In most of the infinite timelines of “Rick and Morty,” there’s a Rick and a Morty. While all those Ricks are similar to the same person, they vary in key Rick qualities, like intelligence, callousness, evilness, hedonism and disdain for the government. Here’s every major Rick in “Rick and Morty,” ranked by where they fall on the spectrum of Rickality.
60. Simple Rick
The Rick that makes things out of wood and loves his daughter is about as far from other Ricks as you can get — which is why the other Ricks imprison him and use him for, what else, their own selfish ends. Simple Rick is just a guy who wants to be a good dad, something that most Ricks have no interest in.
59. Slow Rick/Tall Morty
Smart Ricks are a dime a dozen, but Slow Rick is a Rick who, for whatever reason, lost his smarts. It seems the Citadel has relegated him to Morty status, which really raises a lot of questions about how this society works. But you gotta be smart to be Rick, which is why this Rick is a Morty, apparently.
58. Cop Rick
Rules aren’t really Rick’s forte, but Cop Rick is concerned about two things that don’t really appeal to Ricks — codes of conduct and empathy for others. As a rookie cop, Cop Rick learns some hard lessons about how things work on the Citadel of Ricks, but the fact that he hopes to do a good job as a police officer, and that he would want to enforce order on people at all, makes him pretty un-Rickly.
57. Doofus Rick
The least-Rick Rick is the Rick that’s the kindest and most emotionally sensitive, even if he is kind of dumb. Doofus Rick is kind, empathetic, and a generally good dude. He uses science for good, like making ovenless brownies, and he’s really supportive. Too bad he’s also mercilessly bullied by the other Ricks (and according to them he eats poop). It seems like only a matter of time before this Rick meets a horrific end.
56. Past Rick
He might be a purely fabricated origin story, but a version of Rick who chose family over science — only to have his family killed by another version of himself — jives with the slightly more altruistic moments we’ve seen from Rick C-137, the show’s protagonist (Ricktagonist?). Could there be a nugget of truth in Rick’s fabricated backstory, or is he really just driven by McDonald’s “Mulan” McNugget dippings sauce?
55. Replacement Rick
Replacement Rick managed to save his world from genetic disaster, where Rick C-137 failed. But he made a fatal science error and blew himself and his Morty up. It might be Ricklike to fail, but as real Ricks prove, narrowly pulling out a success, or just bailing on a bad situation, is essential to being Rick. Also not accidentally killing yourself.
54. Insurance Rick
It’s true that it’s an incredibly Rick thing to do to find a niche and exploit it for profit, and that’s likely what the Rick that sells Morty insurance on the Citadel of Ricks is doing. But it’s very unRick to give up super-science in favor of insurance sales.
52-53. SalesRicks
The Salesmen Ricks on the citadel are monuments to compromise. One’s hanging around the Citadel of Ricks selling “Morty Dazzlers” to help Ricks spice up their Mortys, and the other sells Morty dolls that spout the catchphrase “Show me the Morty.” Both are slightly more Rick than Insurance Rick, because Morty Dazzlers and Morty Dolls seem like more of a scam than Morty Insurance.
51. Morty Rick
Wearing Morty’s clothes and Rick’s labcoat, could Morty Rick be a Rickier version of Rick, or just a combination of the two?
50. Super Weird Rick
Ranking just a tad less evil than Evil Rick, his insane strangeness doesn’t seem very Rick.
49. Supervisor Rick
The Citadel of Ricks is full of middle managers, it seems, and there’s little that’s less noteworthy for a Rick than being another Rick’s boss. This seems like a pretty big dead end for a super scientist. At least for a Rick on the factory floor, maybe circumstances got tough and then life got away from him. What excuse does Supervisor Rick have?
48. Cool Rick
As the name, glasses and goatee imply, this Rick is, like, cool. How cool can he really be, though, if he’s going to be the new boss at the Simple Rick cookie factory. In any event, being the boss of a factory that makes cookies sounds like punching below your weight for a super genius, especially a charismatic one.
45-47. Rick D716, Rick D716-B, Rick D716-C
Some of the members of the Citadel of Ricks’ news team have seemingly had a pretty rough time of it. There’s a lot of complaining going on among them, which runs against Rick’s explanation of his philosophy to apply his massive intellect to changing things he doesn’t like about the world. And reporting the news rather than making it doesn’t sound especially Rickish.
40-44. Retired General Rick, Private Sector Rick, Juggling Rick, Rick Guilt Rick, Reverse Rick Outrage
The various Rick candidates for president of the Citadel have the “I should be in charge” spirit, but are still government men at the end of the day. A real Rick is no fan of government, even one that he runs.
39. Cowboy Rick
Sure, we know nothing about Cowboy Rick or his dimension and he exists only to make one of the many “Rick and Morty” jokes about “Back to the Future,” but that’s a nice hat and he wears the hell out of it.
38. Tiny Rick
The teenage clone body into which Rick C-137 beamed his consciousness also had a major effect on our mean old Rick. The younger version was a nice kid that everyone liked, who was also genuinely helpful and kind — while remaining pretty intelligent. And he managed to kill a local vampire, Coach Feratu, which probably saved a lot of teenage lives.
37. Cronenberg Rick
The Cronenberg version of Rick also messed up his world and had to hop to another dimension. Luckily, Rick C-137 ruined his dimension and turned everyone into Cronenbergs. Aside from the obvious genetic differences, Cronenberg Rick seeks a place where he and Cronenberg Morty can belong — which is at odds with Rick’s usual nihilism.
36. Visor Rick
Visor Rick wears a blinding amount of white and can be considered pretty neutral on the Rick scale.
35. Regional Manager Rick
Regional Manager Rick’s boring life as the regional manager of the Simple Rick’s Wafer Cookie factory ranks as a less Ricky Rick.
34. Teacher Rick
With an entire job dedicated to indoctrinating Mortys on the Citadel to listen to their Ricks, Teacher Rick straddles the line between exploiting his grandson and being a tool of the establishment, endlessly creating new drones for the state. But he’s still a cog in the Citadel machine, and that lack of independence is pretty anti-Rick.
28-33. Council of Ricks
The guys who lead the Citadel of Ricks certainly have the brains and the sci-fi know-how, but they lack a certain Rick-ness. As Rick C-137 explains, it’s pretty hypocritical to try to shrug off the confines of government by creating another government. They all have cool hair, though.
27. Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick
The shadiest version of Rick is unsurprisingly the most unkempt and works for the Mortytown Locos, developing a Portal Gun. When Bootleg Portal Chemist Rick is busted by Cop Rick and Copy Morty, this version of Rick touches the Portal Gun and immediately dies — likely because he used bootleg portal fluid.
26. Commander-In-Chief Rick
While leading the Citadel of Rick’s militia is not very Rickish, we’ll make an exception since another Rick took over his body and was planning an inside attack.
25. Farmer Rick
If there’s one thing about Rick’s personality, it’s that he’ll commit everything he has to a bit, until he gets hard. From de-cursing cursed objects to becoming a pickle to get out of family therapy, Rick takes an idea and runs with it. But then, Farmer Rick’s commitment to a long-term character, enough to grow megafruit and even have a long beard, shows a whole lot more commitment than is normal for Rick.
20-24. Seal Team Rick
A group of Rick commandos takes some of Rick’s Rickest tendencies — utilizing sci-fi weapons for ridiculous carnage — to their logical extreme. But like the Council of Ricks and other, more organized Ricks, the idea of a team of Ricks goes against Rick’s drive for individuality and hatred of himself.
19. Healthy Rick
After losing all his toxins, Rick becomes a happy and well-adjusted person. Apparently, that also means Rick loses his attachment to Morty (and maybe to just about anyone else), which is actually an essential part of what makes Rick himself.
18. Rick J22
A factory drone who goes on a murderous rampage, Rick J22 finally realizes that life on the Citadel of Ricks is a mess and loses it. Ricks often rage against the machine, even a machine made by more Ricks, but J22 is easily manipulated when he’s told exactly what he wants to hear. A real Rick’s crushing nihilism would have cut through the ruse.
17. Future Rick
Like Past Rick, Future Rick might also be a pure fabrication, or some version of the truth in Rick C-137’s origin story. Popping up to provide Rick with portal gun technology, and then forcing him back into the super-science racket by killing his family, is pretty extreme when it comes to Rick’s usual methods. He’s not quite that evil — or is he?
11-16. Business Ricks
The real rulers of the Citadel of Ricks are those who control the economic interests, just like in real life. And like Rick D. Sanchez III, they seem pretty generally evil. Working well with others isn’t usually a strong Rick trait, but underestimating a Morty certainly is, as is exploiting others for your own benefit. Ultimately, though, any choice of safe and stable business over insane superscience deducts points from the Rickometer.
10. Investigator Rick
This short-lived Rick gave Campaign Manager Morty covert information about Evil Morty, giving this Rick a mysterious edge.
9. Rick D. Sanchez III
The Willy Wonka-esque owner of the Simple Rick’s cookie factory is a smooth talker and a ruthless bastards, who runs a whole business built on enslaving and taking advantage of another human being. That’s Evil Rick in everything but name.
8. Rick D-99
While Rick D-99’s move to assassinate who he thinks is Rick C-137 is pretty Rickish, his involvement in SEAL Team Rick knocks him down the ladder.
7. Alien Rick
Although Alien Rick only has a brief appearance, his third eye exudes Rick’s rebellious nature.
6. Evil Rick
The Rick behind the assassinations of other Ricks and the kidnapping of their Mortys turned out to be under remote control by Evil Morty, but there was likely still some truth to his organic Rickness. As Rick C-137 notes, though, his tactics are extreme and horrific even for Rick standards. We’ve seen our Rick have some empathy and some love for his family, so even though he’s supposedly close to Evil Rick when it comes to evilness, two shades darker is apparently a pretty big jump in Rickness.
5. Toxic Rick
All of the things Rick considers his worst tendencies compile into a single person make up Toxic Rick. As a result, he’s pretty awful, but in a real way, he’s Rick distilled to his essence, which includes an unconditional, if abusive, love of Morty.
4. Drunk Rick
As demonstrated in “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,” get Rick drunk enough and he goes off the rails. Everything is heightened — his need to prove himself right about everything, his desire to punish people for whatever it is he thinks they’re not getting, and his emotional attachments, such as they are. Drunk Rick is basically a full-on supervillain (in a half-ass way), but reveals that there’s still some humanity underneath. Maybe.
3. Pickle Rick
Though perhaps not technically a whole separate person when Rick C-137 transforms himself into a pickle to get out of going to family therapy, Pickle Rick seems more violent and full of bloodlust than C-137 did even when he was on the Purge world in Season 2.
2. The Scientist Formerly Known as Rick
Though he was assassinated off-screen by Evil Rick, The Scientist Formerly Known as Rick sounds like a pretty cool Rick. He dressed well, he was obviously musically inclined, and he cast off the shackles of the Council of Ricks in favor of his individuality. Given how often Rick C-137 improvs music to get himself out of trouble, the two sound like they were pretty similar and probably would have gotten along pretty well.
1. Rick C-137
The Rickest of Ricks, who, as Morty notes in Season 3, hates all other Ricks, as he hates himself. C-137 is the Rick we follow in the show, who sometimes seems to have a pretty good relationship with his family and even cares about what happens to them — like when he nearly sacrificed himself to save Morty C-137. But this Rick also vehemently denies liking or caring about anyone but himself, and demonstrates that fact quite a bit. Forcefully individual, ridiculously capable, totally unable to take serious responsibility for anything, he’s mostly evil with just a little bit of good, and no other Rick can quite match his Rickness.
