Warning: Spoilers for Rick and Morty: Youth in Rickvolt #3!Once again,Rick and Mortybring back their bizarre pregnancy gag. One of the strangest recurring themes in the franchise, it revolves around the humorous impregnation of its male characters, most often Morty. The first season’s opening credits even feature Jerry giving birth to an alien. Meanwhile, Morty’s ongoing role in fathering alien babies has become a gag in itself.
..impregnating him with something resembling a Xenomorph chestburster for the eye…
The pregnancy gag continues inRick and Morty: Youth in Rickvolt#3 by Michael Moreci, Tony Gregori, Josh Jensen, and CRANK! In this issue,an adolescent Morty is impregnated by a brain-like alien, resulting in him losing an eye during its birth.
Pregnancy has long been a running joke and recurring plot element inRick and Morty, both onscreen and on-panel, with Morty frequently at the center of such storylines.With this latest impregnation, it’s worth revisiting past instances of Morty’s various pregnancies—including a deeper look at this most recent one—to explore why the franchise so often depicts him as pregnant.
The Many & Various Pregnancies of Morty Smith
How Else Has Morty Ended Up Pregnant?
Throughout theRick and Mortyfranchise, Morty has found himself pregnant on multiple occasions. In the episode"Raising Gazorpazorp,“Morty’s addiction to a sex robot Rick buys for him leads to the birth of Morty Jr.In"Rickdependence Day,“Morty’s sperm combines with a giant Summer’s egg to create Naruto Smith (better known as Giant Incest Baby). Morty also givesbirth to a Cthulhu baby, which appears in the opening credits and has its origin story explored in the comics.
Youth in Rickvolt#3 introduces a parallel world where Morty is El Presidente, seeking revenge on Rick for a grave sin committed in their past. A flashback reveals that Rick and Morty were battling aliens in a tower. Despite Morty’s insistence on taking a safer route through the tunnels, Rick chooses another path, putting them face-to-face with The Brain.The Brain spits in young Morty’s eye, impregnating himwith somethingresembling a Xenomorph chestbursterfor the eye. The altercation costs Morty his eye, explaining the eyepatch he wears when he’s older.
Rick & Morty Secretly Turned a Season 1 Joke into Bleak Generational Trauma
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Why Is Morty Always Pregnant?
Morty’s Pregnancies Go Beyond Humor
Some readers may wonder why so many stories, both in the television show and the comic books, depictMorty either going through a pregnancyor, at the very least, always fathering a child. It would be easy to say that this is simply because Morty is the butt of the joke and thus suffers the franchise’s most consistent gag. However, that would overlook the franchise’s central theme: characters grappling with parenthood when they’re not ready. By telling this theme through an actual child becoming a father,Rick and Mortypresents one of the most striking ways to convey this allegory.
Rick and Morty: Youth in Rickvolt#3 is available now from ONI PRESS!
