One of the most unexpected and tragic twists in Rick and Morty history was when it was revealed that Birdperson, despite being shot multiple times, wasn’t actually dead, and instead was turned into the mindless cyborg, Phoenixperson. One comic book spin-off confirms that this twist is actually even more tragic than it already seemed.
In Rick and Morty season 2, episode 10 (“The Wedding Squanchers”), Birdperson is getting married to Tammy, who he originally thought was just a normal human girl, but was actually an undercover agent with the Galactic Federation. In fact, their wedding was just a giant ruse to lure the most wanted criminals in the galaxy to one location where the Federation could capture them all at once. Unfortunately, this sting operation resulted in Birdperson’s death, as Tammy shot him multiple times with a laser gun. However, in the very next episode, it is revealed that Birdperson was still alive–at least, in a manner of speaking. Birdperson’s body had been reconfigured and suited up with cybernetic enhancements, transforming him from Birdperson into Phoenixperson–a huge twist that was equal parts exciting and depressing as Birdperson was back, but in a truly horrific way.
In Rick and Morty: Infinity Hour #3 by Magdalene Visaggio and Marc Ellerby, a young version of Rick has teamed up with Birdperson and a number of other freedom fighters against the Galactic Federation. In this issue, the team of space heroes are trying to kill an evil villain who would ensure Federation supremacy across the cosmos if he wasn’t stopped: Doctor Infinity. During Doctor Infinity’s battle against Birdperson, the villain tells him that Birdperson becomes a mindless slave equipped with cybernetic enhancements and forced to do the Federation’s bidding in countless other timelines as a way to cripple his motivations and highlight the pointlessness of his actions given the inevitability of his tragic fate. While Birdperson doesn’t listen to the villain’s words, readers know they are all-too true–though far more horrifying than originally believed.
Birdperson’s Tragic Rick and Morty Fate is a Multiversal Constant
Doctor Infinity’s message to Birdperson tells readers that he is always destined to become Phoenixperson. Even if that dark metamorphosis doesn’t happen in every universe, it happens enough times to warrant being brought up by Doctor Infinity, proving that it is a regular occurrence suffered by “countless” Birdpersons across the multiverse. This means that Birdperson is destined to experience the emotionally painful heartbreak of Tammy’s betrayal, followed swiftly by the lasers she shoots through his body, only to awaken as an empty shell of the Birdperson he once was, controlled by the very entity he swore to destroy a near infinite amount of times across an unknown number of realities. Before, fans just thought he only had to go through that pain once.
It was bad enough to consider that Birdperson had to undergo the transformation into Phoenixperson in one universe, but this comic confirms that he was fated to do so countless times throughout nearly every known reality–a grim fact that makes Rick and Morty’s Birdperson/Phoenixperson twist way more tragic.
