It is no secret that Rick and Morty’s origin lies with the classic ‘80s film franchise Back to the Future as Doc and Marty greatly influenced the development of Rick and Morty as fans know them today, and in a spin-off solo-comic, Rick and Morty pays tribute to Back to the Future. Rick and Morty was adapted from the original web cartoon The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti created by Justin Roiland, a cartoon series that was a clear parody, or at the very least inspired by, Back to the Future. Without Back to the Future, Doc and Mharti wouldn’t have existed, meaning the world would have been deprived of the beloved series Rick and Morty. Given Back to the Future’s importance to Rick and Morty, the comic paid a perfect tribute to the film saga in a way that only Rick and Morty can.
In Rick and Morty Presents: The Council of Ricks #1 by Jake Goldman, Marc Ellerby, and Phil Murphy, fans are given the backstory of the Council of Ricks’ formation. Before they represented the Citadel, every Rick on the council had their own unique set of skills that were all needed to complete a nearly impossible mission. Rick clones were being controlled by a mysterious villain who was using them to replace important figures within the Citadel’s hierarchy and take control. So these specific Ricks came together to stop the evil mastermind, and during each one of their epic introductions in the comic, one of them pays tribute to Back to the Future in the most brutal way.
One integral member of the team needed to complete the mission of this issue is a get-away-driver, so the rest of the crew who would later become the Council of Ricks recruits Quantum Rick. Upon his introduction, Quantum Rick is in a high speed chase, running from authorities and making a clean get-away as he has mastered the art of unparalleled high-speed travel. When Quantum Rick makes the final push to lose the authorities, he accidentally pushes it too far and crash lands in the middle of a high school dance, crushing and killing most of the band members who were playing. As made clear by the banner hanging above the now decimated band, the theme of the dance was “Under the Sea” which is a reference to the dance that took place in the first Back to the Future film which was called “Enchantment Under the Sea.” To drive the reference home, Quantum Rick even breaks the fourth wall by peeking out of his ship and saying to himself, “Whoa. Déjà Vu.”
The dance itself isn’t the only reference to Back to the Future. While it isn’t confirmed, it seems as though one of the members of the band who wasn’t crushed was Marty himself who, in the first film, was filling in as lead guitarist. His position on stage lines up with where he was playing in the film and one of the only instruments near him that wasn’t crushed is a guitar, indicating that it could be his that he dropped upon the violent intrusion of Quantum Rick. It only makes sense that Marty would be there since this is such a clear reference to Back to the Future, though that aspect of the tribute remains to be confirmed.
Regardless of whether or not Marty himself made a cameo appearance, or if he was tragically crushed by Quantum Rick along with the other members of the band, the established reference was clear. From the name of the dance to Quantum Rick’s fourth wall break addressing the familiarity of the scene (both because it is of a popular movie he most likely had seen as well as being linked to the series’ itself), Rick and Morty pays tribute to its Back to the Future origin.
