‘Rick and Morty’ Boss Shares How James Gunn and Zack Snyder Teamed Up to Poke Fun at Themselves and Their Competing ‘Superman’ Films

This week’s episode of Rick and Morty had a fun surprise: DC Studios CEO James Gunn and director Zack Snyder showed up as guest stars, lending their voices to playful versions of themselves.

According to Scott Marder, the show’s executive producer, both men were really cool about it. “Both of those guys sort of implied that this is the show they watch when they have downtime. So they were thrilled to get to be a part of the world, and there was no pushback or bristling. If anything, they laughed at anything we threw at them,” Marder said. He also added that there were even more jokes they could have made, but Gunn and Snyder just took it all in good humor.

The episode, titled “Ricker Than Fiction” from season 8, episode 7, features James Gunn playing a villain. The story begins with Rick and Morty upset about the way their favorite movie series, Maximum Velocitree, is going.

They decide to visit Warner Bros. and confront Gunn, who’s the director and producer of that made-up franchise. When Gunn’s answers don’t satisfy them, Rick uses a device called the “Movie-lizer” to rewrite the movies himself.

One funny scene happens in the Warner Bros. cafeteria where Gunn meets a very muscular Zack Snyder. Snyder teases Gunn about his Superman film, joking, “Just saw your new cut of ‘Superman,’ and word of advice, he’s the ‘Man of Steel,’ not the ‘Man of Conversation.’ Do more shots of him punching!” Snyder also explains to Gunn who Rick Sanchez is, saying Rick is the smartest man in the universe but not a regular fan.

Later, Rick, Morty, and Jerry get pulled inside the Movie-lizer and become new villains in the Maximum Velocitree movie. When their characters die, Gunn gets emotional and says, “They did it! What an ending! They out-done the Gunn!” Afterward, Gunn takes the Movie-lizer’s hard drive to Warner Bros. and tells the boss this technology could change Hollywood. The boss agrees, saying, “Give this man a sundae!” But in a funny twist, Gunn is shot by a gun named “Sundae.”

Scott Marder shared his excitement about this episode and how it captures the classic Rick and Morty spirit while offering some cool surprises. The idea for the Movie-lizer started in the writers’ room and was originally called the “Book-alizer,” focusing on Jerry writing a novel. Eventually, the idea shifted to movies. The fake Maximum Velocitree series is a nod to popular franchises like Transformers and Fast and Furious.

Marder explained that since they were making fun of Hollywood, they wanted to include their bosses in the joke. Warner Bros. was a natural choice, and James Gunn was the perfect pick to play the villain. They expected Gunn to be too busy with Superman to participate, but he quickly agreed and even got Warner Bros.’ approval on the same day. Gunn recorded his parts the morning after finishing principal production on Superman.

“I think Gunn called people over him to make sure that this wasn’t going to mess anything up. And it looked like he got the green light pretty quickly,” Marder said. He also mentioned that working with Gunn and Snyder was a great experience and joked about how lucky they were to have such big names involved.

Dan Harmon, the co-creator of Rick and Morty, helped write the funny dialogue between Gunn and Snyder. Marder noted that Harmon was excited to make sure the episode lived up to having those two on the show. Gunn and Snyder recorded their lines back-to-back and took a picture that went viral, but the show managed to keep their cameos secret until now.

The episode also explores the ongoing debates among fans about big franchises, sequels, and long-running series like Superman and Rick and Morty. Marder said, “Writing is really hard. It’s a lot easier to sit on your couch and nitpick something than it is to do the heavy lifting of doing it yourself.” The episode shows Rick and Morty trying to make a better movie but realizing it’s not as easy as it seems.

Even though Gunn’s character is shot at the end, he could still come back since he’s now part of the Rick and Morty universe. Snyder enjoyed the experience so much that he offered to do more work on the show. Marder said, “I direct all the voices, so I directed both those guys, and Snyder left, and he came back like a fan, saying, ‘I’ll do anything for the show. Throw me a tag. Throw me a thing.’”

When asked about a possible Snyder cut of the episode, Marder laughed and said, “That would be cool. I do love a good Snyder cut!”

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!