Rick & Morty: One Meta Season 3 Joke Is Even Better Than You Realize

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One meta joke from Rick and Morty season 3 might be even better than viewers initially realize. Adult Swim's animated sci-fi comedy, Rick and Morty, began airing back in 2013 and has since garnered widespread critical acclaim and popularity. The show is noted for its signature nihilism and self-aware comedy, often subverting genre expectations.

Rick and Morty season 3 continued the show's tradition of parodying certain genres and tropes with season 3, episode 4, «Vindicators 3: The Return of World-Ender.» This episode is Rick and Morty's violent parody of superhero teams like the Avengers. Rick and Morty's involvement with the Vindicators in this episode begins when a crystal on the shelf in Rick's garage (which Morty refers to as the «Vindibeacon») starts ringing. Morty is eager to answer the call, but Rick says: "I refuse to answer a literal call to adventure, Morty."

Related: Rick & Morty Season 2'S Parasites Are The Smith Family — Theory Explained

For many of those well acquainted with storytelling, the phrase "call to adventure" will surely ring a bell. Indeed, the call to adventure is one of the many steps in the «hero's journey» (a.k.a «the monomyth») described in detail by writer Joseph Campbell in his book, «The Hero With A Thousand Faces.» This episode of Rick and Morty is therefore explicitly referencing the story structure that underlies most of popular Western fiction, once again playing into the show's self-aware and meta-humor. However, this is only the first layer of the joke.

While the call to adventure is the part of a hero's journey where the quest is first brought to the protagonist's attention, the following step is the "refusal of the call to adventure," which is generally where the hero hesitates;