Who Is Rick and Morty’s Next Big Villain?

Rick and Morty Season 7 has left longtime fans of the show (and Rick Sanchez himself) all wondering: what now? 

(SPOILERS) In Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 5 “Unmortricken” we got the long-awaited – and yet somehow totally unexpected – final showdown between series protagonist Rick C-137 and his nemesis Rick Prime. The entire premise of Rick and Morty’s core canon storyline (however much it mattered) was that Rick Prime had killed C-137’s wife Diane and daughter Beth, starting a multiversal manhunt and feud that ultimately led Rick C-137 to take Rick Prime’s place in the villain’s native universe, waiting for him to return one day. Instead, it was the “Evil Morty” who finally helped Rick C-137 achieve his mission, trapping and killing Rick Prime. 

Rick and Morty Season 7 Episode 6 made it clear that the series isn’t treating Rick’s brutal victory over Rick Prime as a glorious victory without weight or consequence; Rick has a whole new existential crisis to face, now that his reason and purpose for living are gone. We expect that Rick will have an oddesy of sorts, trying to find new ways to define his life – or denying that the mental/emotional issue exists at all. Ultimately though, there will probably be only one thing that truly gets Rick C-137 back on his game: a new archnemesis to chase. 

Who Is Rick and Morty’s Next Big Villain? 

Evil Morty – The obvious bet for the next series “Big Bad” is, of course, Evil Morty. For a long time Rick and Morty had viewers believing that Evil Morty was the big bad of the show; he was the only one to outwit Rick – as seen in the Season 1 episode “Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind” – and by the time he got an entire bottle episode dedicated to his rise of power in the Citadel of Ricks (S3E7), it seemed pretty clear that Evil Morty was the bad guy that the show wanted us to be wary of. 

Ever since Evil Morty achieved his goal and broke free of the Finite Curve of the multiverse Rick created for himself, it seemed like only a matter of time before he returned to wreak havoc. That’s why one of the biggest surprises of “Unmortricken” was seeing Evil Morty actually team up with Rick and Morty against Rick Prime. But while we saw that Evil Morty can work with Rick and Morty, he also used the encounter to learn about the most dangerous piece of tech in the multiverse: Rick Prime’s Omega Device. Now Evil Morty arguably has the means to erase anyone from existence: we should all definitely wonder what he aims to do with that power. 

Mr. Nimbus – We know that Mr. Nimbus (the Namor/Aquaman parody Rick has a longstanding feud with) isn’t really the Big Bad type, but in the context of the Season 7 storyline, he’s an easy distraction for Rick’s existential dread. Rick could very well pick a new fight with Nimbus just to cement that “nemesis” relationship he may need so badly right now. Nimbus does admittedly have power over the ocean (and the police), so he can at least be a worldly threat worthy of Rick’s (and the President’s) attention. Plus, there’s an Aquaman movie coming out this year… so that would be fun timing. 

Another Rick – “Unmortricken” came out of nowhere and put an end to Rick Prime faster than anyone could’ve guessed. 

Or did it? 

Rick and Morty has always loved pulling off big twists other series couldn’t dream of doing – like an episode about the characters “Cronenberging” the entire Earth into a mutant hell, and then moving to a parallel universe to side-step any consequences. We’re due for a major fakeout where Rick Prime isn’t really dead (another Evil Morty scheme?), or a reveal that there’s another unseen Big Bad really pulling the strings – some version of Rick and/or Morty we have yet to meet. 

Jerry – A Jerry variant being the ultimate mastermind would be W I L D.