In a panel at SDCC with Vindicators creator Sarah Carbiener, she describes the fun that went into making the original episode in season 3 of Rick and Morty, Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender. Even though they only appeared in one episode of Rick and Morty, The Vindicators are given long and elaborate backstories. It’s alluded that Rick and Morty joined them on an adventure in the past and were not called upon again. This ended with the Vindicators destroying a planet to end the threat. In a fit of drunken jealousy, Rick sets up traps to show the Vindicators they’re not as remarkable as they think they are. Rick kills all but two: Supernova and Noob-Noob, and Noob-Noob is only the team’s janitor.
When Adult Swim approached Sarah Carbiener, Erica Rosbe, Justin Roiland, and Dan Harmon to create Vindicator shorts and turn them into a spin-off show, they all enthusiastically agreed. One of the staples of the show to them is to stay true to the canon and not do anything to discredit anything that happened in the original episode of Rick and Morty. While staying true to canon, it is stated that the tone will vary wildly among the ten superheroes. Using the various superhero archetypes, they can go from light-hearted moments to melancholy and anything in-between. However, the show will be paced differently than an average Rick and Morty episode.
Using this format, they are able to make more wild, bizarre, or crazy choices that fit perfectly in Vindicators. With this, we are going to see moments The Vindicators might not be proud of. Unlike always seeing The Avengers beat the antagonist or Batman solves the mystery. When “on the job,” The Vindicators are superheroes, but in this, we see the “dysfunctional family” aspect of a group of people living and working together. This is something that most of us can relate to, for better and worse.
The cast is full of well-known celebrities: Christian Slater, Gillian Jacobs, Tom Kenny, Maurice LaMarche, Justin Roiland, and others. According to Sarah Carbiener, the ensemble cast brings “everything” to the story of VIndicators. She expressed how enjoyable it was to see “larger than life” actors do “dumb shit and go with it”. One idea that is going to be further explored in the shorts is the love triangle between Supernova, MIllion Ants, and Alan Rails. While it was explored in the Vindicators episode of Rick and Morty, they are able to go further into it in the shorts.
One of the things that Sarah was excited about during the making of Vindicators was being a voice director. Usually, the showrunner is also the voice director of a cartoon. Having one of the creators and writers of the show also doubles as the voice director does mean the finished product would be even closer to the original idea than most other shows.
Vindicators 2, also known as The Vindicators, Rick and Morty: The Vindicators, and Vindicators 2: Last Stand Between Earth and Doom, premiered on July 23, 2022, on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel.
It wasn’t that good if you ask me. Not very funny.