Rick isn't always evil, but when he is, he's reeeeeeally evil. Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’re counting down our picks for the most despicable and downright awful things beloved anti-hero Rick Sanchez has ever done.
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00:00 we don't tell people about this one. Did we at least learn something? That we suck and everyone
00:04 sucks? Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the most despicable
00:09 and downright awful things beloved anti-hero Rick Sanchez has ever done. There are some
00:14 spoilers ahead so this is your warning. Father of the year. Shut up! Number 20. Choosing Noob Noob
00:22 over Morty. Rick and Morty are called to adventure by the Vindicators and Rick is less than thrilled
00:27 about it. He can't even pretend to hide his contempt for the group. Rick this really bums me
00:32 out. It's embarrassing to find out these guys don't like us. Why? Morty, I defeat gagus more
00:37 powerful than these guys every week. Yeah but not heroes. Oh please. They just call themselves heroes
00:42 so they can. I'm calling them that Rick. They're my heroes. Mine. Their attempt to stop the threat
00:48 of world ender is quickly extinguished by a drunken Rick who then creates Saw type scenarios for the
00:54 Vindicators to solve. In a pre-recorded message, Rick asks for the super team to place the only
01:00 thing he values that they have. When I get drunk I get stupid and emotional and there's no logic to
01:04 it. It's like it's possible I got so drunk I felt like I was losing Morty to the Vindicators and
01:09 maybe this is my way of saying okay you can have him. Morty assumes it's him and that this is Rick's
01:15 way of showing vulnerability. Morty is taken away to an underground lair where he finds out his
01:20 grandfather was talking about noob noob. Everybody else had their heads so far up their ass even my
01:24 own grandson is like oh the Vindicators are so cool. I mean he's a moron that's their demographic
01:31 but you're different noob noob. Obviously Morty is incredibly hurt finding out once again that Rick
01:37 doesn't care about his family. Number 19. Wiping Morty's memories. This may not seem so bad if
01:44 Morty had been asked by Rick to remove a traumatic memory. "What the hell is this?" "This Morty is my
01:50 archive of all the experiences you've begged me to remove from your life lest you go insane." At
01:55 least that's how Rick tries to frame his actions at first but we soon find out that he's been
02:00 removing anything that paints him in a bad light from Morty's mind. Understandably, Morty is angry
02:05 when he finds out what Rick's been doing. "Oh you like that huh? I bet that really blows your mind."
02:10 "I mean yeah it's kind of great." "You want me to erase it?" "What you can do that?" "Oh shit."
02:15 "I knew it you piece of s***." When they both get their memories erased Morty tries to figure out
02:21 who they are. Sadly he comes to the conclusion that life isn't worth living because he's controlled
02:27 by Rick. It's a pretty dire realization that Morty based on Rick's actions. Number 18. Using Jerry as
02:34 bait. It's no secret that Rick isn't a big fan of Jerry to put it mildly. When the pair is at a
02:40 resort Jerry is approached by Rosato Groupon to lure Rick into a trap so he can be killed. "Between
02:46 the first whirly and the third durly the ride dips just outside the immortality field." "You're asking
02:52 me to lure Rick to his death?" "I'm only asking you to go on a ride with Rick, get off the ride
02:57 without Rick, and go home to your family." Jerry initially refuses to take part in such a plan
03:02 but changes his mind when he's reminded that Rick is partially responsible for Jerry being
03:07 separated from Beth. "When did you get cool?" "When you stole my wife." "Should have done that
03:12 a long time ago. We're going on the whirly durly." "Whirly durly baby." Rick survives the attempt on
03:18 his life and seemingly leaves Jerry to be attacked by a giant snake-like monster only to be used as
03:24 bait for another creature. The back-to-back death scenarios he put Jerry through are beyond cruel.
03:30 "Help! Help me!"
03:31 Number 17. Avoiding Family Therapy. Rick completes the amazing task of turning himself into a pickle.
03:47 He tries to frame it as though it's an amazing feat but everyone can clearly see it was his
03:52 attempt to get out of having to go to family therapy. "Rick, did you do this on purpose to
03:56 get out of family counseling?" "Morty!" "It's okay Beth, I understand Morty's suspicion. I've
04:00 misled him before." To make matters worse, when he's directly confronted about it, he denies his
04:06 transformation has anything to do with going to therapy. "I would never find a way to get out of
04:11 family therapy. I hope my lack of fingers doesn't prevent the perception of my air quotes." Given
04:16 the disruption Rick has created in everyone's lives, it's pretty despicable that he wouldn't
04:21 support his family as they begin their healing process. When Rick finally does show up to therapy
04:26 and he's called out by Dr. Wong, he doubles down on his position. It really highlights his selfish
04:32 way of thinking and how he continues to hurt his family. "Rick, why did you lie to your daughter?"
04:36 "So I wouldn't have to come here." "Why didn't you want to come here?" "Because I don't respect
04:42 therapy. Because I'm a scientist. Because I invent, transform, create, and destroy for a living. And
04:47 when I don't like something about the world, I change it." Number 16. Causing Morty to Give Up
04:51 His Dreams. Rick really doesn't like heists. So when Morty takes an interest in them,
04:57 Rick sets in motion a series of events to show how formulaic and contrived they are. "Calling
05:02 card from Miles Knightley, a heist artist, aka a hipster dick whose adventures are 60% putting a
05:09 crew together and 40% revealing that the robbery already happened and he's not worth our time." At
05:13 first it just seems like Rick is trying to prove his point when he develops Heistatron and Randotron.
05:18 But his actions are much more insidious when it's revealed that Morty has begun writing a
05:22 script for a heist movie and will pitch it to Netflix. "Let's hear about this heist movie."
05:27 "Okay, so it's kind of all built around this big crew with like a cool double cross and then this
05:32 big awesome twist where there's like another double cross but then um but but then we reveal
05:38 those things were all part of the hero's plan." Upset that this would take Morty away from their
05:42 adventures, Rick's plan was really to make Morty disillusioned with his dreams to the point that
05:47 he'll only want to do whatever Rick wants. "You gotta help my grandson follow his dreams." "Ah,
05:51 who needs dreams? I'll just hang out with you and go on adventures and do whatever you want to do,
05:55 you know, forever." "Oh, well, uh, okay. I mean, if that's what you want."
06:00 Number 15. Misleading Morty about the reset button. Morty is fed up with having his ideas
06:06 ignored by Rick. With a little prodding, he gets Rick to build a reset button where a person can
06:12 jump back to a set point in time. "Morty, you want me to explain or you want to go have some fun?"
06:16 "I want to have some fun. Oh my god, Rick, this is, this is, thank you." "You can thank me later.
06:22 Go nuts." "Best grandpa ever!" "It's all I ever wanted to hear." With the device in hand,
06:26 Morty commits a bunch of deeds and undoes them. He reaches a point where he comes to understand
06:31 that he needs to have consequences in order to learn and grow from them. Rick informs him that
06:36 his actions did indeed have consequences. "There were definitely consequences." "What are you
06:41 talking about?" "I mean, you did everything you did. It all happened." "No, the respawn button,
06:46 the do-over." "It's not a do-over. You just did it, over and over." "What are you saying?
06:52 What did you do?" "I think it's more appropriate to ask, what did you do?" Everything Morty did
06:55 happened in another dimension, along with that dimension's Morty dying. Not only did Rick cause
07:01 immense pain and suffering to all those Mortys, he did it because Morty thought his vat of acid
07:06 was a bad idea. "Why would you do this?" "My hands are clean, Morty. I gave you a choice. You could
07:11 listen to me explain in great scientific detail how it all works, or you could have fun. Did you
07:16 have fun, Morty?" "Is this because of the vat?" "No." Number 14. Trapping scientists in the menagerie.
07:23 When Rick and Morty find themselves trapped in a menagerie, Morty is desperate to get out of
07:27 their cage. He implores Rick to get them out regardless of consequence, which is not something
07:32 you should say around Rick. "I can't take it anymore, Rick." "Relax, Morty." "I can't relax.
07:38 We gotta get out of here. I don't care what it takes. Anything." "Anything?" He's able to rig a
07:42 system that transmits a signal to a NASA lab back on Earth with instructions on how to build an
07:47 interstellar vehicle. Two unnamed scientists pilot the vehicle back to Rick and Morty's location.
07:53 "We've possessed forms your mind can accept. Here are some customary clothing gifts. Please, put
07:58 them on." Rick presents himself and Morty as otherworldly beings in human form, and strand
08:04 the newcomers in the menagerie. We understand that Rick wanted to escape, but he led two strangers
08:10 to believe they were making a discovery of a lifetime just to be abandoned in some type of zoo.
08:15 "We have so much to learn from you." "I know, right?"
08:18 Number 13. Creating a clone of Beth. Rick gave Beth the option of abandoning her family so she
08:29 could live a different life, and her family wouldn't know because she'd be replaced with a
08:32 clone. She left the decision up to her dad to know if he wanted her in his life or not.
08:38 "I want you to decide." "What?" "For once in my life, I want you to decide, dad. Do you want me
08:42 to stay here and be part of your life, or do you want me to leave?" Rick decided to go ahead and
08:47 clone his daughter, and not tell either Beth the reality of their situations and plant bombs in
08:52 them. "Why would you make a clone of me just to send the clone into space?" "Well, you didn't
08:56 want to go, and I thought, 'Okay, that's cool.' But then I thought, 'Well, you know what would
09:00 be even cooler is a space daughter.' So I made one, and I put a bomb in her neck in case she
09:05 ever came back." "Father of the year!" "She wasn't supposed to come back!" To make the whole situation
09:09 worse, he removed the memory of who is the clone and who is the original. Initially, both Beths
09:15 want to know who is who, but in the end, they are so disgusted by Rick's actions, they decide they
09:20 don't even want to be a part of his machinations. "You literally don't even know which of your
09:25 daughters is real." "Of course you don't. Why am I surprised?" "I'm sure you'd love for us to
09:29 need that from you, but I don't care what's in that vial." "Yeah, me neither." Number 12. Doing
09:34 a Pearl Harbor. After breaking from the control of a parasitic species of facehugger called Glorzo,
09:40 Rick and Morty make a daring escape. Of course, it wasn't so much daring as a complete massacre
09:46 of Glorzo. They find their actions to be therapeutic and guilt-free. "Damn, feels kind
09:51 of good when there's no guilt, huh?" "Yeah, it's like in Star Wars." "Yeah, just like in Star Wars. Go nuts!"
09:55 When they come across two skyscrapers, they decline to attack the buildings, considering it to be a
10:00 cheap shot. But they soon find a military station and they destroy it, comparing it to the attack
10:05 on Pearl Harbor. "Honestly, I'm proud of us for not." "Totally. It would have been cheap." "Yeah, real low-hanging
10:11 fruit. We're better than that. Pearl Harbor, on the other hand." "Yeah, I think that's inbounds."
10:18 It's bad enough that Rick is enjoying the destruction he's causing, but he also actively
10:23 encourages Morty to do the same. When they recount their exploits to Beth, she had the same reaction
10:28 as us - complete disgust. "We went with the Pearl Harbor. We're pretty classy." "Why were either of those
10:35 an option?" Number 11 - Hiding information about Birdperson's daughter. To save Birdperson from his
10:41 comatose state, Rick enters his mind. Things are complicated when Birdperson's conscious mind evades
10:47 Rick at every turn. "Birdperson! It's me, actual me, not a memory." "I am aware." "Well, are you aware you're in
10:53 a coma and you're gonna die if you don't come with me?" When Rick finally confronts him, he reveals
10:58 that he died on his wedding day and is waiting for his body to catch up. In order to convince BP to
11:04 change his mind, Rick reveals that he and Tammy had a child, but the memory has been suppressed by
11:09 the Federation. "Are you gonna tell him or what?" "I was getting to it. I bet she didn't even tell you about the kid."
11:14 "About the what?" "I'm sorry. I was wondering when you were gonna-" "I think I'd know if I had a kid." "You're a memory. You know what he knows.
11:19 And he doesn't know because an army of brainalyzer protocols walled off any memories post-Phoenix
11:23 person." Once out of the coma, Birdperson asks Rick point-blank if he would have kept that
11:28 information hidden had it not been necessary to save his own skin. Once again, his manipulative
11:34 and self-centered nature alienates those around him. "You did not know of the child when you came
11:38 to rescue me and once aware, refrained from sharing until necessary to save yourself."
11:44 "Fair enough." "I will see you when I see you."
11:48 For Rick, morality is a pretty subjective term. And by subjective, we mean it's for suckers. In the
12:02 second episode of season two, Rick takes Morty with him for a little business transaction. More
12:07 specifically, he sells a dangerous weapon to hyper-enthusiastic assassin Chrombopolis Michael.
12:12 "So this shoots antimatter? My target can't be killed with regular matter." And just what did
12:16 he want the money for? To fund research? To aid in a quest to overthrow the tyranny of the
12:21 intergalactic government? Nope. Just to get tokens for his favorite interstellar video game arcade,
12:26 Blitz and Shits. "What the hell? Where am I? What the hell?" "55 years. Not bad, Morty."
12:34 A hilarious bit of nihilism, sure. But also pretty twisted when you think about it.
12:39 While Rick appears to love his family, he doesn't hesitate to dole out insults and bust their
12:52 self-esteem on a regular basis. Those kinds of mixed messages can mess a person up. The trauma
12:57 of having such an explosively volatile father has already driven his daughter Beth into a state of
13:03 high-functioning alcoholism, with a heavy side of abandonment issues. And Morty is the living,
13:09 breathing face of anxiety. Summer has some spine, but it's stuff like this that chips away at a
13:15 person's psyche. "You have to understand that as far as grandpa's concerned, you're both pieces of s***."
13:28 Speaking of damaged family members, there is perhaps no one more put upon than Jerry. Okay,
13:34 he's an incompetent airhead with delusions of grandeur, but he's mostly harmless. Throughout
13:38 the series, Rick picks on his daughter's husband, making it clear that he doesn't just dislike him,
13:44 he hates him. "Look at his face, you dummy!" "I can't believe our daughter married you."
13:49 Of course, Beth and Jerry got together when Rick was AWOL from Beth's life,
13:52 but Rick doesn't see it that way. A constant struggle for Jerry is unemployment,
13:57 and part of this problem is his lack of confidence. But self-esteem is hard to build up when you have
14:02 your father-in-law, whom your spouse defends at all costs, always degrading you in front of your
14:07 kids. "Jerry, it's your house. Whatever you say it is, is how it is, but I think a blind man can
14:11 see that Beth is looking for the door." Number seven, messing up unity. "Why is that, I wonder?"
14:16 "Maybe it's part of getting old. Maybe I just missed being with a collective."
14:22 It's safe to say that Rick isn't great with one-on-one relationships. So when it comes to
14:27 one-on-a-million relationships, things get rickety-wrecked, son. After encountering an old
14:32 flame, a hive-mind entity named Unity, Rick and the Lady of Many Faces seem to rekindle the spark.
14:40 However, since they'd last met, Unity has matured, and is trying to responsibly govern those she
14:45 conquered. But one afternoon with Rick nearly undoes it all. "I lose who I am and become part
14:51 of you, because in a strange way you're better at what I do without even trying." Realizing his bad
14:56 influence before it's too late, Unity takes off, but is shaken from the experience. Rick is too,
15:02 for that matter, as the aftermath brings Rick to his lowest point in the series.
15:13 Number 6. Creating and Abandoning Aberdolf Linkler
15:17 For series regulars, it came as no surprise that Rick would dabble at playing God.
15:27 In an attempt to make a morally impartial super-leader, he combined the genes of Honest Abe
15:32 Lincoln and, ahem, Adolf Hitler. The result is Aberdolf Linkler, a mixed-up clone who is...
15:40 who's just a mess, really. "You brought me into this world, a suffering abomination,
15:45 tortured by the duality of its being. But I shall finally know peace when I watch the life drain
15:51 from your wretched body!" Always at odds with his conflicting ideologies, like Frankenstein's
15:56 monster, he seeks answers from his creator. Rick, however, does not see him for the confused
16:02 individual he is, but as a failed experiment, and essentially undumped garbage. After Linkler
16:08 tracks him down and tries to redeem himself, Rick still abandons him entirely on an alien planet.
16:14 Number 5. Taking Part In The Purge
16:22 Rick sorta had it coming when he decided to get his kicks watching a planet perform a purge.
16:31 Yeah, just like in the movie. Well, sucks to be him because he gets stuck there.
16:36 Morty, who's stuck with him, is justifiably horrified. Rick's solution? Do a little purging
16:42 themselves. "We're totally justified because we're saving a little girl! I mean, we're both free and
16:47 clear to murder these people!" Morty must have some pent-up anger to get out, right? Instead of
16:52 trying to protect his grandson, he has Summer send them some super suits so they can become
16:57 more efficient in fighting back/killing. Before long, Morty snaps and goes on a rampage. "You're
17:04 really going for it over there, huh? I think those people were just hiding." You know, we're thinking
17:10 there's some therapist who's gonna bank big helping Morty unpack this emotional baggage one day.
17:15 Number 4. Forcing Morty To Smuggle Mega-Seeds
17:20 Waking Morty up in the middle of the night, Rick convinces him to go on a no-questions-asked
17:25 crazy adventure. "Ow! You're tugging me too hard!" Rick is after some seed pods and wants Morty to
17:32 help carry them. But after Morty breaks his legs, which Rick takes his time to remedy,
17:37 they're forced to go through customs run by the Intergalactic Federation. "I'm gonna need you to
17:41 take these seeds into the bathroom, and I'm gonna need you to put them way up inside your butthole,
17:46 Morty." "My butt!" Since the seeds are illegal, he tells Morty he's gotta shove those things in his
17:51 butt, essentially turning his grandson into a drug mule. Oh, and on the way home, he has Morty
17:57 straight-up murder a Gromplomite. "No, they're not robots, Rick!" "It's a figure of speech, Morty!
18:02 They're bureaucrats! I don't respect them! Just keep shooting, Morty!" Jeez, Rick.
18:06 Number 3. Creating a Pocket Universe "Wait for the ramp, Morty. They love the slow ramp."
18:13 Renewable energy is a great thing. However, Rick's idea for perpetual energy was to create a mini
18:18 universe, and have the creatures that live there carry out a mindless task in perpetuity in order
18:24 to create this energy. When he tries to defend his system, saying how his mini-verse people get
18:29 something out of it, Morty rightfully points out, "That's slavery!" "It's society! They work for
18:34 each other, Morty!" When he goes inside to find out why his car battery, the thing the mini-verse
18:39 is powering, isn't working, he strong-arms the creatures back into subservience, and smashes
18:44 another tiny-verse, destroying not one but two new universes in the process. "You monster!" "Whoa,
18:53 bad tour!" Dark, Rick. Dark. "Class dismissed!" Number 2. Destroying the Galactic Government,
18:59 The Council of Ricks and Jerry "Order in the court! Whoa, what the hell? Oh my God!"
19:04 Despite what it might look like on this list, Rick is a complicated character with a complicated
19:12 past. But since we've come to know the mad scientist, it's become clear that three things
19:17 especially piss him off. Jerry, the Council of Ricks, and the Galactic Federation. After being
19:23 arrested, it seems that all three have him out of their hair. Until it's revealed that getting
19:28 arrested was part of Rick's plan to take them all down in one fell swoop. If Jerry had another light
19:40 on in the attic, perhaps he'd realize that he's lucky to just be getting off with a divorce.
19:45 The other two factions got it a bit bloodier. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our
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20:00 notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into
20:04 your settings and switch on notifications. Number 1. Cronenberging Earth
20:12 Rick's greatest assets, which are his abilities to rationalize and adapt,
20:21 are also his greatest flaws, making him overly blasé and ultimately unfeeling. When a love
20:27 potion he makes for Morty piggybacks on a flu virus, the crazy genes he mixed together infect
20:33 the entire human race, and the results are ugly. But rather than work tirelessly to find a cure to
20:44 save his daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law, he abandons them and the entire planet to a
20:50 disgusting fate. Bringing only Morty, Rick finds a new planet in a parallel timeline,
21:02 and makes it clear that people, even loved ones, are largely interchangeable and insignificant to
21:08 him. Have another evil Rick moment? Let us know in the comments. Did you enjoy this video? Check
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