James Gunn and Zack Snyder Crash ‘Rick and Morty' on the Eve of ‘Superman'
In the modern superhero movie fandom, there is, perhaps, no more contentious and unending debate than the argument over whether Zack Snyder or James Gunn is the best moviemaker to helm Warner Bros.' multi-billion dollar entertainment franchise featuring Superman, Batman and the rest of the DC Comics characters. For the better part of a decade, superfans with Batarangs to grind have been warring in internet comment sections over their preferred administrator for Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent's big-screen escapades, ever since the 2017 Justice League film failed to meet fans' expectations amidst tragedy and controversy regarding Snyder's vision for the movie.
As Gunn gears up to release the most anxiously awaited project of his career in Superman this Friday, Dan Harmon and the Rick and Morty creative team have taken it upon themselves to bring peace to the DCCU by surprising fans with cameos from both directors playing themselves in an indulgently meta episode that has us wondering if we'll ever get a far-superior Snydercut of 'Ricker than Fiction.'
In 'Ricker Than Fiction,' Rick and Morty rage at the state of the fictional blockbuster film franchise Robo Trees in its advanced installments and break into the Warner Bros. studios to lambast Gunn, the director of the new film. Rick takes it upon himself to fix the next Robo Trees movie by using artificial intelligence, building a movie-generating robot that swallows up Gunn's script for the movie as well as Rick and Morty in The Last Action Hero fashion.
While Rick and Morty try to find an ending for the movie that is thematically satisfying and will allow them to return to reality, Gunn, frustrated over the constant criticism from fans with unhealthy attachments to Hollywood action movies, vents to his friend Snyder about Rick's intrusion in the commissary of the Warner Bros. studios — but not before Snyder offers Gunn a 'word of advice' on his upcoming Superman movie, telling his fellow director, 'He's the Man of Steel, not the Man of Conversation.'
As the latest Rick and Morty episode to feature a straight half-hour of meta-commentary about story structure and screenwriting, many meta-fatigued fans will invariably find 'Ricker Than Fiction' to be as grating as they found 'Full Meta Jackrick' back in Season Six. But, as Gunn pointed out tonight and will hopefully remember once the Superman tweets take over the internet on Friday, it's impossible to please all the fans all of the time.
And, hey, at least no one had a baby with their sister this week.
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