Rick And Morty season 3 featured Christian Slater guest-starring as suave superhero Vance Maximus - who was greeted to arguably the bloodiest demise on the series. Dan Harmon already had a fanbase thanks to the beloved sitcom Community, but he entered a whole new league thanks to Rick And Morty. Harmon co-created this sci-fi comedy with Justin Roiland, who also voices the title duo. Rick and his grandson Morty hop around the universe having twisted adventures, with other family members occasionally joining in, and the show's inventive storylines and hilarious dialogue made it addictive viewing.
Rick And Morty soon became one of Adult Swim's biggest shows following its 2013 debut, and it's run for four seasons thus far. The amount of work that goes into a typical series also means there's about a two-year wait between seasons. Its success has led to lots of spinoffs too, including video games, comics, toys and there's even a Rick And Morty chia pet.
Rick And Morty is also one of the most pop culture savvy shows on TV, with the series having referenced everything from Doctor Who to The Purge. Comic book movies became the target with season 3's "Vindicators 3: The Return Of Worldender," where the duo tag along with the Guardians Of The Galaxy-aping Vindicators. Morty's hero worship of them does a number on Rick's self-esteem, who soon sets out to prove to his grandson they're phonies - needless to say, things get dark fast. Christian Slater voices Vance Maximus in this episode, the group's leader who is also the first to die.
Around the midway point of this Rick And Morty episode, the group enters the lair of supervillain Worldender and learn Rick - during a blackout drunk - killed the villain and his minions, then rigged elaborate booby traps to play a Saw-style morality game. The formerly cool Vance soon freaks out at the idea of being trapped. Against the advice of everyone he jetpacks to a vent and disappears halfway inside, where he's shot, burned, sliced - among other things - as gore rains down before the bottom half of his body plops to the ground.
Rick And Morty is famous for its bloody deaths, from the graphic demise of Tophat Jones in the Strawberry Smiggles advent to Hologram Rick's head being devoured by wasp larvae. The death of Christian Slater's Vance certainly ranks near the top, with the episode taking glee in just how gruesome and over the top it gets. While likely unintentional, Slater's death mirrors that of his character in Renny Harlin thriller Mindhunters. There he plays the leader of a group of FBI profiler trainees, but while investigating a test scenario, he's lured into a trap where his lower body is frozen by liquid nitrogen and he gorily snaps in two to everybody's shock. Again, this is probably accidental, even if the world could use more nods to Mindhunters.