Rick and Morty

An Adult Swim original series created by Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland, Rick and Morty premiered in 2013, based on a series of bizarre Back to the Future parodies.

The protagonists are the eponymous Rick Sánchez, a super intelligent but perpetually drunk mix of Mad Scientist and Byronic Hero; and Morty, his more level headed but Hormone-Addled Teenager grandson. The series itself follows Rick dragging Morty on outlandish adventures across The Multiverse, much to the ire of Morty's parents who view Rick as a bad influence...

In 2015, Oni Comics began publishing a comic book series based on the show.

Tropes used in Rick and Morty include:

• Aborted Arc: The first few episodes hint that Morty has some kind of learning disability but it's quickly dropped.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind, Rick loves that one of Evil Rick's henchman laughs at his zingers. Much to his dismay, that's just a random noise it makes every ten seconds, unrelated to the jokes.
• All for Nothing: By the end of Season 3, all of Rick's attempts to change the family dynamic come undone, largely thanks to his own selfishness and lack of impulse control, and Beth outright says that they're back to the Season 1 dynamic.
• The Bad Guy Wins: In Tales From the Citadel, Evil Morty becomes the Citadel's new President.
• Become Their Own Antithesis: Rick accuses the Citadel of Ricks of this. They wanted to escape the government so they became a government of their own. Candidate/Evil Morty reiterates this belief in Tales From the Citadel, noting that every Rick who fled to the Citadel of Ricks has had to become a working class man, never being allowed to use their genius.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Ice-T is actually Water-T. He was frozen and banished from his homeworld for not caring about anything.
• Body Backup Drive: Operation: Phoenix.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Happens quite frequently.
• Butt Monkey:
  • Jerry Smith, full stop.
  • Morty.
  • Revolio Clockberg Jr., otherwise known as "Gearhead", seems to take a good amount of shit whenever he shows up.
• City of Adventure: The Citadel of Ricks.
• Cosmic Horror Story: The Multiverse is a beautiful place but it's filled with creatures and horrors far beyond human comprehension whose power humanity cannot combat against.
• Crapsack World: The default universe type is apparently "fascist dystopia."
• Dyson Sphere: The Cromulans built one around their sun.
• Eagle Land: The Season 3 finale deconstructs this trope, with Rick noting that America's need to be the Big Man on Campus. The President even outright says that the office of the President can't co-exist with powerful entities that won't submit to it.
• Early Installment Weirdness: The first episode has:
  • Rick's stutter and belching being more pronounced.
  • The Portal Gun having a charge.
  • The Galactic Federation has interdimensional portals. Later episodes would make clear that the Federation lacks this technology and acquiring it is one of the main reasons that they're warring with Rick.
• Everyone Has Standards: When Rick sees that King Jellybean tried to rape Morty, he goes into full Tranquil Fury mode.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • Riq IV to Rick.
  • Evil Morty to Morty.
• Expendable Alternate Universe: As far as Rick is concerned, every universe is this.
• Honey Trap: Tammy to Bird Person.
• Kangaroo Court: The Council of Ricks. To their credit, they don't even bother trying to hide it.
• It's All About Me: Beth.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • Rick really shows this off in M. Night Shaym-Aliens!
  • Evil Morty is also quite good at it.
• The Multiverse: Shows up constantly. The main Rick and Morty are from universe C-137.
• Mysterious Past:
  • Rick. Beth describes his backstory as "incredibly vague."
  • Evil/Candidate Morty denies answering what reality he comes from and where his Rick is.
• Never My Fault: Beth in a nutshell, placing the blame for every problem in their marriage on Jerry. When they briefly divorce in Season 3, she blames her kids and Rick. Summer even lampshades this in Total Rickall.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Ever heard of Revolio Clockberg Jr.? He's more commonly called "Gearhead."
• Our Presidents Are Different: The President is visually based off of Barack Obama but is President Buffoon.
• Protagonist-Centered Morality: In the Season 4 opener, Rick refers to the Crystal Poachers, who illegally mine Death Crystals, as low-life scavengers. When Morty asks what they makes them, as they were mining Death Crystals, Rick answers, in a "duh" tone of voice, that they're Rick and Morty.
• Replacement Goldfish: With an infinite number of universes, there are an infinite amount of Smith families to slide into. Rick even notes in the Season 3 premiere that the Summer that Riq IV is holding hostage isn't even his original Summer.
• Sufficiently Analyzed Magic: Happens every time that magic is brought into the series.
• The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday: Summer gets a job there in Something Ricked This Way Comes.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: How Jerry views Rick.
• Thinking Up Portals: The portal gun.
• This Was His True Form: The Memory Parasites.
• Time Police: They look like testicles and are all Angry Black Men.
• Took a Level In Dumbass: Jerry wasn't exactly a genius in Season 1 but he was still reasonably intelligent. By Season 3, he's bordering on Too Dumb to Live.
• Twenty Minutes Into the Future: The US government has some tech that can fight Rick on a reasonably equal footing.
• Ungovernable Galaxy: The galaxy is full of galactic terrorists, sub-galactic dictators, alien mobs, Eldritch Abominations, and Rick who is probably more dangerous than all of them put together. The Federation does fight them; and aside from Rick, they seem quite good at it; but it's also a People's Republic of Tyranny that's mainly interested in wealth.
• The Unmasqued World: Everyone knows Rick is a super-genius and that aliens and monsters exist but it's otherwise no different from the real world.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Frequently. For example, the Morty subplot from Tales From the Citadel is Stand by Me. Even issue #24 is Event Horizon.