Supernova: See? We're still heroes.
Vance: No, we're Vindicators.
Vance: No, we're Vindicators.
Vindicators 2 is a spinoff series of Rick and Morty produced in 2022.
Taking place before the Season 3 episode "Vindicators 3: The Return of World Ender", the series follows the superhero team the Vindicators and their various exploits.
Tropes:
- Absurd Cutting Power: Subverted. Supernova suggests that Lady Katana can get inside Doom-Nomitron and sever its primary nerve cluster with her katanas, but Lady Katana shoots that idea down because the cluster is made of titanium and her katanas would break against it. Her cybernetics may make her an extremely deadly combatant with katanas, but the weapons themselves are mundane.
- Call-Forward: The episode "Rick Can Handle It" refers to how Supernova is supposedly pregnant with her and Alan Rails's child, only for her to secretly vomit out an ant and frantically hide it from the rest of the team.
- Cerebus Call-Back: The deaths of Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso. While they were offhandedly claimed to have died in the fight against Doom-Nomitron, we’re shown in "Girls Night" how they actually died. They were all murdered by Supernova while she was blackout drunk, with the remaining team members using their "victory" over Doom-Nomitron (actually Rick’s) to cover it up. Also, Doom-Nomitron wasn't even near Dorian 5. The planet exploded because Supernova miscarried her baby there, which caused her to create an explosion that destroyed the planet.
- Didn't Think This Through: Alan Rails believes he can tow the disabled headquarters with a ghost train. Unfortunately, he summons it inside the ship and puts a train-sized hole through the hull.
- Doomed by Canon: Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso make in-person appearances in this series, although considering this is a prequel we already know what happens to them in the present day.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Supernova having a miscarriage destroys Dorian 5 after she and Vance were attempting to save it.
- Evolving Title Screen: At the start of the series, the title card features all of the Vindicators making heroic poses. But things start to change from Episode 3 onwards:
- "The Dance": Vance, Crocubot, Lady Katana, Calypso and Diablo Verde sport the injuries from their battle with Commander Vile. Million Ants changes his pose to face the viewer, contemplating his arm. Noob-Noob carries a mop.
- "Out of Gas": Vance frowns while wearing a cast. Calypso and Noob-Noob also frown.
- "Mercy Kill": All of the characters except Supernova and Vance, the episode's main characters, are moved to the background.
- "Kintsugi": Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso, now dead, are absent. Supernova is now blood-splattered and smirking while Alan Rails is visibly distressed.
- "Heroes": The color hue of the image has shifted from blue to red, with the Earth looking like it is about to break apart. Noob-Noob looks dejected. Supernova's Psychotic Smirk has evolved into a full-blown Slasher Smile.
- Fake Memories: implied with Alan Rails, who wished to have his memories of "Mercy Kill" and "Girls Night" removed at the end of "Little Trains." With Supernova needing to spin things for the Vindicators, Alan now completely believes that Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso were killed by Doom-Nomitron, and he was indirectly at fault for Dorian 5 because he didn't want Rick's help, who he was noticeably less antagonistic towards in "Rick Can Handle It."
- Hidden Depths: For the entire team -
- Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso knew they were there for the optics, and refused to allow Supernova to use them as Cannon Fodder. Girls Night revealed the three were the best of friends within the Vindicators.
- Crocubot actually had a passion for dancing, a secret he went great lengths for no one to find out.
- Noob-Noob is often the smartest one on the ship, as "First Love" reveals that he has a PHD in biochemistry, and he stated he could defeat Doom-Nomitron without anyone dying by resequencing the latter's DNA. He also greatly resents the team for not taking him seriously, sticking him with grunt work, and for general mistreatment.
- Million Ants had Identity Issues, unsure if they are the female queen, or the million male drones that make their body. They also at least try to forget about Supernova and attempt online dating, before giving up from being overwhelmed.
- Vance Maximus revealed that he's been abused as a child, and after realizing Supernova is a Villain with Good Publicity, comes to the conclusion that murder and genocide is just part of the job.
- Alan Rails had an interest in meditation and Japanese culture, really wanted to have a family with Supernova, and showed levels of passion, sensitivity, and later, exhaustion, as the series went on. Tragically, his memories got rewritten that he's indirectly the cause for Dorian 5's destruction, making him far angrier and defensive as shown in Vindicators 3.
- Supernova has always been a self centered sociopath, but Vindicators 2 truly shows how awful she is, and how correct Rick truly was about how the Vindicators are the writers of their own press releases; Supernova spins and manipulates any situation to make the Vindicators look like heroes, even at the cost of their teammates' sanity, memory, and lives.
- Meaningful Name: To vindicate means to clear someone of blame or suspicion and prove them to be justified, given the team shows no concern over actually performing justice and are fine committing genocide as long as they appear heroic, the term fittingly applies to the Vindicators.Supernova: See? We're still heroes.
Vance: No, we're Vindicators. - Lady Looks Like a Dude: Despite her buff chest and moustache, Diablo Verde is confirmed to be a woman in "Girls Night".
- Leave No Witnesses: In "Girls Night" Vance kills a bartender offscreen who was alive to see Supernova murder Katana, Diablo Verde, and Calypso. Or in Vance's words he "brought him to a nice farm upstate where he's now mixing drinks with his buddies".
- Off with His Head!: Rick has an automated satellite which garrotes Doom-Nomitron as it approaches the planet.
- Stating the Simple Solution: When their combined might is shown to be inadequate, it's suggested the Vindicators should just call Rick to save Earth from Doom-Nomitron rather than wasting their lives on a futile attack.
