Whereas followers of Rick and Morty will reportedly have to attend till 2025 for brand spanking new episodes of the present, Grownup Swim has been trying to fill the prolonged hole between seasons with the weird new Rick and Morty: The Anime spin-off, in addition to a short, Rick and Morty-themed recreation of one other beloved cartoon collection.
Grownup Swim lately aired a brand new bumper that painstakingly replicated the opening of Batman: The Animated Collection, however with Rick Sanchez rather than the Caped Crusader. And as a substitute of two random financial institution robbers, he’s battling noirish interpretations of Mr. Meeseeks and Mr. Poopybutthole, who nonetheless look much less ridiculous than some legit Batman villains.
Do not Miss
For some viewers, the knee-jerk response to this brief is likely to be skepticism, contemplating that each Rick and Morty and Batman fall below the Warner Bros. Discovery company umbrella. In spite of everything, it positive looks as if a clear-cut instance of name synergy, like all these Disney+ Simpsons shorts by which the residents of Springfield pal round with different members of the Mouse Home’s mental property portfolio. And it’s not like Rick and Morty haven’t already participated in soulless Warner Bros. crossovers.
However from all accounts, the Batman-themed bumper was a labor of affection, not a glorified industrial, à la Area Jam: A New Legacy.
The 30-second brief was a collaboration between producer/director Aron Fromm and David Braun, inventive director of Open the Portal, the animation studio that beforehand gave Rick and Morty the “creepy Czech experimental stop-motion” remedy.
In accordance with the pair, they had been impressed to create a Batman: The Animated Collection-Rick and Morty mash-up as a result of, as Fromm advised Animation World Community, “David and I each grew up on Batman: TAS and it’s most likely one of many largest influences on each of our work.” Plus, an opportunity run-in with Batman author Paul Dini shortly earlier than the animators’ assembly with Grownup Swim meant that the Darkish Knight “was prime of thoughts.”
Come to consider it, combining Rick and Morty with Batman truly makes an entire lot of sense. For one factor, each franchises are a few gadget-wielding grownup who frequently goes on adventures that imperil a small baby. And Rick and Morty has referenced Batman greater than as soon as over time, even overtly drawing comparisons to the Dynamic Duo.
To not point out how the well-known “Pickle Rick” episode ends with a post-credit scene by which the pair are almost crushed to loss of life atop an enormous mechanized piano wielded by the villainous “Concerto.”
Which followers identified appears to have been instantly impressed by various previous Batman tales, together with an episode of the ‘60s Adam West-starring TV present by which Batman and Robin are almost pulverized by Liberace.
It appears as if most individuals loved the brand new Batman bumper. However hopefully this doesn’t imply that we’ll begin seeing Rick and Morty-themed remakes of Euphoria, The White Lotus or Arliss.
You (sure, you) ought to observe JM on Twitter (if it nonetheless exists by the point you’re studying this).