Warning! This article contains spoilers for Death of the Venomverse #2 In many ways, Venom and Rick and Morty are incredibly similar franchises in terms of the high-concept science fiction both include within their respective continuities, especially with the ongoing Death of the Venomverse event. Now, there’s yet another link between them, as Venom perfectly calls out Rick and Morty with just one insult.
Like Rick and Morty, Death of the Venomverse is a universe-hopping adventure where a team of Venom variants must work together to stop one ultimate evil: Carnage. This is a storyline that’s reminiscent of Rick and Morty season 1, episode 10 “Close Rick-Counters of the Rick Kind” where one set of Rick and Morty are killing other Ricks across the multiverse and stealing their Mortys to gain power. While different enough to stand on their own, both Rick and Morty and Death of the Venomverse cover similar ground in terms of multiverse stories. That being said, there is one difference between how each franchise looks at multiversal travel, including the significance of an individual even in the face of a multiverse where an infinite number of that person exists. According to Venom, the idea that someone is irrelevant because they’re not the version of that person from Venom’s original universe is “stupid” – something that cannot be said for Rick and Morty.
Venom Thinks Rick & Morty’s Nihilistic View of the Multiverse is “Stupid”
In Death of the Venomverse #2 by Cullen Bunn and Gerardo Sandoval, Anne Weying’s Agent Venom and Virus have aligned themselves with a number of other Venoms across the multiverse to hunt and kill Carnage. Carnage is on a mission to kill every Venom in every universe and absorb their unique abilities. Already, Carnage killed the Spot to steal his portal-travel power (which is how he was able to launch this crusade to begin with), he killed Mania and stole her Hell-Mark, granting him immunity to fire and control over his own personal army of demons, and the symbiote rid himself of the need for a host. One of the recruits was a version of Dylan Brock (the new Venom in Marvel Comics continuity), and in this issue, Carnage stabbed him through the stomach, killing the child in an instant. After the battle was done and Carnage escaped, Virus was trying to consol Agent Venom after their loss of Dylan, saying, “He… wasn’t–” at which point Virus was cut off by Agent Venom, who angrily said, “Don’t say he wasn’t my Dylan. You of all people know how stupid that sounds”.
Every fan of Rick and Morty knows how often it’s brought up that a certain member of Rick’s family isn’t actually ‘his’ Morty or Summer or Beth. In Rick and Morty, there is a thin line between individuality and collectivism, as each version of a person is unique enough for Rick not to care about unless their ‘his’, but they’re also so similar and replaceable that he can jump universes whenever he wants and live with these ‘strangers’ like they are his real family. Either way, Rick and Morty very prominently shows that it is important which universe someone is from in relation to Rick. For instance, Rick could watch a thousand Mortys die and be fine so long as ‘his’ Morty is safe. This, clearly, is not the same for Venom.
Venom seems to understand that people from every universe are significant, not because of who they are on a multiversal scale or who their variants are, but because of who they are as an individual. Agent Venom wasn’t sad because a Dylan was dead, she was sad because that Dylan was dead, and to think any less of that tragic truth because it wasn’t the Dylan from her original universe is “stupid”. So, with one insult, Venom perfectly calls out Rick and Morty and the show’s view on someone’s multiversal significance (or, more accurately, insignificance) perfectly.
Death of the Venomverse #2 by Marvel Comics is available now.
