When the intergalactic team of superheroes, collectively known as the Vindicators made their debut in Rick and Morty, Rick wasted no time in not only calling out how stupid and pointless he thought they were, but also in killing them. After setting up a series of insane games and tasks, Rick systematically puts the heroes in positions where they had little chance of survival, and all but one of them met their end by Rick’s drunken hand. However, further insight into Rick and Morty lore proves that the Vindicators’ deaths weren’t permanent because of the meta parody the team was created for.
In Rick and Morty Presents: The Vindicators #1 by J. Torres and CJ Cannon, Rick and Morty are called upon by the Vindicators to help stop a multiversal threat. A villain known as Boon is hunting down the cosmically powerful Infinity Balls and threatens to use that power to re-shape every conceivable universe in his image. While initially reluctant, Rick agrees to help them, but not before spewing some much needed meta commentary.
Before the adventure really gets going, the Vindicators hero Million Ants is killed after being attacked by one of Rick’s many enemies he acquired during his travels across the multiverse. When Morty is upset by this tragedy, Rick consoles him by saying, "It’s okay Morty. Just imagine that superhero heaven has revolving doors. No hero ever really dies. They all eventually come back “all-new, all-different.'" While Rick’s sentiment is geared towards the superhero genre as a whole, especially established universes like Marvel and DC which have characters die and come back to life fairly consistently, it also acts as an in-universe explanation.
Earlier in this issue, Rick complains that Morty wants to go on an adventure with the Vindicators, saying that they’ve done so twice already. As fans from the season 3 episode of Rick and Morty titled “Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender,” Morty thinks he and Rick are about to live out the adventure the 'Vindicators 2.' When they get to the superheroes base, it is revealed that the Vindicators already did their sequel without Rick and Morty, making the mission they've been recruited for 'Vindicators 3.' Despite the meta adventure numbering, the season 3 episode marked the second mission Rick and Morty went on with the Vindicators, and on that mission, Rick killed nearly every one of the heroes.
The fact that the Vindicators made an appearance in this comic at all proves that their deaths weren’t permanent as this issue chronologically takes place after the season 3 episode. Not only that, but the Vindicators only exist as a parody of popular superhero teams akin to the Justice League or the Avengers, superheroes who never seem to stay dead throughout their many decades of comic book history. From their in-world resurrections and parody-driven existence to Rick himself saying that they’ll never truly die, Rick and Morty itted that the Vindicators’ deaths weren’t permanent, and especially with their spin-off Adult Swim series on the horizon, they likely never will be.
