ricks from across the multiverse. We also learned that the Rick Sanchez the series follows is the “Rickest Rick” of them all because he’s independent from and smarter than all the other Ricks. The theory grapples with what it might mean for his entire home reality, Dimension C-137, to be the Rickest of them all.

Rick calls protagonist Morty the Mortiest Morty at one point, arguing that his dumb brain waves block out Rick’s genius brain waves, but according to this theory, Morty might actually be the Rickest Morty. Of all the Mortys in the multiverse, Evil Morty and this Morty could be the closest parallels — or even the same Morty in alternate timelines.

Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon confirmed that the series will mess with time travel in Season 4 to some extent, and it might be used to explain how Morty and Evil Morty are the same Rickest Morty from divergent timelines. The Morty the show focuses on would then be destined for great things — namely to defeat his evil counterpart.

“During the progression of the series you see C-137 Morty slowly but surely become more competent or Rick-like,” they write. By the end of Season 3, Morty is competent enough to diffuse a neutrino bomb and knowledgeable enough to understand the severity of “Krootabulon soul-bonding.”

“C-137 Morty’s experience starts to increase significantly, so that by the end of only Season 2, the secrets of the universe are essentially revealed to him by a cosmic being (Fart),” the redditor continues.

Between that cosmic experience and his time spent playing Roy: A Life Well Lived earlier in that episode, Morty finally learned the “nihilistic truth of the universe and its cruelty,” essentially acquiring the perspective of a god. Morty was working his way towards accepting Rick’s philosophy after “Rick Potion #9” destroyed the original Dimension C-137 and he later convinced his sister to not run away in “Rixty Minutes” (“Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody’s gonna die. … Come watch TV?”) Morty had already confronted his own mortality when Fart showed him a vision of the universe, so at that point, he may have become something more.

Morty went on to deceive and kill Fart in the end of “Mortynight Run,” and the gaseous being seemed genuinely surprised. “If Evil Morty or C-137 Morty were raised by anything less than the Rickest Rick, they would not be able to deceive or destroy such a powerful entity,” the redditor argues.

They also make an interesting assertion that Rick is aware, and afraid of, a Morty developing that’s intelligent, capable, and violent. When Morty goes crazy in the Purge episode, Rick seems a bit unsettled by it. And the very foundation of society on the Citadel involves a myriad of Ricks systematically subjugating Mortys. That is, until Candidate Morty (Evil Morty in disguise) takes over.

Each Dimension C-137 member of the Smith family winds up being the “Rickest” version of themselves possible, which we were reminded of in the Season 3 premiere. C-137 was the original setting of the show before everyone, save for the Smith family, were turned into Cronenberg monsters. Jerry, Summer, and Beth became violent, ruthless, and smarter to survive in a violent, chaotic world full of monsters.

This being the Rickest universe could explain why Rick is so depressed and devastated at the end of “Auto Erotic Assimilation” when he euthanizes a small Cronenberg monster before failing to kill himself. His greatest failure is accidentally destroying his home reality.

But in the Season 2 premiere allowed Rick, Morty, and Summer to spend months together bonding outside of time. “The only reason why Morty C-137 isn’t Evil Morty, is because of the freeze in time, during which he would’ve developed into Evil Morty if he had that time to progress,” the redditor wrote. “But instead he had a change of heart when Rick displayed a moment of self-sacrifice when piecing the universe back together.”

Morty’s awareness of Rick’s sacrifice and the extra time spent with Rick outside of time, according to this theory, will give him the compassion for his family and the skills to defeat Evil Morty in the end.

There’s no denying that something big is coming in Season 4, but will Morty be able to outsmart his Evil doppelganger? Is it possible that Evil Morty might even kill Rick C-137 and Morty will have to find another Rick to adopt? If some aspects of this theory turn out correct, then these are distinct possibilities.

Rick and Morty Season 4 will premiere sometime in November 2019.

Here’s a full look at the theory: