Normally, when 'Marvel Comics' and 'Rick and Morty' are being referenced in the same sentence, it is because Rick and Morty has made a parody of Marvel in some form or fashion, or has Marvel introduced characters reminiscent of those from Rick and Morty. What's decidedly out of the ordinary is the idea that Marvel Comics is somehow even weirder than Rick and Mortyeven in the case where two almost identical events occur in both established universes. But if a bizarre theory is correct, this unusual circumstance would become a simple fact.
In Sentinel Vol. 2 by Paul Jenkins and John Romita Jr., Robert Reynolds and his heroic alter ego, the Sentry, are trying to figure out how his third alter ego, the Void, is murdering people all over the world despite being locked in his basement . . The Void is the Sentry's evil counterpart, and when it is revealed that he wasn't imprisoned after all, the Sentry does everything in his power to find out what the Void is up to. This leads Sentry down the rabbit hole of his own past, which takes a shockingly dark turn.
When visiting the laboratory where the serum that transformed Robert Reynolds into Sentinel was created, something horrible happens to Sentinel: he 'wakes up'. Suddenly Robert Reynolds is no longer the Sentry and he is no longer Robert Reynolds. He is a man named John who is locked in a psychiatric hospital room, wearing a straitjacket, sitting on the bed while drooling and staring blankly at the wall. The Sentry was just a figment of this man's imagination, a byproduct of his psychosis – and not just the Sentry, but the entire Marvel Universe.
The Marvel Universe Could Be Nothing More Than the Delusions of a Mad Man
The Marvel Universe may not even exist within its own continuity
Sentinel Vol. 2 reveals that Robert Reynolds was the architect of the entire Marvel Universe, meaning that all comic book fans reading up to that point were nothing more than Bob's psychotic ravings (and some colorful drawings in his sketchpad ). What's worse is that 'John' was a convicted murderer, having stalked and murdered a neighbor he had a crush on. So, it wasn't like Marvel was giving fans a new vision of a cosmic being who could create universes with his imagination. These were legitimately the delusions of a mad man.
Of course, in Sentinel Vol. 2 #7, Bob comes out of this 'awakening'. It is revealed that Doctor Strange and the professor responsible for the Sentry's existence worked together to trap Bob's mind in a manufactured reality, effectively sacrificing the Sentry against his will to permanently neutralize his other alter ego, the Void. This brings Sentry back to the Marvel Universe and erases any idea that he imagined everything while locked inside a cell. But what if Bob (or John) didn't come out of an illusion, but returned to it?
Bob realizes that the reality of being trapped in a psychiatric facility is false after noticing a tan line on his ring finger immediately after his psychiatrist tells him he has never been married. But if he imagined an entire reality, couldn't he imagine a small tan mark on his finger during a moment of stress? His doctor was telling him that his entire reality was false and that he was a murderer who would spend the rest of his life in a cell. It would make sense for Bob to create a path back to his completely fabricated 'Marvel Universe'.
Rick and Morty made an 'imagined reality' somewhat similar to Marvel Comics' Sentry
Rick and Morty Season 4, Episode 6 “Never Ricking Morty”
Marvel leading fans to believe that their universe takes place in Sentry's mind is similar to the episode Rick and Morty“Never Ricking Morty”, also known as the 'Story Train' episode. In this episode, Rick and Morty find themselves on a metaphysical train that is a metaphor for the real-world process of writing a television episode. Rick and Morty. While on the train, Rick and Morty encounter the conductor, whom they call Tickets Please Guy, and after a brief fight, the pair cut him in half and throw him off the train into what is basically outer space.
As he floats outside the train, in a space of raw, non-canonical imagination and thought, with blood gushing from his severed waist, the Tickets Please Guy imagines he disconnects from a video game inside a Blips and Chitz before reuniting with your family in the restaurant area. The episode even cuts to other people who exist in this imagined world, including a cult that worships Tickets Please Guy (who they call Floaty Bloodman), confirming that sentient life independent of Tickets Please Guy's conscious mind exists in his imagined reality.
Marvel Comics is potentially even weirder than Rick and Morty
If Sentry is imagining the Marvel Universe, he'll never leave it
Rick and Morty it just lets the 'Tickets Please Guy' joke continue for a few minutes before bringing fans back to the real reality of the series, leaving no doubt as to which universe is real and which is fake. Meanwhile, if Sentry really is imagining the entire Marvel Universe, then this is a 'gag' that's been going on for much longer. Rick and Morty kept fans in an imagined reality for just a few minutes, but Marvel has arguably been doing this for years, even decades retroactively, making Marvel Comics much stranger than ever before. Rick and Morty.
So, what is the Marvel Universe, literally? Well, if this theory is correct, the real Marvel Universe is basically just the real world. It's a world where a mentally ill convicted murderer named John killed his neighbor and was sentenced to life in a psychiatric facility, where he imagined a fictional world that fans know as the Marvel Universe. In other words, when real-world fans buy the latest issues of The Amazing Spider-Man or The Incredible Hulkthey might as well have been looking at a photo of a man drooling in his cell.
This theory is definitely dark and completely takes away from the fantastical nature of the Marvel Universe. Of course, it is entirely possible that the events of Sentinel Vol. 2 happened exactly as the comic depicted, and when Sentry woke up from Doctor Strange's mind trap, he actually came out of his trance. But it is also equally likely that the opposite is true, thus turning this bizarre theory into a grim reality, which would also mean that Marvel Comics It's much stranger than even Rick and Morty.
Rick and Morty is an animated science fiction/adventure series that follows the intergalactic and interdimensional adventures of supergenius Rick Sanchez and his below-average grandson, Morty Smith. Rick's daughter Beth, his granddaughter Summer, and his hated stepson Jerry also take center stage more often. Coming from creators Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the series mixes comedy with science fiction as a way to explore a wide variety of themes aimed at an adult audience.