Loki resembles Rick and Morty in the best way possible

Marvel Studios’ Loki revolves around a God-like protagonist who explores the infinite possibilities of the multiverse, which sounds an awful lot like Rick and Morty in the best way possible.

Loki is absolutely insane. The setup for the show itself is trippy as all hell. As teased in Avengers: Endgame, 2012 Loki (after attempting to take over the world) gets his hands on the space stone (a.k.a. the Tesseract) causing shenanigans across different dimensions, altering history. This is still the evil Avnegers Loki that didn’t get redeemed in Thor: Ragnarok and Avengers: Infinity War, so it’s the God of Mischief in all of his absolute glory.

So dimension-hopping, time councils, alternate versions of characters, all sound pretty reminiscent of Rick and Morty. For anyone unaware, Rick and Morty is a beloved animated series on Adult Swim that revolves around the misadventures of the titular characters as they explore the multiverse.

How Loki takes inspiration from Rick and Morty

Even before Loki began, it was clear that it was going to resemble the mature animated hit with the way that the God of Thunder’s brother gleefully makes his way through different universes, timelines and other crazy environments – something you could tell from just watching the trailers.

While Loki Laufeyson isn’t a drunk nihilistic world-weary grandpa like Rick Sanchez (at least not yet), they are both characters who have a little too much fun causing mayhem.

The similarities between Loki and Rick and Morty don’t seem to be coincidental. Michael Waldron is the creator and showrunner of this Disney Plus show and he previously won an Emmy for being a  producer/writer on Rick and Morty. There’s also the fact that self-proclaimed Rick and Morty fan Kevin Feige personally hired co-creator Dan Harmon to consult on Doctor Strange’s high concepts so it’s clear that the show has had something of an influence over some aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On the other hand, the sci-fi animated comedy also wears its influence on its sleeves with its premise and characters directly inspired by Back to the Future and countless other pop culture properties. The concept of the multiverse was not created by Harmon and Justin Roiland, but it was rather inspired by Marvel’s own comic book history. There’s a whole interdimensional Council of Ricks that overlooks the multiverse and takes its inspiration from the Fantastic Four’s Council of Reeds.

So it does seem like Marvel and Rick and Morty have benefitted from each other’s creativity and hopefully, that’s the case. Waldron is a credited writer for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, with its subtitle showcasing a lot of promise for the franchise’s future. Loki and Rick and Morty both premiere in June 2021, so fans of Marvel or Adult Swim should consume both for a healthy dose of multiverse insanity.

Did you enjoy the premiere episode of Loki? Do you think it takes inspiration from Rick and Morty? Let us know in the comments below!