Rick and Morty’s Full Origin Backstory Explained

Rick and Morty Season 6 is now here, and the premiere episode “Solaricks” does nothing less than (finally) filling in some key gaps to the true origin and backstory of the series and its titular main characters. Rick and Morty creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon have built a core mythology for the show since Season 1 – but always with the grinning snark of never letting that same mythos leash the show. However, now the full picture is laid out, and it certainly deepens the character story that is the heart of the show. 

Rick Prime DGAF

The biggest twist in Rick and Morty Season 6’s premiere is the official introduction of Rick Prime (or “Weird Rick”) – the Rickest of Ricks. Rick Prime discovered interdimensional travel and the portal gun and tried to recruit Rick C-137 (the show’s main protagonist Rick) to explore the multiverse with him. However, Rick C-137 was a very different kind of Rick (and this is key) who valued his family (wife Diane and daughter Beth) more than he valued science or the god-like power of mastering the multiverse. It’s been repeatedly implied that Rick Prime then tried to kill Rick C-137 out of spite with a bomb, but killed Diane and Beth instead, before fleeing into the multiverse and pledging to go it alone. 

Rick Prime has basically been out doing whatever he wants with no discernable agenda (right now); he was pulled back to his Cronenberg home dimension by Rick C-137’s accidental portal reset in the Season 6 premiere. Since Portal Guns are off the table at the moment (see: Evil Morty), Rick Prime is seemingly stranded (for now). If Rick Prime figures out why he was pulled back to his home, C-137 and his family could have big targets on their backs…

Rick C-137: Vengeance Quest

After Rick C-137 had his family killed, he managed to discover interdimensional travel and the Portal Gun for himself and set out across the multiverse to hunt down and kill Weird Rick, killing (hundreds? Thousands?) of his own variants along the way. C-137’s campaign made him an enemy of the Council of Ricks, the Galactic Federation, and many others; eventually, Rick settled those wars and built The Citadel of Ricks and its Morty-making systems of genetic manipulation – as well as the Central Finite Curve that ensures Ricks are the smartest ones in their own walled-off section of infinity. 

When he’d exhausted his bloody search, Rick C-137 settled in the “Cronenberg Universe” that is actually Rick Prime’s home dimension. He took up residence with Rick Prime’s Morty, Beth, Summer, and Jerry in order to wait for Rick Prime to return home; instead, Rick Prime never returned (due to his obvious sociopathic nihilism) and Rick C-137 found his old familial love (however jaded) rekindled, and stayed with Beth and her family, and Rick Prime’s Morty, which is how the series begins. 

Now Rick C-137 knows where to finally find Rick Prime, but getting there again will be tricky… 

Who Is Morty?

The main Morty of the series is the “Cronenberg Universe” Morty and he is Rick Prime’s grandson. That reality’s Beth was abandoned by Rick Prime and Morty has therefore bonded with Rick C-137, who supplanted his grandfather. Mortys have been both manipulated into being and cloned by the Ricks – but this ‘Morty Prime’ has been hinted at many times as being unique or special – such as when he led the revolt against the “Evil Rick” imposter being piloted by Evil Morty. Thanks to Morty Prime trying to make a love potion in Season 1, he turned his entire universe into Cronenbergs and had to move with Rick C-137 to a new reality – which has now been killed off in the Season 6 premiere. Morty Prime now resides in a reality where Parmasean cheese is pronounced: “par-me-sian.” 

Who Is Evil Morty?

Long thought to be the main antagonist of the series, “Evil Morty” is a version of Morty that grew both self-aware and tired of the cycle of Ricks using Mortys as tools in horrific ways. This Morty variant grew intelligent and powerful enough to enslave a Rick as his pawn (Evil Rick), and destabilize The Citadel society before engineering his own election as its president. As president of the Citadel, Evil Morty is finally able to trap Rick C-137 and finish the work his Evil Rick puppet started: scanning C-137’s brain for the solution to beating the Central Finite Curve. 

Evil Morty destroys the Citadel and does escape the curve with his new Golden Portal Gun – if he will ever return, how, and what he will do, all remains to be seen… 

Rick and Morty Season 6 airs Sundays on Adult Swim.