Best Rick And Morty Supporting Characters Not Related To Them

As every fan knows, Rick and Morty is the greatest show in the history of the multiverse – and that's even counting the stiff competition of interdimensional cable. Of course, as Rick would tell you, the infinite Ricks from infinite dimensions are mainly responsible for the show's greatness. Rick might even concede that the many Mortys of the multiverse are another reason the series rules, but only because Mortys provide the contrast that make Ricks shine all the brighter.

But Rick could never strut his god-like stuff in an empty multiverse. Without other beings to vanquish, to worship him, or to feel intellectually and philosophically superior to, his life would be cosmically empty. Jerry, the galaxy's most petulant father-in-law, offers a satisfying outlet for Rick's ceaseless contempt — "I don't like your unemployed genes in my grandchildren," Rick tells him on one occasion — and sometimes, his granddaughter Summer comes in for a dose of disdain as well. But lording his skills over his own family only begins to fulfill the needs of Rick's voracious ego. Moreover, though he wouldn't admit this himself, Rick needs a galaxy full of characters to humble him, illustrate his past, and provide challenges. These are the best friends, foes, and foils from beyond Rick and Morty's family, who bring meaning to the titular duo's multiversal exploits.

When we think of fiction's greatest characters, we think of Captain Ahab, Othello, Hamlet, Peter Pan, Frankenstein's Monster, Elizabeth Bennett, and all the other creations who have informed our sensibilities and shaped our collective consciousness. Set to inevitably join that list is Mr. Poopybutthole, the cheerful little character who sprang onto the stage in the masterwork Rick and Morty episode, "Total Rickall." In this episode, Mr. Poopybutthole has to help Rick and the Smith family fight off a plague of alien parasites. The parasites alter memories and make the family believe that each newly introduced character, no matter how ridiculous (they include Mrs. Refrigerator, Pencilvester, and Ghost in a Jar), is actually a member of the family.

The episode ends with a harrowing twist when Beth, confused by the traumatic events of the alien invasion, shoots Mr. Poopybutthole in a tragic case of mistaken identity. The poor creature is seriously wounded — but you can't keep a good Poopybutthole down! Our vaunted hero recovers, and appears in the codas of other episodes, such as "The Wedding Squanchers" and "The Rickchurian Mortydate." He gets a proper comeback in "One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty," in which he teaches college, triumphs in a karate fight, and helps Rick and Morty with a heist. In the immortal and triumphant words of this titan of dramatic imagination, "Ooooohweeee!"

While the finale of season one, "Ricksy Business," may not have galaxy-spanning stakes or chilling multiversal implications, it stands as a seminal episode for the important supporting characters it introduces, and for the insight it provides into Rick's mind. The plot seems inconsequential on the surface: When Beth and Jerry leave for a weekend to visit a Titanic-themed attraction, Summer and Rick throw a house party. "Wubba lubba dub dub," Rick yells excitedly, at the prospect of getting "rickety-rickety-wrecked." Summer's invites include her friend, Tammy, while Rick invites a far-flung assortment of beings from across the galaxy, including Birdperson, Squanchy, and Gearhead. All four of the guests will play important roles in subsequent seasons, none more so than Birdperson, who fatefully hooks up with Tammy at the party.

It turns out that Birdperson and Rick are old friends who have been through a lot together. When Rick passes out after a couple of days of heavy partying, Birdperson tells Morty and Summer that "Wubba lubba dub dub" actually means "I am in great pain, please help me" in his language. This is the first indication that Rick has more to him than the senseless pursuit of shallow pleasures. It also sets up further revelations about his and Birdperson's history as freedom fighters wanted by the Galactic Federation. Events conclude in their season four showdown, when Birdperson appears as the lethal cyborg, Phoenixperson, AKA ... wait for it ... PP.

Tammy Guterman, popular student at Harry Herpson High, has cameo appearances in season one before she emerges as a consequential character in "Ricksy Business," and, eventually, one of Rick's most formidable adversaries. At Rick and Summer's house party, Tammy becomes smitten with Birdperson's luxurious plumage. Later, she and Birdperson are shown enjoying domestic bliss in "Get Schwifty." 

But the galaxy-changing season two finale, "The Wedding Squanchers," reveals that Tammy's love for Birdperson is a ruse. She's not a high school student: She's a secret agent for the fascistic Galactic Federation, who have been playing the long game. When Rick and family attend Birdperson and Tammy's wedding off-planet, they discover the ceremony is a scheme to gather together wanted galactic terrorists like Rick, so that the Federation can take them out. Indeed, the cold-blooded Tammy guns down Birdperson at the altar.

Rick and family barely escape, but now that his cover is blown, he has to surrender to the Federation. This results in a season two cliffhanger with Rick in an alien prison. In later seasons, Rick gives up defying the Federation, but Space Beth takes up the fight, leading to Tammy's attack on Earth in the season four finale, "Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri." After a tense standoff, Rick ventilates Tammy's skull, telling her, "You made me go to a wedding! And you killed my best friend ... I shoulda said that one first."

Unlike other key supporting characters, Unity appears in just one episode, "Auto Erotic Assimilation." But this entity may be the most important non-family member in Rick's life ... not that he would admit to it. While Unity, a hivemind who can inhabit and control every person it encounters, first appears threatening, it turns out that it is a former flame of Rick's. While Morty and Summer have deep reservations about the fact that Unity enslaved an entire planet's population, this is a serious turn-on for Rick, not only because Unity is one of the few beings in the multiverse who can match his intellectual powers, but because she can use her control over the population to act out his most elaborate fantasies.

But there's a reason they broke up. Rick likes to party too hard, and he'll do anything to avoid the emotional responsibility of real intimacy. After an extended bender that causes Unity to lose control of the planet, it leaves love letters for Rick scattered across its population, admitting that, though she loves him, she must say goodbye. Rick returns home and attempts suicide rather than face his emptiness and grief, as the haunting "Do you Feel it" by Chaos Chaos plays the scene out. Rick and Morty traffics most comfortably in absurdity and satire, but occasionally, as in this episode, it achieves striking pathos as well.

Squanchy is a minor character, but a popular one, and — along with Birdperson — one of Rick's only real friends. The three of them go back a long way, having once played together in a band called The Flesh Curtains. In fact, Squanchy is so bummed when Rick says that Birdperson is his best friend, he discards his "Rick's BFF" bracelet. But the hurt feelings could never last, as Rick and Squanchy will always bond over their true love: booze. They tie one on together in the epic bender Rick throws in "Ricksy Business," and get blitzed again at Birdperson's wedding in the aptly-titled "The Wedding Squanchers."

What exactly is Sqaunchy? It's hard to say. He seems like a cat that's been left out in the rain, or maybe a spiritual cousin to Bill the Cat from the comic strip Bloom County. He also shares a linguistic system with the Smurfs, using "squanch" in place of any given noun, verb, or adjective. After Tammy and the Gromflomites ambush Birdperson's wedding, Squanchy evokes another '80s animated show and turns into a giant, menacing Thundercat version of himself. Thus transformed, he lays waste to the Gromflomites, allowing Rick and the Smith family to escape with their lives. Did Squanchy perish on that fateful day? The show has yet to confirm it one way or another. But one thing's for sure: If he did, he's almost certainly squanching his own hooch in that great still in the sky.

Voiced by the great Keith David (Childs in The Thing), the President is alternately one of Rick's greatest allies and his greatest adversaries. They are introduced to each other in the season two episode "Get Schwifty," when an alien race of giant floating heads forces Earth into a musical reality show competition. Only Rick and Morty can create the hit song that saves the planet, as the aliens have blown up the Grammys and every musician in attendance. The President helps by staving off the generals who want to nuke the aliens, and recruiting the last surviving musician, Ice-T, to the cause. The episode concludes with Rick, Morty, and the President performing their latest hit, which the aliens love. They swiftly declare Earth the winner of the competition. 

Now the President has them on speed dial and enlists them for every two bit sci-fi problem around. "He treats us like we're the Ghostbusters," Rick complains. To compound problems, the stingy SOB won't even pose with Morty for a selfie! Things escalate in the season three finale, "The Rickchurian Mortydate," until he and Rick engage in a fight to the death in the Oval Office and on the White House lawn, before reaching a grudging resolution. Keith David brings authority and hilarity as the President and gets an extra shout-out for also voicing the indelible Reverse Giraffe from the episode "Total Rickall."

Though Rick would never concede it, the family therapist Dr. Wong — voiced with infinite patience and just a hint of knowing smugness by Susan Sarandon — presents another kind of threat to Rick. Specifically, she threatens his carefully curated emotional detachment and illusion of control. In fact, Rick is so terrified of what Dr. Wong might make him face about himself that he gets out of counseling by turning himself into a talking pickle. In fairness, which of us hasn't thought of undergoing a pickle transformation to avoid something we dreaded? Right? Just us?

Beth accepts that Rick can't join them, but she also takes Rick's ready-made syringe of anti-pickle serum with her when they go. Rick is now vulnerable to cats, the sun, and storm drains. Eventually, he becomes involved in a violent, action movie-esque odyssey, pitched somewhere between Die Hard and John Wick. In the meantime, the family makes some actual progress with Dr. Wong.

When Rick finally arrives near the end of their session, he tells Dr. Wong the truth: He didn't want to come to counseling because he doesn't respect her and thinks therapy is for sheep. But Dr. Wong already has Rick's number. Unperturbed by his contempt, she tells him, "Rick, the only connection between your unquestionable intelligence and the sickness destroying your family is that everyone in your family, you included, use intelligence to justify sickness." Wubba lubba dub dub!

Jaguar doesn't get a lot of screentime, but he makes a strong impression in "Pickle Rick," one of the series' most beloved episodes. Voiced by (and presumably modeled after) the real-life badass Danny Trejo, he's also one of the few prominent characters of color in Rick and Morty. Rick, having turned himself into a pickle to avoid family therapy, has become embroiled in wacky hijinks down in the sewer. After vanquishing some rats and escaping to the surface, Rick finds himself deep inside the compound of generic international villains, à la John Wick, who try to eliminate him. When Rick proves to be an elusive target, the head villain releases their captive freedom fighter, Jaguar, and promises him a reunion with his daughter in exchange for killing Rick. Rick and Jaguar have an epic battle, proving to be well-matched adversaries. They manage to wound each other before developing a mutual respect.

Of course, as in any action movie worth its salt, the opponents become allies, teaming up to take down the criminals who have captured Jaguar and enslaved his country. This leads to one of the show's greatest post-credit scenes. Rick and Morty have been captured by the fiendish piano-themed villain, Concerto, and even Rick thinks they're goners. But at the last second, Jaguar swoops in out of nowhere to kill Concerto and free them. "Who was that?" Morty asks, to which Rick replies, "That, Morty, is why you don't go to therapy."

Appearing in an early season one episode, the blue-skinned Mr. Meeseeks has become a symbol of the series. Part of his appeal is the genie-in-a-bottle fantasy element: Push a button and Mr. Meeseeks instantly appears, cheerfully grants your one wish, and disappears forever. The epitome of problem-solving! What could possibly go wrong? This is Rick's thinking when he hands over the Meeseeks Box to Jerry, Beth, and Summer to get them out of his hair for a while. Beth and Summer immediately use the box for a little self-improvement. But anything involving Jerry is bound to turn catastrophic, idiotic, or both.

All the would-be patriarch wants is to take two strokes off his golf game. But of course, his basic incompetence prevents that, while his infantile pride won't allow him to listen to Mr. Meeseeks' advice. This forces Mr. Meeseeks to summon another Mr. Meeseeks to help him help Jerry. This one eventually calls another, then that one calls another, until scores of Meeseeks finally revolt against the simple fact of their existence. "Meeseeks are not born into this world fumbling for meaning, Jerry!" exclaims one. "We are created to serve a singular purpose for which we will go to any lengths to fulfill! Existence is pain to a Meeseeks, Jerry!" Thus, the episode expands from a simple mockery of Jerry's callowness and ineptitude to a mediation on the nature of existence, setting the template for the show's ever-more frequent forays into philosophical contemplation.

Noob Noob has a small but crucial role propping up Rick's ego in "Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender." In this episode, Rick and Morty are summoned by the Vindicators, a third-rate Avengers-type outfit, who need Rick's help to vanquish an alien foe. There is no love lost between Rick and the Vindicators. He is beyond contemptuous of their powers and their character designs ("So your origin is what? You fell in a vat of redundancy?" he sneers), and they resent his snotty attitude. But one person does appreciate Rick's putdowns: The janitor, Noob Noob, a crooked-eyed being whose cred is helped immeasurably by the fact that he appears to be of the same species as the immortal Mr. Poopybutthole.

To prove his unquestionable superiority over the Vindicators, Rick annihilates Worldender by himself, then creates a series of deadly traps that they must solve or die. To prove he can literally outdo them in his sleep, Rick does this all while blackout drunk ... then remembers none of it. In the final test, the group must guess the most important person in Rick's life. This turns out not to be Morty, but Noob Noob, who gave Rick props for his "awesome jokes." Rick builds Noob Noob an elaborate shrine, and the little guy is also featured in the closing rap by Logic. All he had to do was appreciate Rick's meanspirtedness ... and of course, clean up his drunken diarrhea.

Gearhead appears in a handful of key episodes, and is crucial in illuminating the depths of Rick's narcissism and insensitivity. He first appears as one of the guests Rick invites to the party in "Ricksy Business." Here, he is established as one of those partygoers who traps you in a corner with boring stories, regaling Morty with the 754-year history of the Gear Wars. It's somewhat mystifying why Rick would even invite him to the party, until later in the episode, when he serenades the other guests with his gear-guitar.

Rick and Morty next encounter Gearhead on Gearworld, when Rick needs his ship repaired in season two's "Mortynight Run." At first, Gearhead is willing to help, but then he drops a dime on Rick, ratting out his location to the Galactic Federation. Turns out, Gearhead doesn't like Rick very much. He feels disrespected by the name "Gearhead," which is "like calling a Chinese person Asia-face." Rick learns that his real name is Revolio Clockberg, Jr., and proceeds to stuff his gearsticles in his mouth, leaving him for dead. Given their enmity, Morty is subsequently shocked when Gearhead turns up at the party for Noob Noob at the conclusion of "The Vindicators." But Rick shrugs it off, saying, "Morty, 20 people try to kill me every week. I end up getting high with half of 'em."