Rick and Morty episode "Pickle Rick" had an awesome Batman Easter egg and viewers missed it. "Pickle Rick'" was a critically acclaimed season 3 episode, which garnered the show its first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Animated Program. The episode has gotten so much love, Pickle Rick has even received his very own Funko bobblehead.
Rick and Morty's talent of referencing pop culture has become a scavenger hunt of sorts, with fans trying to catch each cultural nod incorporated throughout the series. Yet, the references sprinkled throughout do not always reflect pop culture, but also the lives of the creators themselves. During the first and second season, for example, the production credits for "Harmonious Claptrap" shows a bearded man on a couch, with his loving wife and dog. When season 3 begins, the image has changed, the room in disarray with the woman absent, and the bearded man alone on the couch. The reference, many believe, is to Dan Harmon's divorce prior to the series return. While this potentially personal reference was seemingly obvious, the Easter eggs within the series are not always as noticeable.
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According to Vice, the post-credit scene for Rick and Morty's "Pickle Rick" episode was an obscure nod to Batman. After the credits roll, viewers found their favorite duo bound below hammers connected to the keys of a piano. A french Joker-esque villain, with a smile from ear to ear, gives his farewell to Rick and Morty as he prepares to conduct his "greatest performance of all time." Thankfully, Rick and Morty are saved by the very man Rick had been trying to kill in that episode - the highly trained and skilled former adversary Jaguar. While the escape differs, the post-credit scene plays out very similar to the season 4 episode of Batman: The New Animated Adventures, "Legends of the Dark Knight," where Batman and Robin find themselves bound on piano keys with hammers above them, the Joker running along the ivory keys in the hopes of crushing the duo.
The scene also finds a similarity to another popular rendition of a Batman television series - one whose star is himself legendary. It has been speculated that the Rick and Morty post-credit scene may have also found its inspiration in Adam West's live action Batman, in the episode titled "The Dead Ringers." In this episode, Batman and Robin find themselves bound to a conveyor belt that is slowly bringing them to their death within a hole punching machine rigged to a piano. While their escape differs as well, the scenario's similarities can not be overlooked.
Justin Roiland has been very open about his love of the masked vigilante, with this reference in itself an Easter egg concerning the creator. While this has been the first Batman reference within the series to be discovered, it may not be the last. With a recent 70 episode order given to Rick and Morty, the chances are high there will be more cleverly hidden Batman Easter eggs when the show returns.
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Source: Vice