Rick and Morty opened a portal to the multiverse and the rest of pop culture jumped through

polygon.com:

It’s been 10 years since Rick and Morty premiered on Adult Swim, and in that time it’s grown to reshape all of pop culture in its image through its idiosyncratic blend of dark humor, irreverent creativity, and well-written characters. Co-created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the animated sci-fi sitcom about the multidimensional misadventures of an alcoholic mad scientist and his hapless adolescent grandson has become one of the most important animated shows since The Simpsons in its heyday.

After nearly 70 episodes, the influence of Rick and Morty’s humor and writing on video games, movies, and TV feels too vast to chart. Hell, there’s even a Rick and Morty anime spinoff on the horizon. But perhaps the place we can feel the reach of Rick and Morty most clearly is its measurable impact on yet another pop culture juggernaut: the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Of all the trends in popular culture that can be accredited to Rick and Morty’s success, none are more apparent than the popularization of its central conceit: the multiverse. Similar to how the Wachowskis’ The Matrix helped to popularize simulation theory, the concept of a hypothetical set of infinitely variable universes formed the crux of Rick and Morty’s earliest adventures and helped to elevate the show from its origins as a crass parody of Back to the Future.

“We definitely don’t start with the multiverse anymore,” Harmon told Polygon in an interview about the writing process behind Rick and Morty season 7. “There was a peak there where it became such a fun thing that was irresistible to writers old and new, where a lot of [Rick and Morty] pitches would start with, ‘Let’s say there’s a blank Rick and he’s having a blank Rick party and blank Rick shows up.’