An innocent behind the scenes detail from ‘Loki’ places the MCU’s misguided ‘Rick and Morty’ obsession under a different kind of spotlight

One of the many conspiracies to have swirled around the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the Multiverse Saga ushered in a clear and obvious downturn in quality is that Kevin Feige’s apparent obsession with Rick and Morty is to blame, and it’s not one that’s entirely without merit.

Not to state the obvious, but there’s a lot of people out there who despise She-Hulk: Attorney at Law a great deal more than others, but it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call Jessica Gao’s contributions to the franchise polarizing. Meanwhile, fellow alum Jeff Loveness penned the screenplay for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which ranks as the MCU’s worst-reviewed feature film to date.

Michael Waldron did gain approval for the first season of Loki, but that didn’t extend to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, leaving fans plenty concerned that the latter two Rick and Morty veterans have been tasked to whip Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars into shape. However, what hasn’t been mentioned as much is that Eric Martin – lead writer of the Asgardian trickster’s second season – knows Waldron from grad school and also played a part on multiple episodes of the animated favorite.

And yet, after he revealed that Multiverse of Madness took up so much of Waldron’s time that he was left to essentially bring Loki‘s first run of episodes across the finish line, he’s ironically become the first Rick and Morty veteran to win widespread praise for their MCU efforts.

We’re not saying the sentiment is 100 percent accurate and entirely on the money, but it’s easy to see how those dots have been connected. Rick and Morty is polarizing enough on its own thanks to its recent controversies, and that seems to have extended through to the MCU.